Long story short: I have run out of places to store my yarn and something must be done.

I’ve decided to institute a yarn budget (shudder) that is directly related to using up stash yarn. In other words, I can increase the amount of money I am allowing myself to spend on yarn by using yarn I already own. Since the goal is to reduce the size of the stash, I’ve decided that each ball of stash yarn will be worth approximately 1/3 of what it would cost to replace it. (Which means that if I want to buy a ball of Bernat Satin, I’ll have to use three balls of Bernat Satin or equivalent first.)

Since this isn’t really about saving money, I’ve made up a “virtual jar” to track the money for the yarn budget. It’s on my phone so I’ll have it with me at all times.

Naturally, once I put this policy in place I started crocheting like a mad woman! And this is how I discovered the wonder that is Phentex Worsted yarn. It comes in a massive ball (400g / 792m, 14oz / 867y) and with a 40% off coupon at Michaels it’s only $6.

The good news is, one ball made 27 granny squares that measure about 6.5″:

The bad news is… I have two entire dollars in my yarn budget now.

sigh

If you are some kind of crazy person desperate and want to try this yourself, here is my conversion list:

Bernat Satin: $1
Phentex: $2
Vanna’s Choice: $1.25
LB Homespun: $1.50
L&T Charisma: $1.25
Bernat Waverly: $1.50
Bernat Handicrafter cotton: $0.50
Bernat Soft Boucle large: $2
Bernat Soft Boucle extra large: $3
RH Soft: $1.50

Charity yarn my mom buys: $0.25 (as an incentive to use it up as it costs me nothing to replace)
Yarn I won’t buy more of: $1
Scraps: 1 cent per gram rounded to the nearest quarter

I am deliberately ignoring sales tax. It just makes the numbers messy. Ignoring it in this list AND when buying yarn will balance out in the end. (And easily allows for purchasing yarn outside of Ontario!)

I finally bought some and started to experiment.

First, the intended use, single crochet:

(I also tried double crochet, it works, but it looks weird in the tiny swatch I made… I’m going to try it again on a larger scale, and try other stitches, at a later date.)

Then I tried an idea we had at guild: to crochet with a smooth yarn (in this case, Bernat Satin), and carry the Pom-Pom yarn along, crocheting over the thin parts and letting the puffs stick out (front and back) :

Then I tried using it to join and edge squares. This is by far my favourite use of this yarn so far!

Here’s how to crochet with this yarn:

Start by trimming four or five puffs. Be careful! It’s easy to accidentally cut through the main thread. It’s also beneficial to leave a bit of the puff, as shown – it helps keep the ends from un-weaving themselves.

Make a slip knot in the trimmed area you just made, close to the first puff.

Put your hook into the slip knot as usual. To make the base chain, you do as you normally would, you yarn over and pull through the loop on your hook. With this kind of yarn, it’s important to make sure you never pull a puff through the loop. Only work with the thin part, and pretty much ignore the puffs completely. So, to yarn over:

wrap the thin part of the yarn around the hook and ignore the closest puff.

Again, when you pull through, make sure you don’t bring a puff with you:

The base chain will naturally start to twist around. This will work itself out once you start working stitches into it.

Here we’re doing single crochet stitches, and so we need to insert the hook into the second chain from it:

And again, when you yarn over, ignore the puff closest to the hook and work with the thread after it, so that when you pull that loop up, you only have the thread and no puffs:

Skipping a puff, yarn over:

And pull just the thread through both loops.

When you’re done your piece, you need to trim some more puffs like you did at the beginning, then you pull this de-puffed thread through the loop to lock it all into place. Weave in the ends as you normally would – the smaller puffs seem to be just big enough to encourage the ends to stay where they are.

That’s all there is to it! Doing other stitches seems to just be the case where you continue to ignore the puffs. When I tried it with double crochet, all of the puffs in a row pointed in one direction, and so the puffs on the next row pointed the other way. Again, I’ll play with it and report back!

As it turns out, I am one of the folks being laid off.

Now, several weeks ago I was thinking about my stash. Those of you who have been following this blog for a while have a pretty good idea of the sheer hugeness of my stash. (Click on “Yarn” up there at the top for a better idea if you’re new!)

