Malabrigo March Madness and an Announcement

I caught the Malabrigo bug. It wasn't hard. Over the month I ended up with six skeins total (please, admire my restraint) and, at 216 yards a skein, man does that make for a lot of projects. So I've been knitting like a fiend all month. Here's some of what I've (pretty much) finished. My apologies for including a couple of things you've seen before, but I couldn't resist the mosaic maker. (Expect to see a lot of these in the future.)

1. Foliage  2. The Boy Hat  3. Mini Mitten 
4. Koolhass  5. A Better Bucket (felted)  6. Celtic Cable Neckwarmer 
7. Foliage  8. Easter Bunny  9. A Better Bucket

By the way, with the exception of Koolhass, all those patterns are free.

Malabrigo may be my new favorite yarn. It's 100% wool but incredibly soft, the colors are fabulous, and it knits up quickly on 6-8s (4mm-5mm) needles. I'm actually looking around for little projects to use up the leftovers. And it is the perfect yarn for hats and scarves; not only is it soft, but it pills like crazy if you knit it into a very soft and squishy sweater (like I did). It's best for things that don't get a lot of swishy action.

But no more Malabrigo for me for a while; I'm (eep!) on a yarn diet. The reason for this is simply that I have, in my possession, the yarn for the top twenty items in my queue. Yes. Twenty. I can't continue to ignore the stash.

Granted, these projects are oft-times in my queue because I have the yarn for them, but that's no excuse. That's all stuff I want to knit, after all. But remember way back last fall when most of my (22-mile) stash fit into four tidy plastic bins?

It doesn't anymore. Now there's a lot of overflow, a lot of unfinished projects, and even a huge bag of Cotton-Ease (it was on sale).

I'm afraid to calculate the miles now.

Since I have already perused all the Spring magazines I want to, I should have a stable queue at least until Summer and there's no need for more yarn until then, right? So (heh hemm) I hereby solemnly swear that I will not buy ANY yarn until June 21st. And then only with the gift certificate that my husband will surely get me for my birthday in early June (hint, hint honey). The yarn diet will continue either until I can fit everything into my four tidy plastic bins, even if I have to sit on them to do it, or until the fall magazines come out. Whichever comes first.

Except that a friend just asked me to knit him a blue hat (which I am so excited to do) and I don't have any appropriate yarn for it....BUT THAT'S IT!

Note: Knitting a Foliage in worsted with only two pattern repeats makes a beautiful toddler hat. When done in pink, the leaves look like flower petals and a certain little girl will wear the hat all day, inside and out, until you make her take it off for bath because she doesn't need to felt it.

Comments

[Holly Jo]

Love the mosaic and all the work in it. :)

Your queue is filled a number of really fun things. Is there a knit-a-long for the unmentionables?

[Jenn]

You know, if you have all this extra yarn.....I have been waiting years for my little something special! ;)

[sue]

All gorgeous hats and I love that your daughter wore her beautiful hat all day long too.

[Kristin]

Wow! You have been busy. Everything came out so nice! :)

[Alice]

I love the toddler foliage. I think I have to make one for my little girl! Isn't Malabrigo the best?

[Jodi]

Now that's the best kind of March Madness! Beautiful projects made with gorgeous yarn. I need to make a Foliage or two.

Good luck with the yarn diet!

[Shannon]

I will be home in August for a visit. I am pre-ordering a blue, green and pink or red hat for a 10 year old, and 8 year old and one Liv's size.

And maybe an orange one for mom.

[stefaneener]

They're very nice. Good kind of restraint. Would you like to come and liberate part of my stash? I'm sure some wants to live with you. No Malabrigo, though. Nice hat. Good reasoning on the bath.

[Karma]

Twenty projects? Wow. That's a lot of knitting. But you are a fast knitter, after all. :)

Thanks for the tip on the toddler sized Foliage. I made three of them for Xmas gifts and so have 1/3 balls around the house... wondering what to do with them... and Amelie is in a Straight Up Hat Phase right now! Perfect!

[Nadine]

Uh-oh! I haven't gotten any Malabrigo in the stash - must go shop on-line for that raspberry colourway. I think that the littlest would be cute as a button with a Foliage on top!

Way to flash your stash!