Old Stash

Thought I'd do a tour of stuff that's been lurking at the bottom of my stash for eons! So, clockwise from top right, Inca Natural from Jarol, Sirdar pure cotton Indigo Denim DK, Rowan 4ply cotton (sevseral balls in various colours) and Debbie Bliss DK cotton. All of these I picked up on a whim, lurking in sales and feeling lost and homeless. They're no longer homeless, but really should be made into something as they've been sitting around for far too long!

Next photo, some super chunky Emu in a glorious shade of purple that I traded at a stash swap at a Cambridge k2tog, a few balls of Rowan linen drape in a variety of shades (you can tell how long that's been in the stash basket!), some Bergere de France I bought on holiday in Brittany a couple of years ago - the multi coloured is a narrow tape that would make a nice summer top if I ever get around to it, and the other is a 4ply cotton in a coral colour - and some Sirdar DK chenille and cotton boutonne, also from the k2tog stash swap. I'm hoping the chenille will turn into a waistcoat and the boutonne would look great as a summer scarf.

And finally, from the top clockwise a couple of balls of Rowan chunky and aran, the latter was bought for a commission to make a slouch hat for Make it month last year, but the customer changed their mind about the colour. The hat eventually made it onto the website, and was also featured on the fashion pages of Marie Claire (my claim to knitting fame!) but in a shade of russet. At the bottom of the picture, some turquoise Jaeger Trinity, and last but not least some random multi coloured stuff I got from the NEC a couple of years ago. The blue is beautiful to look at - it's a mix of boucle with a very narrow nylon ribbon - but it's an absolute nightmare to knit! The yarn bunches up around the ribbon and you end up in a real mess of knots. I'll tackle it one day but it's not exactly high on my list of priorities!

And the book? Well, that's my personal knitter's bible - a part-works that was published around 25 years ago called "Get Knitting". The patterns are very dated now but the techniques never change too much. I refer to it time and time again and I'm so glad I never gave it away during my non-knitting years!