Are You Ready for Stash Dash?

It's the time of year where the avid knitter (or crocheter or spinner or tatter or weaver) gears up for Stash Dash. " What's Stash Dash?" the uninitiated might ask.  SD is the brainchild of Leslie and Laura, and their very popular video podcast, The Knit Girlls, Laura works as a middle school librarian, and so with summers off work, she needed to go a little insane with knitting.  And to quantify that insanity, they started SD.  The objective of SD is to clear out some stash and finish off some lingering projects.  All projects completed during the summer are totaled by the number of meters and entered into a category - 3K, 5K, 7K, 10K or 15K.  (See the full rules here.)

My one linger large project - Skyliner crochet skirt.

Unless you have hands that move like lightning and no fear of carpal tunnel, the way to get high meterage is by finishing projects.  Even if you only knit one row and bind off, all the meters for the project are included towards your total.  This is great for the procrasti-knitter with piles of UFOs.  For the more devious, it's an excuse to work your projects almost to the end and then put them aside until May 27th.

Last year I made it to 10K, but that was with the advantage of a crochet afghan which was well underway.  This year I only have one large lingering project, so I will be burning my wrists to get to that total again.

Here's a review of the smaller projects which will jump start my total:

My Passerine Hat which was worked up to the last row just this morning.  It desparately needs blocking, but will wait until the 27th.

These fingerless mitts were almost done, and then, for an unknown reason, yanked from the needles and set aside.  They are knit a little loosely for my taste, but with a little time investment they will be a good contribution to both charity and my SD total.

I've also got a couple mystery projects.  What?  Who?  Why?  I'll make a guess and finish them off.

 I've got some design work to do this summer, and for the first time in years I am going to knit a sweater for my husband.  Since this is my year to conquer sock knitting, I should have a few of those in the pile, too.

Goo luck to all the contestants in this year's race.  To the starting gate, ladies and gentlemen.

This One is Mine

In my last post I told the story of how I knit two very similar sweaters.  Today is the story of how I knit a third.

This was my very first published design that I knit for myself.  It's not that I didn't like my other sweaters.  Or that they weren't fun to knit or flattering designs.  It just that once you've knit a sweater to fit a model, re-knitting it to fit a regular human body with a chest measurement of upwards of 40" is a long slog.  And you also don't have the page-turning mystery of how it will turn out.  The beans have been spilled.

But this one is different.  I really love the shape.  With the angled side edges, the front pieces flare back to create a very flattering v-neck.  And, since it is a modular construction with each piece building off the previous pieces, it's a fun puzzle with no nasty seams.  And, I just happened to have a bag of Silk Garden Lite that had been marinating in my stash for just long enough to be ready to knit.

I've been really astonished about the reaction to this sweater.  Everybody wants to try it on, and, once checked in the mirror, everybody wants their own.  I'll be leading a knit-along at my LYS, Knitch, in Delafield, Wisconsin, beginning later in May.  Give them a call for details or leave me a comment.