princessdeia

When I first started this round of Project Spectrum, I had a lot of big intentions. I was going to use this opportunity to stash bust, experiment with adding more colour into my life and blog away about all things fiery. Of course, it didn’t work out like that at all!

I have had very little free time recently, which translate to very little knitting and even less blogging. So in a last minute attempt to show I have been embracing all things pink, orange and yellow! Now I haven’t painted any walls yellow or rushed out to buy a bright pink coat, I have slowly been adding more colour into my life.

I figured the reason I never considered wearing yellow or orange was because I had never found the right shade for me… so before going to Rome I brought this mustard yellow top, I thought it was a safe bet, it works well with the staples in my wardrobe (dark blue jeans or brown cords).
Please ignore the lame photo it was taken as part of the “Fontana di Trevi Experiement” on Ravelry!

However, I am yet to find the perfect shade of orange and this colour is still missing from my palette. Pink has been the easiest colour for me to play with, it is very easy to throw on my pink converse shoes, and I have previously knitted several pink socks and of course I have had another pair of pink socks on the needles this month! I am hoping to finish these tomorrow, so I can start working with the earth tones for the next cycle of PS3.

I don’t have the time to commit to a long swap like Secret Pal, but I still love swaps, (it is the joy of getting post). I love the idea of the Mystery Swap, a parcel with a theme and a few years ago I had so much fun with the Project Spectrum Postcard Swap, so imagine my joy today when I got two interesting pieces of mail (along with a rather boring bank statement).

First was this parcel from Karin, as part of the Mystery Swap, she picked Miss Marple as the theme but as I have all the books, she is calling it “The Miss Marple package without a Miss Marple book” package… Karin thought the darker blue yarn would be perfect for the Reading-In-Bed Shrug (pdf file) - which I think is very Miss Marple.
Also included was some sock yarn, rose napkins, a pattern book and frog candle (not pictured).

Next was an ATC as part of the PS3 - Elements, this firey creation was by Meg, she was lovely enough to also include a spring ATC for my collection - but for some reason I forgot to photograph it :S

As I am blogging about PS3 it make sense that I should show off my fire inspired knitting. My second pair of Pomatomus Socks this time in Knitwitches sock yarn.

For the last year, I have had limited space to store my knitting gear as a result I am a little obsessed with de-stashing, I have always know my stash isn’t huge but it is too big for me to handle, so over the last few weeks I have been joining several groups on Ravelry and even joined the Stashalong.

I guess for me, my stash has become a little overwhelming, I have all this lovely sock yarn and no idea which one to use first, or I find it hard to select a pattern every though I have loads in my queue. Project Spectrum has made this a little easier, as I am using my firey shades at the moment. As I needed to collect all my pink and orange yarn I decided to take advantage of this time to re-organise my stash.

Normally my stash is in three boxes one for sock yarn, one for wool and one for others (mainly silks at the moment), Now it is colour order (depending on the colours for each theme). Also I am taking advantage of Ravelry, now when I see a pattern I like as well as adding it to my queue, I am going to assign a yarn it. For patterns I like that I don’t have the yarn for, I will send them to the end of my queue, ensuring the next project in my queue is a stash busting one. As for all the yarn in my stash I have no idea what to do with, I have been using the pattern suggestion tab on the yarn page, to look for inspiration.

After the issue of TWIR last week, I tried to calculate how much money I have spend on yarn per year. Looking through my blog entries from last year on yarn I brought for myself (not including yarns for gifts or swaps), I estimate I spent about £250 ($475), I don’t think that is too awful, the yarn kept me amused for a the year and I have some wonderful projects to show for this money. However, seeing it in black and white has made me realise I do spend a lot on this little old hobby of mine and potential I could save some money this year by stash busting!

What am I going to do with this money?
The answer is simple I am going to use it to build a house!

Last week, I also read about Christy’s project to get knitters to donate money to help build a house in Lower 9th Ward in New Orleans (the area worst effected by Hurricane Katrina). I remember taking up Yarn Harlot’s TSF challenge a few years ago and realising how much money I “waste” in a week on things, and it is the same with yarn I could easily spend £30 a month in my LYS and the yarn will still in stash until next year, so I am going to do something positive with it.

For me and my knitting February means the start of Project Spectrum, this year’s theme all about the Elements and linking them to colour and crafting…

The project is starting of with FIRE incorporating oranges, reds, and pinks. I am hoping adding elements to the project will really help me get a little more creative, I am apart from just experimenting with colours now we have a theme, knitting Flickering Flames Socks or Candle Flame Shawl.

I want to experiment more with colour for me, I live in a uniform of jeans and tee during the day and dresses in the evening. All are shades of blue, black or brown. Occasionally, I buy a red or pink t-shirt and only wear it once. I would never dream of wearing something orange or yellow (I barely even wear green). My home is exactly the same, shades of blue and brown, the only colour is on the beds with a pink or lilac duvet cover.

For Christmas, I got the Kate Spade Style book, I love the ways she talks about colour and it’s relation to the world around us, from, people to film, to clothes to everyday objects. She also then gives tips to add colour to our lives. I figure this is the perfect time for me start examining colour and also experimenting with it in my life.

As this is a knitting blog, I guess I should show off the firey yarn in my stash.

1. NDS - Dazzle, for a special project, 2. Cascade 220, for a Hot Bottle Cover,
3. KnitWitches Sock Yarn, 4. Knit Picks Shimmer - I have not idea what to do with these yarns.