But how much *time* does the stash represent? If I didn’t buy another ball, how long would what I have last me? After some quick math, I concluded that with my current work schedule, it would take me less than 2 years to go through all of it. I’m as shocked as you are!

Anyhow, with the news of my upcoming unemployment, I thought, what if I don’t find another job right away? We’re in a very comfortable financial situation right now, but what about the stash? Without having to stop crocheting long enough to scan books, how long would the stash last then??

My course was clear.

As it would happen, the TTC Knitalong was being held the first weekend after the bad news was announced at work. It was the perfect opportunity to stock up!

Here are the adventures of Team Red:
(Click on a picture to see it in a larger size)

We gathered at Passion Knit

where I met a truly lovely woman who teaches crochet there. I think (hope!) I was able to convince her to join our crochet guild.

This is also where we received our swag bags. Here’s mine:

That Mary Maxim coupon is going to see some really good use! I’m thinking birthday shopping…

Speaking of Mary Maxim, that’s where we went next! It seems I forgot to take a picture while we were there. I was pretty busy, though – more on that later!

Then it was time for lunch! We went to the food court at the Younge-Eglinton Centre and freaked out some muggles:

And here we are on the subway, freaking out some muggles:

Next, it was on to Knitomatic

My favourite part of this stop was how we freaked out *other knitters*. A couple of times someone would open the door, and see this:

and say something like, “uh… I’ll stop in on the way back…”

We were feeling rather under-caffeinated, so we decided to occupy a nearby Starbucks:

Now fortified, we headed to our last yarn shop of the day: Romni!

I was pretty tired by this point. More on that later!

We decided to walk over to the Rivoli, which is where we were meeting up with the rest of the groups to compare notes, win prizes, knit some more, and drink. (It’s ok, it’s not like any of us were driving… we all took the TTC! lol)

Prizes, you say? Well, first of all, Team Red very nearly swept the awards. We had the Youngest Knitter, some award about “Interspecies Relations” (there’s a story there about one of our group making friends with the bird at Knitomatic), the Bought The Least Amount award, and the winner AND runner up for Needs A Sherpa (bought the most yarn). Oh, and one of us won the draw that one of the shops was having, too!

So, what did I buy?

Bernat Satin, of course. This is why I was so busy at Mary Maxim!

Lots of Bernat Satin (of course!).

I had known going in that there was an award for having bought the most yarn, so I had come prepared:

Would you believe that the 60 balls of yarn I bought weren’t enough to win me the prize? I was the runner up! The winner had 62 balls. So close!!

We were an interesting pair, her an I. I was preparing the stash for potential unemployment, and she was gearing up for 3 months off of work due to surgery. On her foot. The lucky duck!

Anyhow, I did get a prize for being runner up:

Pretty sweet!

Oh! And the whole point to this adventure (other than buying lots of yarn) is to knit while riding transit. Of course, I crocheted instead:

Not bad for a day’s work!

Thank you so much to the organizers, donors, and participating yarn shops. I had a blast!

I’ve been frustrated by this myself, but it seems to me that the knitted swatches are done on a machine and thus can be manufactured en masse. Crochet can’t be done by a machine, and it would cost them way more money to pay someone to do it for them.

While at the Michaels in Calgary, though, I saw this:

And this:

And this:

Isn’t that fantastic?

Kudos and our thanks to Loops & Threads and Bernat!

You can avoid yarn barf that way, for sure, but I’m not convinced it’s the best way. When you work from the outside end, the ball of yarn tends to bounce around and roll all over the floor. Either that, or you have to keep stopping to pull off the next bit of yarn, which really cuts into your crocheting speed!

With experience, though, you can often avoid yarn barf. With some yarns, it is easy to find the inside end as it rests near the outside. With other yarns, though…

Bernat Satin is my most favourite yarn in the world, but it’s not one of those great “oh, here’s the end just sitting here!” kind of yarns.

Here is how I find the inside end (and what I do with it!) :

Find the end of the ball that has the outside end tucked into it:

Pull that end out:

and wrap it around the outside, tucking in the end (you may need to unravel the ball a little bit to do this) :

This step is key, for if you don’t get the outside-end out of the way, it will almost certainly tangle up with the inside-end.

