Flash Your Stash!
I must say, these have to take the worst Yarn Pr0n pics I've ever taken. It's what I get for procrastinating procrastinating procrastinating. But hey, at least now I have a visual map of where things are so I don't have to open 10 things to find the one particular ball/skein/whever I'm looking for. Also, makes it look much much smaller once the photos were resized, that's cool. And yes, if the yarn is not labled here they sell it by weight and not by yardage. Previous Yarn Pr0n shots have been linked to where available. A special message to husbands, boyfriends and partners of knitters who have brought you here at the bottom of the page.
Stash Zone 1a - 1
Left to right: 350 g vari wool blend peaches-mauve.
450g spring green cotton blend.
7 50g balls of Leopard "Ocean" Cotton with a fine rayon thread running thru to give it a bit of color, very matte. Have a Boid Scarf WIP around here somewhere that uses it.
Leopard "De' File" 5% Merino wool, 35% viscose, 10% polyamid 2 50g white, 5 50g balls of silvery green and 12 50g balls of silvery grey. A very "cool" tape. Knit up a 10 Minute tank with it last year.
Filatura di Crosa's "Brilla" yummy shimmery cotton viscose blend. 6 50g balls navy blue, 2 50g balls cream, 2 50g balls vari blues. Started knitting up Jewelled with the blue vari once upon a time but it just wasn't quite right, ended up making another Clapotis with it.
Ahh the Mille Fili "Bamboo" cotton tape yarns with the famous hank from hell which is actually destined to migrate to Texas where Monkee will be unraveling said hellish hank and making another one of her fantabulous Mystery Things. Also sent one hank t to Sarah as a thankyouverymuch for being such a Super SP in the Knittyboard's SP2. Each hank approx 650 meters one I've actually balled. Someday will have time to swatch.
Stash Zone 1a - 2
First up 8 100g balls of "Estivo" Cotton blend fine strands of deep salmon, white and dirt er brown, promises to be a quick knit.
9 50g balls of Ornaghi's "Lana D'Italia" in black, 4 in white. Supah Wash Baby! They grow em that way here.
4 100 g balls of wool unmarked wool tweed.
8 100g balls of cotton wool blend dubbed "Martini Olives".
7 50g balls of "Fuzzy Bear" mohair blend.
8 100g balls of "Mare di Mohair", lovely lovely lovely!
My Freak Show. The odd balls of "fun" fur that live in the deepest darkest corner of the stash zone. Kiddo's faaaavorite balls to pet, of course.
Stash Zone 1a - 3
17 50g balls of Ornaghi's "Specchio". A pale silvery grey slubby cotton viscose blend that still doesn't know what it wants to be when it grows up.
4 50g balls of "Specchio" in red.
8 100g balls of one of the softest cotton wools I've ever fondled. It has been waiting patiently (well sometimes it does mock me) to be cast on. Really should take beter pics of it but then looking at those luscious balls will only cause me to crumble to temptation so for now we'll leave them be.
8 50g balls of assorted tape/ribbon yarns, I'd no idea I had so much of this type. Except for the obnoxious green Filatura di Crosa "Timo" up top, the rest were strays from the LOYM.
9 50g balls of GGH "Stars". Rather reptillian, if it's gotta be cheezy, makes sure it's good cheezy ; )
5 100g hanks of Martex cotton in black
4 100g hanks in robin's egg blue.
1 100g hank of Lana Gatto's Cairo in the reds colorway. I used the blues colorway for my first Clapotis, was interested to see how the reds knit up.
210 meters in hank form of left over ribbon that I'd used on the Sueetone.
Approx 300 grams of a knot. Filatura di Crosa's something cotton w/ rayon. I'd used it to knit up a Phildar inspired tank. The knot happened when kiddo decided she wanted the foam cores to play with. Gutted 'em. Still a mess. Procrastinate much? Who me?
20 50g balls of "Gardena- Lana fredda" from Manifattura Venezia Spa.
5 100g balls of "Romanian Rust" wool I got from the Romanian yarn guy who has been MIA since last summer.
1 400g skein of Ornaghi Filati "Bon Prix" petrol/wool blend.
