Yikes the stash!

A lovely day out in Bury St Edmunds with dear friends. On the journey home it is mentioned that a little yarn shop in their village - nowhere near Bury St Edmunds - is having a closing down sale with 50% off everything. I just had to pay it a visit the following day. A fantastic little shop filled to the brim with yarns of all descriptions - bags of sock, 4 ply, DK, chunky, baby, Noro, cotton - the piles were floor to ceiling shelf and additional piles deep. Where to start? I had parked just outside the shop and knew that I had only 30 minutes to make some decisions. The cottons beckoned - some King Cole Cottonsoft in white, then a pale turqouise. More bamboo cotton but not my favourite shade so that was left behind. Then some glorious lilac bamboo - and, seeing that I was showing an interest in cotton some bags came flying into the shop - a deep orange that could not be resisted. Some Katia candy yarn - a whole bag full would just be perfect for baby knitting and, turning round, those few balls of Snuggly would knit up quickly. Time was ticking by and I had 5 minutes left on my parking. The patterns! So many books, so much to investigate - one pattern book alone and the decision about the stash of yarn that had built up around my feet. At  half price how much would that come to? Just below 3 figures - just being an accurate term. Shall I go back another day, this time with a better plan in mind? Could I resist the Noro? What about all that sock yarn that was just at the side of the counter so not really investigated? The bins of real bargains outside? All the patterns and then the buttons and other haberdashery not even contemplated? I have started knitting with the 4 ply cotton and it is delightful - a change from the other work on needles at the moment - a green chunky Cowichan, a mohair log cabin, a bamboo baby blanket, the Advent calendar socks that I was going to knit 2 of a month from January ( didn't go to plan).
The stash has grown but it is beautiful.

A log cabin addiction

An unusual baby blanket for a baby girl.

I have just been loving knitting log cabin blankets and have yet another one on the needles but this is beginning to look like a serious addiction. I don't want to start anything else - apart from the Cowichan and the baby cardigan also on needles and I keep looking at the wool in the stash and wondering what will go together as another log cabin. In an attempt to cure myself I bought a new book of patterns for knitted afghan squares - and imagine my delight when I saw a sort of mini log cabin - a justification!! No, enough is enough and I intend to attack the stash and desist from further log cabins - a resoultion for August 1st instead of January 1st and well aware of how long New Year resolutions usually last.

Bamboo cotton log cabin for a baby

This has been a lovely but a little frustrating project. I wanted to make a less orthodox baby blanket and had in mind bamboo cotton yarn and primary colours. I bought a huge selection of colours starting with the primaries - red, yellow and blue ( or shades of) but then decided that too many colours would look odd. I then decided to stick with the 3 plus green and orange thinking that I could maybe edge and join with purple. The original 5 balls made most of the 12 squares - except for a cast off in the blue, 3 rows in the orange and a little in the green. Thus 3 more balls. I then concluded on orange joins and started to edge in the blue and orange. The extra green would have made the 4th edge but then there would have been a double colour on the edge of one square. Hence the purchase of an extra ball of yellow. Coming to the end of the yellow edge and having cast off I discovered, to my horror, that I had missed 10 stitches from the corner and had to unravel the lot and start again. Having finished, finally, I think it looks great. A bit hefty for a baby blanket maybe but it could be a cot cover or a small play mat. It feels lovely and is so bright and cheerful and definitely a different kind of baby blanket.

Another finished log cabin

Perhaps this pattern is becoming an obsession!

Another completion

Bored with finishing off now - want to start something new rather than complete already started projects.

Next finished item

Finishing off

I have lots of items to finish off. A week away on holiday - supposedly walking, resulted in copious amounts of knitting done. The excuse of an arthiritic toe will only be meaningful to a certain group of people but they will know exactly why little walking but much knitting was achieved. The knitting done, unfortunately, seldom equates to a finished item; there is the dreaded finishing off to be completed. Baby items are sometimes the worst - lots of fiddly little bits to sew together but today's tasks are rather different - 2 log cabin squares blankets and one baby squares blanket to join together and edge.
The first one was a small pram sized blanket made in bamboo cotton. 12 interesting squares to join with a 3 needle cast off and then to edge. First attempt at the border failed - a garter stitch border curled and looked odd so the inevitable frogging and a new moss stitch border both looks and feels better. I am so pleased with this attempt. The blanket could have been throw sized but each square had a pattern which needed to be followed and that is not the sort of knitting I can do and watch tv at the same time so it was mimimised.
The next 2 items are log cabin blankets - one is a wedding present for a wedding already been and gone and so is a bit of a priority. The other is a planned present for Christmas so has never had any urgency surrounding it. All the squares are complete so the finishing off is another series of 3 needle cast offs and some garter stitch bordering. The only decisions needing to be taken concern colours.
The baby blanket is complete and stored away. The first log cabin is laid out on the sitting room floor and one row of 5 squares is joined. the second log cabin is still sitting is squares in the work in progress box and there is an added problem. During the walking holiday, beset with problems of toes and rain, I visited a local yarn shop - the stash has grown - again and on the needles is another log cabin - this time in a lovely yarn - a delight to work with and the actual knitting is so much more fun than the finishing off.