Fiber Destash + Mermaid Sweater

(Whew! I had a little WordPress meltdown, but it looks like we’re all sorted now, hurrah!)

I’ve realized my fiber stash is just too crazy to tally. I don’t know what I was thinking. It’s not in discrete, compact, easily weighed and tallied parcels like yarn. There are a million sundry bags, balls, batts, containers, bumps, locks, odds and ends–and all too bulky to easily weight on my little food scale. So instead I’m going to just make up a random number to commit to destashing and just track my progress that way. So what’s the number?

How about 100# eliminated outright, and another 10# spun into yarn. Considering Yarn School, that should be an easy goal. Not that the bulk of my stash is suited to the main Yarn School supply closet (we do a ton of dyeing, so the lion’s share of what we need is undyed top), but anything white I haven’t dyed yet can go into that kitty, and I can put plenty more in the goodie bags & of course the bins for blending into batts.

Speaking of Yarn School, Spring 2008 registration opens Monday! Yay!

I’m taking a class on Business Math. I’m not exactly a natural at math, so my compulsion to procrastinate has really been fueled. I’ve also got ants in my pants to finish a sweater a la my uberlist, and with my 2 in progress being question marks, I started a third. But afterwards, I realized that was imprudent. I have too much on the needles to be starting new stuff, and we’ve still got 10 more January days to receive either my needles for the striped sweater or the yarn for my Skinny Cat Sweater. But my common sense didn’t kick in until I was fairly far along.

It’s 1 ball of Mermaid Hair from Spincycle Yarns, my favorite hand-spinnery (and which will be my very first purchase when I’ve destashed my quota), which is a divine merino/kid mohair conconction, very soft, & 4 balls Carioca, a light single aplaca/wool/acrylic blend. It’s another Faux Fair Isle from Spin to Knit, this one made fairly small, but not tailored, and with garter edging. The sleeve took a little less than one ball, and torso so far took a ball, so I’m hoping that with the extra ball and the little leftovers from both sleeves, I’ll get a suitable length. If not, I’ll steek it and make a cardigan, which I might do anyway. I prefer the look of cardigans, but practically, I’m more of a pullover gal.

It’s working up FAST on 9s. I added one extra stitch for every 7 when I switched back to the Carioca, to compensate for the fatter gauge from the thick parts of the thick and thin. Hm. I think I should try it on and make sure it fits before I continue. Usually I try it on before splitting the sleeves, but for some reason, I only held it up. (Some reason? Like it’s a mystery. Laziness is the reason.)

After this, seriously, nothing new until I finish 3 WIP.