Threadbare and stash

Ever wondered what the word threadbare really means? This is it:



There are no holes in my socks, but this pair is more than ratty. You know that I'm working on providing my dad with all hand knit socks and in my stash I still have 4,5 skeins of sock yarn for that purpose, but I don't have any sock yarn for myself at all. And since I went a little overboard when I was home for Christmas shopping for yarn in my favourite LYS, I will not be getting any new yarn until I have knitted up almost all that I currently have stashed away.  

Since we came home from Christmas my stash has lived in a plastic bag next to my square knitting basket under the diningtable/my studyspace. Ah yes, the joys of small dwellings. For some time now I have wanted to show off my yarn a little more. I used to have a small cabinet with a glass door that would hold it before my man moved in and I miss being able to see my yarn. 

Then all of a sudden my eyes focused on this:


 I did a little magic switching and the shelf now looks like this:


And while I would be proud if it was the case, that glass does not contain my entire stash! However, the remaining stash is now placed in project bags in the afore mentioned knitting basket. This makes the basket positively overflowing, but it is better than before.
The yarns in the glass are the yarns I am currently using. The Arwetta is for my dad's socks, the purple is cotton for some cotton pads that I'm crocheting and the final yarn is linen and in the process of being turned into an Insouciant.

Repeat..

Never change a winning team, right?
I'm currently working on my fifth pair of Madder Ribbed Socks by Nancy Bush. They have come to be my dad's favourite socks. He only has 3 pairs now, because my mum shrinked the pair I made him for Christmas 2012, so they live with me now...
If my dad could have it his way I would be knitting nothing but socks for him until he had enough to wear a pair every single day. He can't have his will, but I have comitted to knitting him 4 pairs in 2013. The first pair is already done and handed over to him on his birthday in January. The pair that is currently on the needles will be his Christmas gift, since I want that out of the way.
The remaining 2 pairs will be knitted whenever I feel like it.

Now the reason I'm really knitting my dad's Christmas socks in March is very selfish. Of course it will be nice to have the gift out of the way early in the year, but that is not the biggest reason. I'm really knitting them because I need the yarn, that I am hoping will be left I've finished all 4 pairs.
You see I picked up my John 6:12 blanket this weekend and did the math. I only need 11 more squares to be able to begin asembling it. All the squares are made of left over sock yarn. I will need to buy a skein or two for the boarder and asembling, but a baby blanket for 30-60 DKK is VERY cheap and will make a wonderful gift.

If I focus my knitting on the socks I can usually complete a pair in about a week. I am tempted to just take a month out of the calendar knittingwise and turn out all 3 pairs, so that I can work on the blanket. We'll see how I feel after finishing this pair.

I was afraid that knitting the same sock pattern over and over for my dad would become boring, but so far it hasn't. It feels very zen by now. I am making a few changes to this pair, after listening to my dad rave about how much he loves his socks. I know he would like a more stretchy cast on (Thank you Jeny for the surpricingly stretchy cast on/bind off) and a wider toe. I haven't decided on the toe yet, but I have 3 books on socks so I'm sure I can find one he will like.

Grinders

Salt

+
Pepper
=
Love!


These are our new salt and pepper grinders and we adore them.  They are called Funghi (for obvious reasons) and designed by Trine Find for Applicata and they are everything this Scandinavian design loving gal could want.  The grind is Ceramic and has a 25 year guarantee, so I dream of them becoming family heirlooms.