OMG! I’M SWIMMING IN YARN……

I’ve just learned that my beloved mother in law is coming to stay for several months. Have to make room for her. Seriously. What to do with all the yarn/books/hooks/magazines/print outs/etc in the ‘yarn room’ that will be her bedroom? I’ve spent the past TWO days – no kidding, hours and hours – organizing, boxing, winding, cutting, sorting, etc this mess.

Does it help to know that I have ADD? Does it help to know that I’m a rotten housekeeper? Does it help to know that I’ve been working way more hours lately than my supposedly part time job usually calls for? Does it help to know that much of the stuff in this room was given to me?

No! None of that knowledge is either an excuse or a solution to this mess. So far, I’ve sorted and boxed many skeins of yarn, way too many computer print outs of patterns, and an astonishing number of UFO’s that have simply been abandoned.

The ADD part for an adult who is supposed to be the main housekeeper is this: If I can’t see it, I don’t know I own it! Well, I know in a vague way that I own lots of yarn, patterns, hooks, etc. And, I may recall in a more specific way that I have lots of red and black RH yarn. But, for the life of me, I cannot tell you -even having recently culled through this mess – if I have enough of anything to crochet a sweater or if I have a G hook in rosewood or even if I have a pattern for a Christmas doily. I’m sure I have all of the above, but I don’t KNOW it.

So, forgive my mess and know that it will be to the advantage of my readers that there will be lots Lots lots of contests soon to receive the overflow of my yarn trove, hooks that I’ll never use, and duplicate pattern mags and books. Don’t go far. I’m gonna unload these things over the next few months and you’ll ALL have a good shot at winning some.

Note: In the interest of full disclosure, the picture above is from an LB blog. I CANNOT find my camera in all this mess. Surprised??

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If you’re looking for a sweater knitting pattern that uses up some of your stash and allows you to make just the sweater you want, the Marlina Rib by Shay Johson might be just the thing.

It’s worked with two strands of fingering weight yarn held together to make a DK weight gauge, so you can use the same two yarns throughout or change one or both regularly for an even more colorful look.

The pattern has options to make it either a crewneck or a henley style with buttons, tapered or relaxed sleeves, and a straight hemline or a split hem with buttons (which sounds so cute if you do the henley with split hem and match the buttons on both parts).

It’s also knit from the top down so you can make the body and the sleeves as long as you want. There are 10 sizes available in the pattern, with a chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 81.5 to 172.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 4-6 inches/10-15 cm of positive ease at the chest.

The pattern page on Ravelry includes tons of measurements and yardage estimates so you can make sure you’ll get a good fit for your body before you even buy the pattern. Shay also shows a few variations of the sweater so you can see how different options look before you decide how you want to put them together.

The stitch pattern is 1×2 ribbing, which is really easy to do and gives a look almost like fisherman’s rib that’s relaxed and easy to wear.

This sweater looks like a great option for people who are somewhat new to sweater knitting or those who love to have lots of customization options (because it’s like getting multiple sweater patterns in one!).

Check out all the details and grab a copy of the pattern for yourself at Ravelry.

[Photo: Shay Johnson]

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