Flip the ball over so that you’re looking at the end the outside-end wasn’t tucked into. Using both hands (not just one as shown), carefully open up the hole, staying centered:

Using thumb and finger, reach into the hole and feel around for the end. The end will be roughly in the middle of the ball, but it is unlikely you will feel it on the first try (if ever, really…). Try, instead, to find a strand of the yarn that feels like it should be right in the middle of the ball:

Pull that strand out. If it resists, it’s probably the wrong strand, however, once you start pulling there usually is no going back, so you might as well see what the damage is:

Not bad, really. It’s not a *lot* of yarn, and better yet, it’s not tangled! This is usually what I get when finding the end this way (apart from the rare instances when I actually do find the end on the first try).

Anyhow, pull the bundle of yarn out until there is only one strand running into the ball. That means the centre end is on the outside now.

To find the end in a way that won’t tangle the yarn, start by grasping the yarn that is coming out of the ball at the point closest to the yarn barf.

With your other hand, pull the yarn away from the yarn barf, to lay in a neat pile (on your leg, or the chair beside you, or whatever makes sense for the amount of yarn you’re dealing with).

Keep making the neat little pile until you get to the end:

If the yarn is just too tangled, you may want to think seriously about just cutting it at this point. You can always detangle it later and use it in some kind of scrap blanket or freeform project. Barring that, the tangle of yarn can be used to stuff amigurumi. :P

If you’re going to use the yarn right away, you can simply just go ahead and do so.

If you’re not going to use it right away, or if you don’t have time to use up all of the yarn that came out in one sitting, then read on:

Wrap the yarn in a figure-8 pattern around two of your fingers. Which two fingers will depend on how much yarn is outside of the ball. Mine is just a little bit, so I did pointer and middle:

Make sure that the end is sticking out at all times. You don’t want to lose it now!

Take the yarn off of your fingers, and start wrapping around the middle of the figure-8, still making sure your end is sticking out at all times:

Keep going, if needed, in a diagonal direction:

And then in the other diagonal direction, if needed.

When there’s a bit left, wind sideways again, but don’t pull more yarn out of the main ball, instead, move closer to the end of the main ball as you wind:

Once you’re just a couple of inches away, tuck the little ball you just wound into the ball band, with the end sticking up. You may have to flatten the little ball a little bit:

You are now ready to start crocheting! Just pull on the end sticking out of the little ball. The big ball will stay put, and the yarn will pull freely from the little ball until it runs out, and should pull seamlessly from the big ball from then on. There may be some hang-ups, but there shouldn’t be any secondary tangles.

If you find that you consistently run into secondary tangles, then I suggest that when you’re winding the little ball, that you *do* pull extra yarn out of the main ball until it is pulling out freely.

Sometimes it is just unavoidable and the whole ball needs to be re-wound. This hasn’t happened very often to me since I settled on the above method of inside-end-finding, but it does still happen. You can re-wind the whole ball using the steps described above, but do the figure-8 part around your thumb and pinky finger, your hand splayed out as much as you can. Keep winding around the middle, then diagonally until you are done, and whatever you do, don’t lost the inside-end!!

I’m celebrating by trying to be as helpful to crocheters as I can! I’m going to start by making you all feel better about your stashes.

Today I sorted out my novelty yarn stash, and here it is all out on the bed:

There’s well over a hundred balls of yarn in this picture (approximately 87% of which seems to be black-and-red variegated. Yeesh).

What am I going to do with all of this crazy yarn? Well, I have a few plans. I’m hoping to make a few monster bags (like this one), and maybe some Rapunzel scarves (like these), and maybe trim some amigurumi (like, well, all of these), and… and… I don’t know what else. Any ideas?

Look at this awesome printer I got from my parents!

What makes it so awesome? Look inside:

Yeah, baby!

I sorted it all out and found there was 81 balls of Bernat Satin in there! Here it is back in the box for easy carrying home:

(There are two layers of yarn there!)

I also received some Mary Maxim gift cards from Charles’ parents. I spent them well:

(50 more balls of Bernat Satin!)

Here’s the family all together:

I had a hard time getting it all in the frame when taking this picture (I had to stand on a chair!)… also, when I look at this picture on my Flickr stream, it doesn’t even fit on my monitor.

