Playing Hooky

"My name is Victoria and I am a truant blogger."  Lowers head in shame.  "It has been more than six months since my last post (not counting last week)."


You are now supposed to say, in unison, "Hi, Victoria."


With blog truancy comes guilt.  True, I have not blogged much this year (as my sister Constance is wont to remind me of on a rather regular basis), but I have not strayed far afield the world of crochet.  Although I have had a lot of work and family demands during that time, I did manage to play a little "hooky."
  
In February, I felted my first Fedora hat -- four skeins down but first, I had to add them to my stash.  In May, I made a pair of mittens -- two skeins used but purchased four more to finish the mittens as well as another pair.  In July, I attended the Knit and Crochet Show in Manchester, New Hampshire, where I picked up nine skeins of yarn.  Later that month, I made a silk purse, using up one skein purchased in NH and another purchased to finish the project. I also added a double sized skein to justify the cost of shipping.  In August, I made Vicki Mikulak's Flying Diamonds Shawl; although beautiful and fun to make, it was not quite a stashbuster at less than 2 skeins.  In the early days of September, I finished a cover for a hot water bottle, using yarn gifted from one Raverly swap partner.

My yarn adventures introduced me to several new yarns, including a couple that already were in my stash:


Frog Tree's Picoboo -- a pima cotton/bamboo blend in a sport-weight yarn that is actually closer to a light DK.  Wonderfully soft, it drapes well and shows stitch definition without being stiff.  Here it is worked up into a hot water bottle cover.

Habu Textiles' A-111 1/2.5 Tsumugi Silk Combination -- an unusual 100% silk yarn that has several colors within each strand.  This is not a yarn to highlight highly textured crocheted stitches, although it does an admirable job of subtle stitch definition, such as Dee Stanziano's Pushmi-Pullyu stitch technique.  Why this yarn is called a fingering weight yarn, I don't know.  rather, it works up like a DK and most folks are using a 6 mm needle or 4 mm hook.  Here it is as a silk purse.

StyleCraft's Signature Chunky -- this "Plain Jane"-named yarn is far from nondescript.  A 50/50 wool/acrylic blend from Britain, it is luscious and very soft, and, dare I say, inexpensive.  I started off with two skeins but had to order more to finish these mittens in the Peacock colorway.  I even ordered extra skeins so I can make a set for myself. This picture does not do them justice.


Looking back, several projects were completed, but overall, not much stashbusting done.  Counting yarn gifted from swaps, yarn purchased by me for me, yarn gifted to others during swaps, yarn used to make various projects, and yarn purchased to complete projects, I would say that my stash remains about the same.  Playing hooky has been productive.