Today is the last day of a 4-day weekend here in England to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. I have no interest in matters or personalities royal, and I had to fly to Copenhagen on Thursday and teach all day Friday, thus my 4-day weekend is in fact a 2-day weekend. This dampens the holiday spirit a little. However, I have been facing one very tempting aspect of this general glee: every single UK yarn shop and yarn producer and knitting designer (or at least it feels that way) has sent me an email with all of their special deals on scrumptious yarn, knitting kits, bags, and books. They are sitting in my inbox tempting me.
In a (possibly) vain effort to resist the pull (possibly because there are still 11 hours remaining for me to fall), I have decided to make a list of the current projects in my immediate queue. These are projects for which I already own the yarn and the pattern, and am good to go.
1. Short-sleeve sweaters and tanks; summery
I have two of these on the go already and would very much like to finish them soon so as to get plenty of summer wear out of them.
Myrtle. I have only the ribbing and finishing left on my summer tank version of Kate Davies’ Myrtle pattern. This is what it looks like currently:
Flores. This is the project I am concentrating on at the moment, as I am hoping to wear it on upcoming summer holiday breaks to Germany and Spain. The pattern is by eri shimuzu and I am using the divine Linum by The Uncommon Thread. A taster photo:
Collar de Pilar. I recently bought a kit for this Kate Davies pattern:
Jenny Flower. This is a super cure knitting pattern by Julie Knits in Paris.
I plan to use two of the three skeins of Madelinetosh Prairie which I purchased in Copenhagen (at Ulstedet) some years ago (blogged here). I am leaning towards the brown and blue combo, but may go with blue and silver. Decisions, decisions! Oh my!
2. Cardigans
Coral cardigan. I bought a pile of silk mohair in bright coral recently and plan to make a cardigan with it. I have the pattern in mind, but am not willing to commit to it yet publicly. (This is not cheating as I know what it is and already own both yarn and pattern.)
Winterfell. I plan to knit this with the Road to China Light in brilliant fuchsia which Doug bought me some time ago. (This is the one that I had swatched for, and then lost the swatches. Growl.)
Hirne. I recently bought a kit for this lovely wooly cardigan from Kate Davies:
3. Shawls
I’ve got two on the go, but one of them has burrowed far into my WIP pile and might not ever see the light of day. I am about 2/3 of the way through the Gresham Wrap and not even half-way through my fingering-weight version (why didn’t someone hit me over the head?) of the Koko Wrap. I also have six skeins each of a DK weight yarn and a worsted weight yarn which are destined for two of the shawl patterns in 52 Weeks of Shawls. I keep changing my mind about which ones to knit.
4. Cowls
Attitude. I have a kit for this cowl from Julie Knits in Paris:
Gruggle. I recently bought a kit for this cowl from Kate Davies.
5. Hats and Mitts
I was going to show you some of these that are in my queue (with yarn and pattern purchased), but I think I’ve made my point. I have three hats ready to go, and at least 6 pairs of mitts, if not more.
Given the terrible pressure of all of the shiny new patterns, yarns, books, kits, bags, and tools, is the weight of this queue sufficient to keep my will power firm? If not that, then perhaps the knowledge that I have been knitting less and less and slower and slower lately, and if this trend proceeds on its present course I will be able to finish the above in approximately 6.8 years? Yes, these are good arguments! My will power remains firm! I am resolved!
But, oh my, have you seen Aleks Byrd’s book, Traditions revisited? What a lovely, lovely book. I am so tempted to pick up this book and a kit or two. Like maybe for this Tiivad Shawl:
I am so tempted!
That’s it from me. Two international trips within a week just about killed me. (And I don’t think I mentioned that my flight back from Johannesburg was delayed by over 6 hours?) Travel these days is not what it used to be. Come to think of it, I’m not what I used to be. Good knitting, everyone!
Your description describes most people, ie knitters, I know. That includes me too. I even had an Excel spreadsheet that I thought would take care of it, but didn’t. Speaking of Copenhagen, what is it about the Danes, the Oenling website, Isager, Camilla Vad, and I just ordered some Knitting for Olive yarn. I think it may be hopeless to resist. 🤦♀️
Bette, hi! it looks like there may be enough of us to make a support group (of thousands?)
Cheers,
Linda Cornell
I love the Danish yarn shops and those great designers. Top of my to-try list now is Knitting for Olive. I hope you love it.
