December - the mostly sane part

Sometime early in December I decided it was time to really start trying to cut back my wool stash. One of the great things of Ravelry is the ease in which you can match up patterns with wool you already have - of course while doing that, days pass and you add dozens more patterns to your queue (it's not just me is it?)

So I cast on a few things from the stash;

The Dream in Stripes shawl - a simple triangular shawl, I'm using two self striping sock yarns with long repeats, and so far the colours really seem to be working well together. This is a great travel project as its extremely simple to remember the pattern, pick up and put down. So this will probably be around for a while.

'Dream in Stripes' shawl using two balls of Sock yarn

Then I got ambitious, and tried my first chart shawl pattern - Olympic National Park by VeryBusyMonkey. I love the trees. This alpaca yarn was a dream to knit with too (I think I originally bought it for socks, before I understood what qualities sock yarn needs). I started this out planning it to be a Christmas gift - but after finishing it, and learning what was involved to block it (stretch and pin it to shape to open up the design) I realised that was too much to ask of a non knitter. So it became a Christmas gift for me!

'Olympic National Park' shawl, by VeryBusyMonkey using Drops Alpaca (after blocking)

Finished on Christmas Eve! with 0 hours of decent daylight it was hard to get a photo.

Then there were Christmas decorations - using stash yarn. Thinking these would be great little quick things to add into people's gifts.

The cutest little snowmen - pattern by Mochimochi

Christmas Pud - by Sue Stratford

all so cute!

Mini Christmas Elf themed garland

Mini Ornaments

If I start earlier this year I'd like to knit a lot more of these - I think they all look best when in groups, but as they use such small needles that takes a while. Lucky I had made some felt Christmas decorations way back in January (when I was going to be organised for Christmas) and had set them aside and forgotten them till now! - I blogged about making these here

It was about this time, as the lounge room was gradually becoming overtaken by various bowls, bags, and piles of yarn, miniature mittens and snowmen, that the Christmas crazy started setting in. I tried to put it off by making a promise, well two promises really;

"I'm not going to try and knit gifts for everyone now, and end up in a knitting frenzy like last year" (when I was finishing gifts in the car park before the family Christmas catch up!)

and 

"I'm not going to buy any more wool until I've used at least half my stash"

Fast forward two weeks, two massive yarn hauls added to the stash later - weaving ends in at 2am on Christmas Day (after Christmas Eve Midnight Mass). Gifting one mitten and three balls of wool to my BIL - much to everyones amusement at his confusion (they're nearly finished now, honest).

So I have Christmas gift knitting to post later, a pair of mittens still to finish, and a stash that's almost doubled in size. I seem to be establishing a Christmas tradition - and like many others, not a healthy one! I've joined a couple of Christmas knitting groups on Ravelry, knitters who encourage each other to start, and finish, Christmas knitting early - but for January at least, I need a break from Christmas knitting!

I promise I won't buy anymore yarn though, really.