Saturday, January 19, 2013

Nalu mitts

Despite some fairly hot and uncomfortable weather in Melbourne (and most of Australia!), I managed to knit on since my last post and finish my Nalu mitts last night.

It's really rather hard to photograph mittens on oneself so I settled for a "left" and "right" shot.




I really enjoyed knitting these, and if I'd had more knitting time I could have easily finished them in two evenings rather than the two weeks it actually took, but that is that pesky thing called Life, I guess.

I've been watching, listening and reading a lot of podcasts and blogs recently too, and am intrigued by the number of really interesting KAL's and challenges starting up this year.

"Use it or Lose it", from the Stash and Burn girls is a cool concept that asks you to pull out all your deep stash and UFO's and seriously ask yourself "WHY haven't I used this yarn or finished this project?"  If the answer is that the yarn isn't really the right colour for you, or you don't like the fibre anymore, or if the socks/jumper/shawl is no longer your taste - LOSE IT!

Losing it could be donating to charity, selling it, swapping it with friends, burning  it - whatever you decide is appropriate!

I think it's a really great thing to examine, and although I don't think I'll formally join the challenge, I'm definitely going to go through the stash with a critical eye and make some tough decisions.

In that spirit, I looked through my sock yarn stash.  This is the yarn that I am least able to part with, sometimes I can't even knit it up in case I somehow "spoil" it, which is crazy.

My Socks that Rock "Rooster Rock" is a classic example of this.  I love the colours in the skein, but I know from other's experience that knitted up STR is completely different to skeined STR.

I searched on Ravelry to see what people have used this colourway for and was really disappointed with the way the colours stripe out for the most part.  What I really like about the colourway is the rich jewel tones against the warm neutral grey/tans, but knitted into socks seems to separate these two elements into distinct stripe groups - boo!



I finally found Harvest Dew and so far, it seems to be knitting up nicely.  Even so, I can't help this niggling feeling of wondering if I've done the best with the yarn?

Looking at the ribbed cuff, I quite like the way it was striping in my knitting.

sigh.

I'm at a point now where I've gone too far to turn back, I think, so I will persevere through the first sock, and if I really truly this it would be better as a plain sock, I'll start again...

Does anyone else have that kind of trepidation about using certain stashed yarns?


6 comments:

Suse said...

I totally understand. Some yarns are so beautiful in the skein that it's hard to disturb them. And they so often don't live up to expectations that it's safer to leave them in the stash and take them out for a biannual stroke and pet.

2paw said...

Oh you are brave knitting in this heat- I can't, and your mitts are so pretty!!!. Yes, I have had the same dilemma, the colours look beautiful in the skein but blerch when knitted up. I think your plan is a good one.

Rose Red said...

I totally have some yarns I am hesitant to use - mostly because I want to chose the *perfect* pattern - which is dumb right, since if it doesn't work I can always frog it and reuse the yarn, right?! Maybe once I get my sow entires done and dusted, I might pull it out and actually use it!

Love the mitts, a really nice pattern.

Anonymous said...

I love the mitts and I think your sock looks beautiful! I have that hesitation about spinning particularly gorgeous roving-- what if I don't do it justice? But I just try to remind myself that if I never use my favorite roving, then I definitely won't be doing it justice.

Emma said...

Use it or lose it is a great theme for the year, I like that it's a good reminder to re-evaluate the stash/UFOs.

I don't have too much yarn in my stash that I'm apprehensive about using, though I think a lot of that has to do with the fact I've moved away from variegated yarn to mostly solids.

DrK said...

yes i definitely have that trepidation! i have discovered that socks with any kind of pattern or lace should be knit in plain yarns only, and there is only one really good pattern for highly variegated yarn like that and thats cookie a's 'monkeys'. i dont know how but it just works. i do like what you've done though. the mitts are totally gorgeous, by the way!