Other assorted oddballs of Bon Prix which I'd used on a Wavy scarf, Approx 250g of Ornaghi's Ande which I'd used on my FIL's vest and some other odd balls of Lana D'Italia.
Stash Zone 1a - 4
3 400g+ hanks of love.
Hemp yarn from a swap w/ Seven from the Knittyboards. 3 red, 2 black, 1 cream.
7 50g balls of beige, 1 50g ball of red and 6 50g balls of black of narrow velour tape. Used the beige in a Flower Basket Shawl for my MIL.
2 huge balls of weird forest green wool felt tape. Approx 300g.
One bag of odd balls. They are balls and they are odd, wintery stuff.
Stash Zone 1b - 5
This is what happens when you have a young daughter. You have a box of pertoyarn.
8 100g balls of lime furry stuff. It isn't "fun" lemme tell ya.
8 100g balls of the same stuff in red red red.
5 50g balls of rayon/poly fluff.
18 asst balls of Ornaghi's Sugar and Liola. I'd used the Liola on a multi directional scarf. Actually two.
12 100g balls of dead muppets. Wool petrol blend. Kiddo was dreaming of a blanket...perhaps one for Babs can be arranged.
Stash Zone 1b - 6
Cotton odd balls. Usually dig thru here when swatching new stitches. A bit of cable cotton, some Estelle, Cairo, Samba, recycled tackyyyy stuff, cotton picked up in Malta, un po di tutti.
Stash Zone 1b - 7
The big honking white bakery box. Things stored away for the summer.
2 1000g cones. One which was on the way to becoming a Bergere di France cardi (got side tracked) pretty, woodsy, perhaps next year. The lighter colored one, it's wool, that's all I know.
To the right of the cones 400g of navy blue felt tape.
18 hanks of Noro cotton/linen thick n thin slubby clown colored cheer Ana sent me last summer.
To the right of the Noro: Smoky blue tape w/ Peruvian highlights. 8 50g balls, mohair blend.
Top left: 10 100g balls of Mafil's "Kuma" super squishy wool alpaca blend. Smoooth. Once upon a time it wanted to be an Aran Angle Shawl, but it changed it's mind.
To the right of the Kuma, 8 100g balls of wide vari grey and pinks wool tape yarn.
Top right: 20 50g balls of "Mysterio" Wool and cotton living in harmony.
To the left of that, 6 100g balls of lilac colored love. Wool, that's all I know. Currently using on my Flower Basket Shawl.
Bottom right: Deep purple handspun from Ana - she spun it herself!. It wanted to be a Aran Angle Shawl too..actually it got too hot to complete it and just never got back to it. It doesn't want to be an Aran Angle Shawl anymore anyways.
To the left of that, 6 100g balls of purple and white self striping wool.
And finally 6 100g balls of self striping hot pinks and white wool blend.
Stash Zone 2
Zone 2 is where the WIPS live, as well as books, magazines, printouts etc. A staging area of sorts. Fibers to be used for projs in the immediate future. Left to rightish: 8 100g balls of plasticy stuff. Really looks like super thin strips of plastic bangs and black thread. Definitely purse fibers.
Above that, Approx 800m of acid green cotton / rayon tape.
Top left, 2 800m cones of cotton tape. One vari, one dark teal. Don't have a better pic of those.
9 150g (450m) spools of Ornaghi's "Echo" mercerized gassed petted Egyptian cotton.
Above that 2 balls of Grignasco's "Mexico" leftovers from something and need to make another something to compliment the something soon.
To the right of that, my spool of Beautiful Leatherette.
Below that my recent ReKaled Cafe e Vino dye job hanked up once again. Cotton, coffee & wine.
Below that, 8 more balls of Ornaghi's "Ocean" I was using for another now UFO scarf. Wonder why it isn't with the rest of the Ocean now that I see it.
To the right of that, 2 hanks of the Plymouth cotton from Deb I'd used on the most recent 10 Minute Tank.
Up; 6 50g balls of Filatura di Crosa's Zanzibar
Top: 4 50g balls of Ornaghi's "Capri" which will be used w/ the coffee & wine cotton.