Oh, Kelly! I am thinking of your dilemma and your decision has likely been made by now! Can totally relate. Returned home earlier than planned in March/20 & 14 day Covid quarantine provided time to assess Stash yarn. Downloaded Ravelry yarn stash info to excel spreadsheet & decision made due to amount of sweater quantity yarn I had. A friend suggested I knit 10 sweaters before buying more yarn. Happy to say that I knit myself 12 sweaters, 5 shawlettes, 2 baby sweaters & seamed a WIP cardigan. Still have 10+ SQ yarns, lots more fingering for shawls and some WIPs to finish/Rip. It was a real struggle not to buy yarn & after 2 years of no yarn purchases, I caved and bought yarn in February, my present to me for a milestone birthday, to knit Daily Pullover. Do I regret amassing this amount of yarn? Not for a minute as I happily bought it while travelling and when working for 5 years 1 day a week at my LYS. Trust you made the decision that makes you happy, Kelly and no regrets!
Karen, I am so impressed by your will power! 10 points to you! (And a milestone birthday demands yarn – congratulations!) As for me, I managed to get through the weekend without buying anything.
Oh gosh, who can not relate to every word you wrote? Thank you for writing about this so poignantly. Between Onling (my iPad will not spell the O properly) and Wishbone/Yama Yama/Miss LaMotte/LITTG/ etc, my Stash may exceed my natural life span if I don’t knit like blazes. And that is not possible so I must slow my buying. Your inventory is a brilliant idea that I’ll copy asap. Hope your summer restores your most confident and joyous inner knitter to her most comfortable pace for creating. Now, back to the summer tee I’m knitting out of two yarns alternately, a linen-blend and a mohair-silk. I may make at least one more of these! Lovely! (Oy vey)
Your summer tee sounds lovely. I used to dislike summer knitting, but I think that the quality of summer yarns is better now. I’m glad you liked the post, Linda; I’m sure there are lots of us in this boat.
Hi Kelly! This post came at a very appropriate time.
Yesterday I filled out an online survey from WEBS- many of the questions had to do with stashes 🙂
Also, I have not bought any yarn in a few months but while out running some errands I stopped at a big box store and wandered through the yarn aisles. Wouldn’t you know it- some clearance yarn jumped into my arms and said- “Take me home”. So I did.
Yes, it’s time to once again go though my WIPS and stash and organize everything so I know what I have and what’s what.
Please let us know what/if you ended up purchasing.
So funny how yarn can just jump in your arms like that! I’ve seen that happen before. 🙂 I ended up not buying anything (for now).
So, is there a timeline? Lots of great projects to look for to knitting. Best wishes in your quest to resist. Hope you are more successful than me. I just bought another (!!!!!) advent calendar.
No timeline. I am highly distracted and stressed by work, so conversely have less time to knit but need it more. I am trying to take one step at a time, and to knit for enjoyment. I’ve seen some great knitting advent calendars; enjoy!
I love your Myrtle tank SO MUCH – I may have to make one
Thanks, Kate. I love it too! All I need now is one quiet weekend and it will be done; it won’t be this one, but fingers crossed for the next!
Hi Kelly, I am a person who likes both the process of knitting and the wearing. Each day I try to wear a shawl, a cardigan or a sweater I knitted myself.
BUT recently I have started thinking that maybe I have enough?!
What are your thoughts about this dilemma?
Jelma, this is a great question! I have thought about this dilemma, although I don’t have any firm answer. If it’s okay with you, maybe I will try to answer this in a dedicated post soon (because it will take more than a few sentences I think, to consider it properly).
Darn all the knitting companies of the world and their tempting emails, eh?! So so tempting to dive right in and choose another new project – I have been browsing for 2 afternoons this week and have yet to press the ‘pay now’ button. This is mostly out of guilt (but also because of indecision) as I recently moved house, condensed all my crafting supplies down and they now sit in one room in the new house – the room where I also sit and browse on my laptop (read ‘shop’ on my laptop!). If I turn my head I see boxes surrounding me – I know there is a lot of yarn and many WIPs ….. By the way, love the Myrtle and am wondering if you’ll have to colour your hair to match a Paris knit (see green mermaid hair in that photo).
I just love Julie Knits in Paris and her brilliant hair! I normally love these yarn-filled emails, too, but they do make it hard to stay resolved. Next time, I will blame indecision instead of guilt!
Wow, I love everything you have going. I’ve had a rather dreadful first few months if 2022, and just bought willy nilly. I need a Kelly consult!!! (And where did you get the Linium?
Susan, I’m sorry that you have had a rough year. I send all of my best wishes and good thoughts your way. As to the Linum, I am on the mailing list for The Uncommon Thread and occasionally she has a pre-order notice. I ordered the Linum, and then 6-8 weeks later (at which point I had forgotten all about it) it gloriously arrived in the post!
Travel is no fun at all right now. I’m hoping it will be fun again someday, but that day is probably a little ways off. Love all your current projects! I’m struggling with wanting to buy yarn that I really shouldn’t as well. Good luck to you on that!
I think that travel is going to continue to be problematic at least through 2022. I hope that you are enjoying the Knitsonic club! She’s so clever.
I think you are right on that.
I am! She really is clever for sure 🙂 I’m really enjoying the exercises/projects so far! Are you doing it as well?