First, My Christmas IOU

Before I embark on my stash year, I really do need to wrap up my Christmas IOU. It's a shrug for my sister Barbara and I was oh, so close to having it finished on time. However ... when it became clear that I wouldn't have it finished, wrapped and shipped in time, I wrote an IOU card, put my gauge swatch in the envelope and mailed it off.

I finished the knitting up a couple days ago, wove in the last couple ends today and now it's blocked and drying.

The pattern is from "Quick Knits from Classic Elite Yarns".

Jeanne, my stash year partner, gave me this pattern collection for Christmas a couple years ago. Very convenient for all my sister's to pass it around and write their name on the patterns they liked ... along with notes.

So, I made this for Barbara, extending the sleeves to 3/4 length. (Yarn: Classic Elite Chateau, 70% baby alpaca / 30% bamboo viscose, color: 1431 (periwinkle), 50 gm = 98 yds.)

Once it's dry, I'll ship it this and look forward to getting a photo back with her wearing it.

Then, it'll be time to get working on stash year project 1!

Stash Year!!

I've decided to join my sister Jeanne and make 2016 a stash year.

It all started this fall when I spent a couple weeks visiting my Dad and decided to take on cleaning out my Mom's old "sewing room". Mom was quite the craft/needlework gal - sewing, quilting, knitting, counted cross stitch, etc., etc., etc. By the time I left, the sewing room was cleaned up and everything was sorted, organized and labeled.

Jeanne lives near by and she really helped me a LOT!!

A few weeks after we finished this project, Jeanne emailed to say that cleaning up Mom's stuff had inspired her to work on cleaning up her own stuff. She decided that in 2016 she would not buy any new fabric, but would sew from her stash only. (Exception for things needed to complete a project using fabric from her stash ... lining, interfacing, etc.)

When I read her email, I thought about my yarn stash ... and, with enthusiastic encouragement from my DH, decided to join Jeanne in making 2016 a stash year. Since the goal is cleaning up our stashes, I added one more exception/incentive, so ...

The Stash Year rules are:

• Make projects using stash yarn/fabric
• No acquiring of new yarn/fabric except ...
• OK to purchase new materials if needed to complete a project using stash yarn/fabric
• 2-for-1 out/in incentive: For every 2 stash items that go out (sell, donate, give away, etc.), you can bring in 1 new stash item.

Oooh, I already have a couple ideas in mind and am really looking forward to a year of exchanging stash work/clean-up photos and encouragement with Jeanne!