Julia and Darcie Stashdown: 2017

My Stashdown

Yesterday, to procrastinate from schoolwork I cleaned up my room. Basically the only time I’m interested in doing that is when I’m trying to procrastinate from some other responsibility, and want to shirk some duty without feeling guilty for accomplishing nothing. My friends assure me this normal human behaviour. We all do it, right?

I took the time to sort through the yarn which has worked its way out of my official stash bins and also unraveled a few no-go projects. I realized that there were several yarns I was very excited to work on, that I don’t need to go buy anything to get ‘em yarnie thrills in the next little while. So I’ve put myself on a bit of a buying freeze between now and September.* I’ve identified 6 project quantities that I’m excited to knit with, but haven’t for various reasons. And because I thrive on community and blackmailing, I messaged my uni- turned yarnie- pal, Darcie (@dmdrew21), to see if she’d join. I didn’t have to blackmail, because she messaged me back near instantly saying she was on board. 

This is meant to be a creatively stimulating rather than a restrictive exercise. We’re blogging about it for a level of accountability. The rules are pretty lax, just meant to stimulate future making, not restrict our options. Two rules: (1) select a few projects to knit between now and September from stash, and (2) cease buying. ** I’ll knit things besides the 6 projects I’ve identified, but it’s a good place to start being intentional about my stash. Want to join? Message me on Ravelry, Insta, or comment below. We’re doing this for ourselves, but if you are interested in joining or setting some goals, a Ravelry thread might be fun!

Here’s what Darcie has to say about her goals and yarn choices!:

Darcie's Stashdown

What stash will be involved in this most glorious Stashdown 2017, and what do you plan to make with it?:

• Icelandic Fleece from Common Ground Fair. For the fleece I am most excited to learn the process and to experiment with techniques of treating it. It is a small fleece and was very affordable, so it is more about the learning experience than about the end yarn. I’ll have to learn how to wash and dry and card and prep for spinning, and then decide what sort of yarn will be best to spin. 
• Cascade, Worsted 220 Heathers. The yellow yarn is for a cowl I have been meaning to make for some time, I bought the yarn for the cowl specifically, and it always gets pushed down to the bottom of my queue. When I made the plan initially it was several years ago before I had done any cables, and the project was going to be a big challenge. Now it should prove easy, and it will be nice to have the project no longer hanging over me. 
• Berroco, Nebula. For a scarf that I just saw a shop sample of, and it just seemed like a fun way to try out some more lace-like work. Also the yarn is pretty dreamy.
• Icelandic Plotulopi. The plotulopi was brought from Iceland by a friend. I haven’t worked with anything so lightly spun, and I am curious to see how it is to work with. I am hoping to use it to make some color work, since I have brown and blue. Maybe mittens? 
• Cascade, Longwood. This is another pile of yarn that has been sitting in my stash for far too long, right next to it’s pattern. I’m excited for it to stop sitting around as a messy pile of poorly wound balls of yarn, and to be a wearable garment. 

What goals or themes do you want to set for this Stashdown, and what about this project excites you?:

• Work on projects I’ve been procrastinating too long either because they involve techniques that intimidate me, or because I got distracted by newer and shinier things. I want to pay attention to some of the older things in my stash, because my queue can get very disorganized and I definitely feel some guilt for neglecting some of these projects. 

Darcie's Plotulopi

Icelandic Fleece! (Lucky Darcie)

And I’ve also answered the same questions:

My Stashdown

What stash will be involved in this most glorious Stashdown 2017, and what do you plan to make with it?:

• Sunday Knits, Brigadoon Sport. 5 skeins. Turning it into a flowly, top-down cardigan. Hoping to have it turned into a summer cardigan in time for my trip to Italy. 
• Sandnesgarn, Tove, 10 skeins. Another lighter-weight cardigan. Perhaps an Effervescent Cardigan? 
• Handspun, Falkland Wool. A heavy DK/Light Worsted. A hat or a baby sweater, probably. Likely as a gift. I LOVE the colours of this one, just not for my own wardrobe. 
• Sirri Faroese Design, Sirritógv Colour (Art), 1 skein. This lovely yarn was a gift from my grandparents when they visited the Faroe Islands. It’s a gorgeous yarn, and while I love the colours, again not for wardrobe. But because it’s such special yarn to me, I don’t want to gift it. Darcie suggested I looked at making something which isn’t a garment. Perhaps a pillow?
• Madeline Tosh, Prairie, 1 skein. A skein I selected a few years ago on vacation. It’s my type of hearty, rosey pink, and I’ve been scared to knit anything with it. I don’t really fancy turning 800 yards into a lace shawl, but maybe a textured one? Time will tell. Potentially a good one to take on vacation, due to extreme portability. 
• Rowan Yarns, Felted Tweed. 4 skeins. Bought early this year, excited to work with it. Hopefully a good, textured, not too fussy but interesting scarf. 
• Extras: Two skeins of Cashmerino in a worsted weight I’d love to try knitting with, and a couple skeins of sock yarn I’d like to churn through before digging through my stash again. I always have a pair or two of socks on the go in addition to my other projects, so these aren’t in the official project list. 

What goals or themes do you want to set for this Stashdown, and what about this project excites you?:

• I want to add some specific sweaters to my wardrobe. Heavy sweaters just don’t seem to get worn as often, so I want to convert two lighter weight sweater quantities into highly wearable pieces. 
• I also selected projects which use different weights of yarn, lace, fingering, sport, dk, and worsted.
• I’ve selected a few yarns that I’d just really like to finally see out of my stash and turned into beautiful FOs! Some of the other yarns are ones that I’ve purchased in more recent months but haven’t gotten a chance to try yet. One is a hand-spun skein I’m really proud of. So I’m mostly motivated by the yarn for this one. So many lovely things to try. 

So there we go; I guess we’ve got a lot of knitting ahead of us. 

I have cast on my first Stashdown project using this lovely yarn. A top-down cardigan. In Elizabeth Zimmermann We Trust.

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*Except in Europe. I’m going for school/vacation, and I maintain that yarn is a better souvenir than other crap. BUT NOT IN CANADA. This is my solemn vow. 

** Expect in Europe. I mean it, NOT here in Canada.