Warm Hands and Cosy Toes

Sometimes stash is a Bad Thing. (Did I hear someone shout 'blasphemy'?). There is a very good reason for saying this. At Ally Pally in 2008, I bought some beautiful "Sirdar - Escape" with which to knit a cardigan. Nearly two years later, the yarn is still gorgeous, I still love the colour and it is just as satisfying to knit with as I intended. It's just that I'm not as keen on the pattern as I once was. In fact, I don't like the idea of making a cardigan or a jumper out of it at all - I just can't see myself wearing a top in this colour or this texture.

This is the problem with my SEX. I find a yarn I love and I need to buy a pattern to use it with. If I buy ten balls and assume I will find a pattern, I inevitably find a pattern that requires twelve balls.

The other issue is that on these trips to Ally Pally, I buy so much that it takes me years to get around to knitting it up, which means that my tastes have changed and on occasion I have found myself looking at the yarn (always lovely) and the pattern to accompany it, thinking: "You thought that would be a good idea?" Yes, I should just find an alternative jumper pattern but I am fickle and find that once I've gone off the original idea, a substitute suggestion just won't do. This is why I now have a beautiful "Touch Yarns" scarf rather than a lovely "Touch Yarns" cardigan. Why can't I just read pattern books and think: "Oh, I could use the yarn at the back of the wool cupboard for that?" Well, I do, but then I forget about it by the time I pull out the yarn and it becomes a scarf.

Or, as in the case of a ball and a half of "Sirdar -Escape", a rather nice pair of gloves (from the "Freedom Spirit" pattern book) for my friend Liz - she loves purple.



And here are the socks for the BF... once I got him to stop vogueing. Poseur.