2011, the year of socks

Besides being a quilter, I'm also a knitter and crocheter. Because I have no restraint, my yarn stash, and especially my sock yarn stash, is out of control. I think I could probably knit at least 300 pairs of socks from my existing stash. The trick is going to be to live long enough to do just that.

In an effort to diminish that stash a bit, I've recently joined two "sock club" type groups on Ravelry. The buttons for both are on my sidebar, over to the right. One of them, Year of Stash Socks 2011 (YOSS2011), will be making one, two or even three different sock patterns every month. The moderators will choose two patterns, and there's always the option of doing a "plain vanilla" sock from any pattern you choose. I hope to do at least one with them most months. In January, I'm hoping to do all three socks. The other, Super Special Six Pattern Sock Club 2011 (S62011) is making one sock pattern every two months. I fully intend to make every pattern along with that group. I've already chosen my yarn for the year for that one -- one of the "rules" was to preselect your yarn from your stash, and put it away in individual opaque containers. I didn't do that, but have each yarn in a plastic bag along with the pattern it goes with. I also have my yarn chosen for two of the three options for January for the YOSS2011 group. The other pattern is from a book which I didn't own, but which is on its way to me by Priority Mail. What did I say about having no restraint? It applies to books and patterns as well. When the book arrives, I'll choose that yarn as well.

For now, here's the yarn I'll be using in January for the S62011 project:




It's a Cherry Tree Hill yarn called Soft Twist, it's handpainted, and it was one of their Potluck runs. The colorway is called "Over the Hills and Far Away." I'm really looking forward to seeing this yarn knitted up -- I love it in the hank, and I think it will work really well for this project. And if not, they're only socks ;-)




I'll show photos of the YOSS2011 yarns tomorrow or Thursday, depending on when my book arrives. I figure I'll just show all three of those yarns together in the same post. For now, I'm off to wind these yarns into balls.

Thanks for stopping by. Come back again any time.