Day 4: Color Review

What are your favourite colours for knitted or crocheted projects. Have a think about what colours you seem to favour when yarn shopping and crafting.

Only after writing this part of your post should you then actually look to see what colours you have used in your projects. Make a quick tally of what colours you have used in your projects over the past year and compare it to the colours you have written about. Compare this, in turn, to the colours that are most dominant in your yarn stash – do they correlate?

Now think back to your house animal - do the colours you have chosen relate to your animal in anyway - if you are in the house of peacock, for example, are your projects often multicoloured and bright?

As part of the Knit and Crochet Blog Week last year I did a post about my own color confusion.

This is what my stash looked like then ...

Today it looks more like this ...

...

...

...

Well, I decided to go to the gym instead of getting photos in the daylight (also it's raining/snowing here again today so it was a Debbie Downer of a day), so I don't know what my stash colorwheel looks like today, but here is the overall survey of colors from my exported Ravelry data.

[gallery columns="2" ids="3173,3174"]

So it looks like I've managed to make projects in a relative proportion to what I seem to buy.  Also, I'm surprised how proportional my stash is, color wise, I was expecting to see more purple and green.  These are two colors I naturally gravitate towards when I'm putting yarn in my shopping cart (even if I don't buy it). I would like to expand my palette but that may be more a question of tint and tone rather than hue as I gravitate towards mostly dark, fall/winter shades rather than fun, clear tones.

I wish I could find a way to tie it to my monkey-ness but honestly work has been insane (which is great) and I ended up spending way more of my evening than I would like to admit trying to get the excel file open and doing the data crunching.

So the story of color is that I totally buy on instinct and it seems I'm just as haphazard in using those colors in projects.  Also, as someone who knits accessories (rather than sweaters) I think I have a bit more freedom to be random with my colors because I really doesn't matter if the color "works" for you if you are wearing it as socks, and I do love me some wild colored socks.

Day 3: Infographic - Stash Table of Doom

There are many ways of conveying information on a blog; text and images being the two most widely used. Many infographics combine both these elements to provide a visual way of presenting text information.

Make your own infogaphic (no fancy imaging software needed, you can draw it on paper and photograph it if you want) to convey any element of your craft(s). It can be just for fun or a thoroughly researched presentation of an idea/finding.

I blogged about the creation of these infographics way back last May, when I created the fiber tracking stash table of doom (or yarn tracking as it is so innocently named in my system).

But basically these are representations of the current state of my stash and is my way of feeling in control of my yarn stash.  These are tools to help me tell myself a story, also for some reason I really like creating tables and working with data.

Why craft when you can procrastinate?

So, through the month of May I had some big fun stuff going on of late, like deadlines for volunteer projects and job interviews, and projects I have to finish from my last job (I volunteered to finish because I wanted it done right).  During  that time I have been spending quite a bit of time at my desk, and instead of actually working I have been doing all sorts of useful things, like figuring out how much excess yarn I have, and how much each year since 2009.  Not because I'm embarassed, or think I need to buy less yarn, but because I'm crazy and love a good excel table, and I want to know how close my purchases match my use. I managed to destash a bunch of yarn I was never going to use back in February and it felt great and it has put me on a stash kick, because by using up stash I can buy more of it, and much my yarn tastes have changed since I started knitting, so I want to use up what I have so I can get more of what I want!

So it seems that I'm doing really well this year, based on a ratio of yarn in to yarn out, in the form of knitting/crocheting/weaving/destashing (including handspun, which I only count once, as in just the handspun and not the fluff, I did my fluff/yarn calculations separately and based on weight not yardage).

Initially, I did these calculations in May, however I have been diligent in updating them as I have stashed yarn and fluff , and spun and finished projects.  As of July 1st, 2012 I have 46,038 yds (26mi) of yarn and 5.248 kg (11.5 lbs) of fluff.

Beyond the simple volume issue, there is the matter of the fact that if I knit a whole bunch I can stash a whole bunch, so the ratio between yarn in and out is more important on the side of things.

Now, it is important to note that a ratio of 1.0 means that I have acquired the exact same amount of yarn that I used.  Greater than 1 means I stashed more than I used and less than 1 means that I used more than I stashed.  Ideally, I'd like to keep my lifetime ratio to about 1.0, however that would require more destash and knitting than is feasible, so I plow on, being mindful of the ratio as I pick yarns to stash and projects to make.

As of July 1st, 2012, my lifetime ratio for yarn is 2.32 but for 2012 it is 1.37.

This is the lowest year yet with the closest being 1.85, from 2007-2009, when I was just in the early days of my knitting life. The hightest by contrast is 3.93, from 2010 when I discovered first KnitPicks and then Eat.Sleep.Knit and handdyed yarns other than Malabrigo like madelinetosh. I think my low 2012 is due to destashing almost as much yarn as I have knit.

For fluff it is lifetime, 2.64 but for 2012, 0.78.