Row to the right of that; 5 50g balls of Filatura di Crosa's "Melissa"
3 50g balls of Filatura di Crosa's "Elena" in yellow.
2 50g balls of F di C's "Rondo" tape.
Top right: 7 100g balls of BBB's 80% Cotton blend. Thick rough great bag making fiber.
Finally: 7 hanks 125-150 yards each wool from handpaintedyarns.com got from a trade with Amy last year. So pretty..still doesn't know what it wants to be so in the intrim it makes a lovely decoration.
Strays
10 50g balls of "Promozione" wool which felts.
5 50g balls of the same, just purple.
Cone: approx 800m of Cashmere with a fine silk edging. Sooo soft.
5 cones of feltable wool tweed. Too fine for me to consider knitting anything with but it felts! Last FO made w/ the tweed - a felted vase.
Finally a couple odds and ends that actually live in my nightstand. Plummy Jo Sharp SoHo cotton and a spool of hemp from my Knitty SP2 and a hank of mohair and a hank of Alchemy Bamboo that Amanda had sent me and a weird little hank of cotton hubby found on the side of the road.
I've just blew a lot of knitting time doing this. No it isn't everything but it's enough. The rest is recycled yarns, not that they aren't "real" yarn, it's just I ran out of time. Procrastinators have that happen occasionally. I just hope I remember to look here before digging thru boxes to find that one particular ball I need. Buon Divertenti!
And reeeemember, Life's Too Short! Buy More Yarn!
Dear Husbands, boyfriends and partners of Knitters.
If you were brought here by that special knitter in your life to view my stash I can only imagine they are trying to head off any complaints or concerns on your part that their stash was somehow getting out of hand, enormous, too big etc. etc. I implore all of you to support the creative endeavours of your most wonderful knitter person. You would not expect a painter to have only one brush and one tube of paint nor an audiophile to have only one cd to listen to, right? Why would it be any different for us? Knitters can not live by one hank alone.
So many factors, color, texture, gauge, drape, weight involved with fibers. When your knitter person is enamoured, yes enamoured, sometimes it is even lust, be understanding. Welcome home their new love. Admire it. Even if you do not fully comprehend what is so special about it, listen to your knitter person. Watch his or her face. The way the touch it, contemplate it, take those first tentative steps of the fiber dance. Don't be surprised if the new love is found in a basket on a shelf while only hours before it was the center of your knitter person's world. It is not the case of a child who is disinterested in the toy they begged their parents for, it is simply your knitter being has the an obligation to do justice to the fiber. As a sculptor considers a piece of marble, a knitter will do the same with fiber.
What can you do? Understanding is key, listen to your knitter tell you about their great new find and hopes and dreams about the fiber. Ideas. Encourage them. Offer suggestions even if they are laughed off or elicit a smirk. Be happy that that special someone is your life is so passionate. Consider the creations that come off the needles, not something to be compared at what you can pick up at a store for there is no comparison of something made by a machine to that of the hands of this person so special to you.
Finally, and this is very important. Encourage your knitter to avoid SCPS. SCPS afflicts many of the newer knitters, otherwise known as Spontaneous Crap Purchasing Syndrome. Just because something is on sale at the local craft shop does not mean it is something that needs to come live in your home. You can check the Crap content by looking at the lable that is on the yarn. The key word to watch out for is Acrylic. If it is in the contents it should be the smallest percentage amount on the lable. There is simply no reason why your knitter should be knitting with the byproduct of petroluem refineries (unless you have a female child under the age of 10 in your home, then it is rather futile but resistence is still possible). If you do not have yarn stores in your area with low crap content no fear, there are numerous sources online where your knitter can find just what they are looking for. Elann, Purl SoHo, Knit Pixy are only a sampling of the wonderful resources out there for everyone.
Why not window shop with her/him? Perhaps surprise them with a little fiberly love. A bouquet of silk, bamboo or fine handpainted merino will not only show them how much you care, it will further ignite their passion for the art. And their passion for you.
Thank you for stopping by and thank you for supporting that special knitter in your life. - Zib