This *should* tide me over until the next time Bernat Satin goes on sale… you know, if I pace myself. ^_-

(Thanks Moms and Dads!)

All is well now, so check out this scarf I made:

This is a Queen Anne’s Lace scarf using Bernat Mosaic yarn (Psychedelic colourway). I believe this pattern is available in many places; I found it as a free download on Ravelry (you need to be a member of Ravelry to get it, I think!)

It looks more complicated than it actually is. This pattern had a bit of a tricky bit, at least it seemed so to me! Whenever it says “work into the first (whatever)” it means to work into the one closest (to the left) of your hook. Clear as mud? ^_^

ETA: I posted this project on Craftster and it was declared one of the “Best of 2010″. Go me!

I’m a Craftster Best of 2010 Winner!

Where did the swag bags come from, then? Well!

I’m working from the list of donors on the KAL blog, and doing some educated guess work, so I may not be totally accurate here… if you know better, please tell me, and I’ll fix it! (ETA: fixed the things mentioned in the first comment!)

Let’s start with:

Two balls of my very favouritest yarn, Bernat Satin, from Spinrite!

(My crochet guild is working on arranging a bus trip up to Listowel to see the fine people at Spinrite. I can’t wait! Also, while I’m on the subject, keep your eyes on the top bar of this blog; I’m planning a “yarn” tab)

Next is some superwash merino from Diamond Yarn:

Then there are a couple of sets of knitting needles. The wooden ones are 19mm (!) and are from the Purple Purl, and the 4.5mm needles are from Romni Wools:

A handful of books from Simon and Schuster:

There were also coupons in the bags, from the Purple Purl, Mary Maxim, and Knit-o-Matic

Here is the t-shirt I won:

And the bags it all came in:

(The black one was this year’s bag, the white one was from last year, and it had the t-shirt in it)

Thanks again to the TTC KAL folks, and all of the donors (a full list of which you can see on the TTC KAL blog)

I can not wait until next year! I’ll try to remember to post about it in time for people to sign up and come along (you know, instead of the night before… heh)

Charles: I could really go for a grilled cheese sandwich
Becky: There’s a place two doors down from Lettuce Knit that apparently has great grilled cheese sandwiches
Charles: You know, we really should go to Lettuce Knit!
Becky: Ok, but that’s where I got that skein of $39 yarn…
Charles: I seem to have suddenly developed a cheese allergy…

I was on team Central Purple. We started the day at the Yarn Boutique, near the corner of Bloor and Keele, where I bought this:

As well as some DPN’s. The plan is to make myself a pair of socks… because I’m some kind of crazy person (a crazy person with size 11 feet)! I’m going to try the simplest pattern I can find for my first pair.

Next stop: The Knit Cafe, which sells both yarn AND tasty treats. I had a lovely vegetarian quiche, and bought some lovely malabrigo:

I’m planning to make a hat out of it, but after winding the purple skein into a centre-pull ball, I’ve discovered that I am allergic to it after all. :( The hat will have to be for someone else, I guess. It’s a shame, because it’s just so very soft!

Then we headed to Romni Wools, which, if you look at a map of Toronto, it seems like it’d be easy to travel between the two shops, but due to streetcar re-routing, possibly due to protests, we ended up taking a scenic route down the street!

I found Romni quite overwhelming! It’s huge, and has every natural-fibre yarn you can think of (I assume… I don’t know of very many!). For someone like me, I’d have been better off deciding what I wanted to make and what yarn I’d need for it before heading in.

Still, I bought this:

I’m planning on playing with it to see if it’ll make a nice shawl. If it does, I’m going to go back and get more!

We then took another scenic streetcar ride up to Lettuce Knit where I simply could not resist buying this:

It’s soft, and even more beautiful than this picture would suggest. It is destined to become a scarf, which should be stunning with my black winter coat!

At the end of the shopping spree, most of us headed over to the Rivoli to meet up with the other four teams for merriment and prizes!

I won the “WTF WIP” prize my mitten, which I started when I got on the subway at Kipling Station. This is how much I got done over the course of the day:

Action shot:

The most frequently asked question I got about it all day was: how are you going to do the thumb? I love yarnies!

More in the next post about the amazing free stuff we got! (Look for that post either later today or tomorrow… my blog is being quite flakey today!)