All Wound Up

 In preparation for my next doodling project, the first in Tunisian Crochet. I caked 24 mini skeins and one full skein from an advent yarn collection that I lost the pattern to.  To supplement the color palette I also caked up 3 more skeins from another yarn set that as you probably have already guessed, I have lost the pattern to.  

I am going to be following the sizing of my Count 1-2-3-4 pattern on Ravelry.  Not necessarily the pattern.  Mostly it’s going to be playing with colors and the Tunisian Simple Stitch. Since there will be 27 different color ways in play with a neutral color for the broader. There will also be only one stitch through out because of all the color changes.  They will alternate light and dark. 

Let the fun begin.  

Prep Work

 Today was all about winding yarn into cakes to be used for my favorite 6 foot 2 inch scarfs for charity.  I combined colors and textures to make a 2 strand cake to be combined with a one strand single.  The resulting 3 strand yarn is just shy of bulky.  When knit in the round it provides excellent warmth for the young person who will receive it.  

Today I managed to cake enough yarn to fill a 2 gallon Ziplock bag.  I still have more yarn to wind.  I was also thinking that in order to make the knitting bags and baskets more portable, I would find a place to stack the full 2 gallon Ziplock bags. Then I would only need to carry a 1 gallon Ziplock bag with an assortment of yarn cakes to make it easier to transport.  Of course this would only work with the blue / green and  red/ purple and pink bag.  The black bag would never need this.  Yes, I do have more than one charity scarf going at a time.  Currently it is 3 different color ways of the 6 foot 2 inch scarfs, 2 other knit scarfs for warmer climates and 2 Tunisian crochet scarfs.  I also have at least 1 hat and 2 blankets in progress.  I really do finish projects, however some like long scarfs and blankets can take weeks to finish.  Sometimes I just need a quickie project to make me feel more productive.  Did a mention that I have 2 shawls in progress too?

As I tear the knitting room down, it’s looking messier than ever. I have Yarn scattered all over the place, but I am organizing it and when I’m finished, it will look wonderful. Also the bags that I like for the project have been discontinued so I have ordered at least six more so I have enough to complete the task. I initially thought it was a supply chain issue until I went to the companies website to see where I could locate some. They no longer show the bags I’m using on their website. I wish it was reflected on Google Search. Based on the search results I went to 2 different Walmarts and various other stores.  That took time and energy away from my project. I guess I will make a useful feedback comment.  

I feel like winding more yarn now, but will call it a day instead.  

Winding Yarn – Maybe?

I have found more yarn to organize for scarves using the Stash Dive Pattern  by Summer Lee Designs. I have been stash diving for bits, pieces and odd bags of yarn. This resulted in finding a lot of yarn that I did not know I had. Most left over from past projects or projects that were scrapped. I have already kitted up 4 bags for the knitting guilds Navajo Project and 3 for Operation Gratitude.  I have one scarf for each project on the knitting needles.  

Hopefully when all is said and done I will have 1 box of worsted weight yarn and another of sock weight yarn.  That way when I need to make more kits all I have to do is pull out the yarn and choose the colors.  I found this worked with the hats so well that when the basket is empty I will make more kits.  

This brings me to the organization part.  I am caking all the yarn in hanks and hand wound balls that won’t fit on the yarn butlers.  I made lackluster progress today.  I felt a lot like Jimmy Cricket dealing with  Pinocchio. Of the six hanks wound today, 5 required me to take the partially caked yarn and wind it into a ball before making the yarn cake.  I am not sure how the hanks of yarn became tangled while still in the hank in the original wrapping.  If you know the culprit please tell them to stop, it is not necessary. This is all cotton yarn.  For those allergic to wool and man made fibers.  The picture below is for the Navajo Project at the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild, the kids like things colorful for the most part.  

A Breif Catch Up

I did not think that John paid much attention to my knitting or yarn in general, but I was wrong. Over the weekend when I started winding some yarn for hats his comment was that he hoped that the yarn was for charity hats and not for my Art Fire Studio. Yes the next batch will be charity hats. I still have a lot of hats in my studio.

I also found 4 sets of knitting needles on Friday as I was digging out a knitting bag for a new knitter. I wonder how many sets of knitting needles I would have if I had finished all my work in progress projects. When I went into the tub to pull out the empty bag I also pulled out 4 projects that were still on the needles that I had not worked on since before the remodel. Everything was gathered and put in 96 quart containers to get them out of the way and out of the construction dust.

I have also started writing out the baby blanket with mixed blocks that is knit in one piece. This also includes the boarder being knit as you go so the little ones can't rip apart the squares. The pattern will be in my studio after I finish writing it up.  The blanket has been spoken for already but the pattern should be here soon. So you have something to look forward to.

Well I have to get back to my to do list. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.

Knittng and Winding Yarn

I have found that if I wind the balls and hanks of yarn into cakes, they tend to get knit faster. So earlier in the week I took a nice piece of pottery put a vase in the middle for knitting needles and started winding. I only put the needles in the vase for the weight yarn I had wound.


The progress was great, 4 scarfs were finished this week and the pot started to look empty. I think that it helped that Eric was home sick from school on Friday; because I knit 2 scarf’s on Friday. So today I went into my yarn stash and pulled out 8 more balls of yarn and wound them. I also wound 8 more skeins for Teri’s blanket which John has dubbed my enormous project of the year; I have passed the 34 skein mark and will knit a little more each night. You can see the work in progress. The blanket is 17 modular squares across.

I really know that I have made progress in my stash reduction process. The 2 closets that I had full of yarn no longer have the yarn in them. Yes I know that this involved filling another 95 quart box with yarn; but I am being more honest with the amount I have and am working hard to stash down. In case you were wondering it was the box of yarn that I knit through earlier when I went through 95 quarts in 3 months. So no new boxes were purchased.

Well it is time for Eric’s breathing treatment and time to make dinner. Yes multi tasking is essential. Have a great evening and enjoy your families.