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??

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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