Charmed Knits Knit-Along

My knitting needles have been idle lately, so I've decided to use them toward a good cause through the Charmed Knits Knit-Along. Warm hats for those who need it most. Based on the colors in my stash, I think I'm gonna be making Ravenclaw hats. Or at least one hat. I'm hoping having a purpose will encourage me to complete this project. I have the blue, all I need now is orange. Gold is close enough to orange, right?

Test #1: Complete!

Armwarmers test #1 is finished! I was so excited I didn't even bother blocking it or finding a ribbon. Leftover yarn works just fine. This is such a cute pattern; I can't get over it. Though I think I will have to tweak it a bit first before I move on to phase 2. I was a bit nervous while I was knitting, because although the pattern said that it would stretch, it just looked way to small to go around my arm. But it seems to be a good fit and I haven't even blocked yet. Though I do kind of feel like I'm losing circulation now... Of course I am, in effect, wearing a corset around my hand. Take a look!

Getting Warmer

Here's my armwarmer progress report. Test armwarmer is coming along nicely. Good thing these things are small because it takes forever to knit with #2's. As an aside, trying to knit on the train with non-circular knitting needles is quite annoying. It's hard to avoid poking people when you're packed like sardines...



(I seemed to have gotten it dirty already, oops. This is why I like navy blue!)

Before and After

I feel so accomplished; I actually did what I said I would, when I would! (Most of) my yarn has shed its previous home...



...in favor of a much more sturdy and organized locale. Unfortunately I couldn't fit all of it in, but I crammed in as much as possible, as you can see. Hopefully the lid won't pop on me.





And here's a bonus pic of the armwarmers I started yesterday. Not sure how far I'll get in these warm months, but I like the way it's coming along so far. It's basically a seed stitch border with stockinette for the main part, and a row of purl to separate them. I'm going with the cream color for my trial run because, well, it's thin and I had extra lying around. One of the Lion Brand baby yarns, nice and soft. Now to figure out what color ribbon to go with it...

Hidden Stash

This is the current state of my yarn stash.



1. It's stuffed all the way in the deep, dark recesses of my closet.
2. It's a black box. I have no idea what I have anymore.

It's time to organize! I always thought of myself as having just a few skeins, but after years of buying "just a few" I recently came to the realization that I have an honest to goodness stash of yarn--and it's a veritable mess. But that will all change this weekend. Armed with a big plastic bin, I will take back the stash!