did I mention I finished this? last Tuesday, I think. I think I started it in late January or February.

Yarns used: Paton’s Classic Merino Wool in Royal Purple (solid) and Palais (varigated).
Needles used: size 7 KP for the body of the hat, size 6 Denise, size 5 12″ Addis for the ribbing.
Pattern used: I forget what it’s called, but it’s in the book Knitting for Peace.

I’m quite proud of the pompom - the previous ones I’ve made have been rather wimpy, but this one’s nearly perfect! (I use Susan Bates Trim Tool. It’s deisigned for fringes and tassels, but I figured out how to use it for pompoms after seeing those wooden ‘Pom Trees’ sold in some of the catalogs.) I’m also happy with the way the seaming went (it only took two tries). I think I finally ‘get it’. Maybe I’m ready for a seamed sweater now. It was a pretty easy pattern to memorize, but picking up the stitches for the ribbing was a bit of a pain.

For reference, here’s last year’s meager attempt at Flashing. (I think that pic was actually taken in Feb or March and a bit fuller than that by April 1st.)

onward to this years…

The basket of wool - mostly Lion Brand and Paton’s. some is pegged for projects, some is leftover. The twisted hank of green is from the thrift shop and intended to be dyed one of these days, cuz I’m just not a fan of that green.

The top shelf there has some IKEA containers. on the left we have the kitchen cotton (two layers stacked. I think it’s all Sugar n Cream.). the center one has the 5 balls of Paton’s Divine I got at the Knit Out in February, and on the right we have some oddballs - some fun fur that’s destined to become a toy, the frogged lion hat, and a few other things.

The drawers and boxes. top drawer - leftovers. 2nd drawer - cottons and cotton-blends. 3rd drawer - oddball stuff from an ebay win. bottom two drawers, the fabric stash. the boxes - one contains a bunch of cones and oddments found at the thrift shop around this time last year. I forget if the second box contains more yarn or more fabric (or something else entirely). (EDIT: I think it’s something else entirely - namely photos. boatloads of photos from the days before I had digital. Yes, I take a lot of pictures.)

The stash containment zone (see last year’s pic for a compare/contrast). bottom shelf - large lots for sweaters, a bit of Lion Chenille and my Griffindor scarf yarn. 2nd up - lots of random yarns. 2nd down - the sock stash. it’s ready to burst out of there. top - the good yarns - Touch Me, CE Princess & Duchess, Koigu, and I forget what else. on top of it I have crates and stuff for my needles and other bits and bobs. (though sometimes the yarn overflows up there too). You probably can’t see it due to the flash reflection, but the stash is being protected by One Angry Sheep, who’s a member of the Bo Peep Gang.

and finally, we have one more box. this is the collection of thrift-shop-sweaters-to-be-frogged. the red on top is a sari silk/wool/etc blend that I got distracted by during the Knitting Olympics last year. there’s also a blend that’s pink/white/grey that you can see peeking - I forsee something for Amelia being made with it. and there’s some cream sweaters buried that I’ll use to play with dyeing.

I think that’s all the yarn.

On to the needle collection:

The straight needles - mostly just the glitter collection and a few other ones. I rarely use straight needles, but I have a weakness for the glitter.

the basket of circulars. I’m planning on donating anything that’s not a 12″ or 16″. (unless someone wants to swap for them. sizes 3, 4s, 6, 7s, 10 1/2? in 24″ and/or 29″ lengths)

my dpns in the case I sewed up. it should be nearly full, but the ‘felting’ size needles seem to be running around in the WIPs. actually, so are some of the smaller ones too.

the reasons for the circular purge: my Denise set and my Knit Picks circular set. I also have the 16″ & 24″ sock-size (0-3) KP needles and some of the longer cords for both sets.

I don’t mind having so many needles, cuz they’re tools, and I don’t have too many duplicates. The yarn, on the other hand, scares me a little. Especially since I still feel a ‘need’ to buy yarn, even though I have plenty. I’ve been doing alright lately - haven’t added too much to the stash and have been trying to knit from it as well. But I’m not sure if this is a temporary feeling or if I’ll cave soon enough and start acquiring more.