My fluff is a bit better on the issue of scale but not in ratio, my fluff to handspun ratio is more like 3.26. In late 2010 I started spinning so I bought a bunch of fluff that I didn't really spin much of till I got my wheel at Christmas 2010, so for 2011 I bought a whole bunch and spun a whole bunch, but mostly discovered all the goodies to be had out there, and hit it hard!

So what I am aiming for is for the next year or so, getting that number below 1, because then I am using more than I am buying, but to get the overall number to between 1 and 1.25.  Then I can have a nice sustainable yarn stash, full of things I love.

I guess I am a serial monogamist kind of knitter ...

In the throes of "Knit All The Things" at the beginning of the month, I cast on a whole bunch of things. Since then I have methodically worked through them, one at a time, working on first the baby items (because they have a pretty distinct deadline, a baby shower at the end of the month) and now on my Red Label Cowl because it has been hanging over my head since January, and the recent turn in the weather suggests that we are moving from cowl season to pashmina season. Unfortunately my March Socks have been left by the wayside, with the cuff and the first three rows of the first repeat done.  I desperately want to knit and wear these socks, they are downright awesome and I know from my Aquarium Socks, which I wear every single week, that the TFA Blue Label yarn is going to feel so nice on my feet.

I think I have to commit to having two projects on the go at a time, one pair of Vanilla Purse Socks made TAAT with KnitPicks Felici, self-striping yarn, and something more complex for home.  Right now have 35ish grams of Red Label so hopefully that will be done by the end of the weekend and I can really bite into the Staked socks and have them done for the end of the month to stay on track with making a pair of socks a month, because I have acquired some more sock yarn.

Carla went to the Indigodragonfly knitting retreat in early March and brought home some sock yarn I ordered and one I have been lusting after, two in Merino Nylon and one in MCN.  Also Tanis did a OOAK update to her etsy shop and I ended up with a skein of Purple Label (MCN Sock) in Purple Fog and then KnitPicks released their 2012 Felici colors.  After several months of minimal yarn acquisition I kinda gorged, and the Tanis Year in Colour Club is going to be arriving sometime towards the end of next week so I need to get knitting. Also I had that Sweet Georgia order back in February and that trip to Toronto in January where I couldn't leave the Purple Purl and Lettuce Knit empty handed.  I seem to acquire stash in the Winter, I can't resist yarn between January and April, but then once it gets to summer I am just fine.  Or I am like a squirrel stashing away yarn while I am still employed to get ready in case another permanent position, or more funding, doesn't come up for a while.

Stash In, Stash Out

Stash, that glorious wonderful thing, that home to a thousand dreams and the temptress to lead so many knitters astray.

I love yarn, it is warm and squishy, it is the embodiment of possibility, will it be a scarf or socks or a sweater or a baby toy? However, because of all this possiblity I think of yarn as a kitten I have adopted, I need to keep it safe or make something out of and if, unexpectedly, I fall out of love with it, it is a spurned lover haunting my thoughts and my queue.

Part of the fun of knitting is that you get to buy stuff, and you get to enjoy new yarns and tools, however if your stash is weighing on your conscience, every yarn purchase induces more guilt.  For those with a SABLE (Stash Beyond All Life Expectancy) there is a kind of shame that seems to go around with growing the stash even further, despite the fact that you have means to purchase all that yarn without any sacrifices.

This brings it all back to me, I don't have a SABLE, I have a nice stash, but it has been giving me angst, mostly because I feel like yarn should be FIFOed.  For those of you fortunate not enough not have a parent who uses technical terms at home or haven't worked in food service, FIFO stands for First In, First Out.  So when you get something new it doesn't get stocked right away, you sell the oldest stuff first and then stock the new stuff.  So as I have applied this mindset to yarn, when I find something new, gorgeous and scrumptious and I order it, I end up putting it in my stash until I have knitted up some of the stash that has been marinating for longer.

But this has put me in a position where I feel stuck with yarns that I don't love any more, that weren't of a quality of fiber I appreciate today. But that since I brought it home I HAVE to knit it.  Heck, I have crocheted two baby blankets from yarn I didn't love, but felt obligated to use up.

So, while it wasn't one of my 2012 goals, I think I am going to try to be not as hard on myself about my stash.  I am going to let go of the yarns that make me feel guilt, be that through donation or destash. I started doing this last week at our Georgian Bay Fiber Guild swap, I managed to get quite a few yarns that were weighing heavily on me off to new, happy homes.

Also, I am going to work with some of the new fibers in my stash, letting myself get taken in by a beautiful skein and project without feeling like I am betraying all the yarn that has come before that perfect new skein.

Now time to get more of it moved out and to work with some of the new yarns I have coming in, including Tanis Fiber Arts 2012 Club and the Indigodragonfly Smart Ass Knitters/World Domination One Skein Club which will start up in June.  Also, that box of SweetGeorgia yarn that showed up at my door last week.