My "Made it!" for this week is the Stripe study shawl by Veera Valimaki. I purchased the wool for this one at Harrogate at the end of last year and it has been patiently waiting for me to start ever since. Once I did cast on it has been a joy to knit, simple enough that I could still carry on a conversation but those wraps and turns made it interesting enough to hold my attention. The yarn - Torva by NiMu yarns is stunningly beautiful and a real pleasure to knit with...I know this is all about de-stashing but having used this yarn I can't wait to buy some more!
On the "started it" front I have some crochet...my squares for this blanket...this is going to be such a fantastic stash buster, using up all the odds and ends I can never get rid of but are too small for most projects. I spent Saturday afternoon going through all my yarns and collected a basket full of wool that will be perfect to use and had finished my first three squares by Saturday evening.
I am also a long way through my first ball of yarn (John Arbon Alpaca, bought at woolfest last year) and another Veera Valimaki design - Folded. I am a bit concerned that I won't have enough yarn to complete this but am thinking I may add some stripes or panels of colours using up left overs, to make it work. For now I am just going to keep going and see how it pans out...
Finally I am also stitching away at a Jessica Stole using some fantastic fyberspates lace weight yarn I fell for at Purl City yarns last year...this is a great FREE pattern and having seen a completed version knitted by my friend Emma, I think I will be inspired to keep going to the end despite the ridiculously fine wool!
Photo by kind permission of Emma.
And now, talking about Emma, I come to the giveaway part of today's post....Last week Em completed this gorgeous Honey Cowl designed by Madeline Tosh. She is taking stash busting seriously (she is coming to Woolfest with me and wants an excuse to buy!!) and has extremely generously offered to give away the Cowl to one of my readers. (I was very tempted to "forget" to post about this and keep it for myself but I know she will find out, so you all get a chance to win! ) Please leave a comment below for a chance to enter and tell your friends to come and join in too! The giveaway is open to anybody and the winner will be chosen randomly on Thursday 31st May.
Please leave links to your stash busting projects below...thank you so much for joining in, I am loving seeing all the different things you have been up to...and how many different kinds of stash there can be!
*Giveaway now closed to comments - winner will be announced on Monday 4th June*