Knitter in the Kitchen

Recipe from Baking Bites. This one is definitely a keeper, as there is minimal effort involved and yet the results are delicious!

The unwound skeins in my sock yarn stash

Thank you to everyone who participated in my contest! Currently, I have 90 unused balls of yarn in my stash, so Oiyi is the winner with her guess of 89! I was curious about how much sock yarn I have, so I counted them specifically — 39. Which is forty-three percent of my stash! Not all of them are intended for socks — some are for scarves or handwarmers — but still…I don’t think I actually need sock yarn for a looooooooong time!

Recipe from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. This was my first time eating Mexican Wedding Cookies so I have no idea what they are “supposed” to taste like, but I thought these were pretty darn good. I love the flavors of the pecans and almond extract as well as the light and airy texture. This recipe has made my Favorite Cookie List as I can’t seem to eat just one! Photo taken by Hubby.

I experience ups and downs with my crafting. There are times when I feel completely blah about my projects and my knitting only surfaces when I have absolutely nothing else to do.

Then there are the happier periods, like right now, when I am excited about my knitting and moving through projects at a good pace. At the same time, I am also eagerly trying new cooking and baking recipes. Successfully striking that delicate balance between my hobbies feels really good. I doubt I’ll be able to sustain that balance indefinitely, but I am trying my best to enjoy it while it lasts.

One big change I made recently was deciding to be content with my yarn stash. I have quite a bit of yarn, yet I continue to add to it regularly. I’ll come across a neat pattern and buy the yarn for it, but I know it won’t be knitted up for quite awhile because I don’t knit as fast as I buy yarn. When I got overwhelmed with my stash in the past, I destashed, but the thing is, I really like everything in my current stash and I don’t want to part with any of it. So at the end of March, I committed to a six-month yarn diet. I’ve gone on one or two shorter diets before, and I remember them as times of deprivation. Like, when is the diet over so I can buy yarn again? But this time feels different to me — instead of viewing it as not getting to do something I like, I see it as a great opportunity to finally knit the awesome yarns I have. The end result is the same, but the approach is making all the difference. I set it for six months, but I am curious about how long I can actually go and how much of my stash I will use.

To kick off this commitment, I am running a small contest. All you have to do is guess the number of unused balls of yarn in my stash. The winner is the person who guesses the right number (or closest to it); if multiple people guess correctly I will use a random number generator to select the winner. And no, my stash is not listed on Ravelry. The prize? A brand new copy of Hats, Mittens, and Scarves by Andrea Tung. My friend Joyce kindly gifted me with a copy months ago, and the second copy I received on the Stitch ‘n Ride train needs a new home. Contest ends when the comments close on Saturday morning.

Happy Birthday, Carolyn! I hope you enjoy a special day.

Pattern: Clapotis (scarf size)
Yarn: Sundara Yarn Aran Silky Merino, 2 skeins, Grey Over Pink
Needles: US #8