A
few weeks ago my friend Leigh said that she had decided some stashbusting was in order, and that she wasn't going to buy any more yarn
until she had knitted 1000g from her stash. What an excellent idea, I
thought; stashbusting has been on my mind recently as I have what could
be considered too much wool (is there such a thing? I am almost out of
cupboard space). So I decided that I would join Leigh in her challenge.
Leigh put up the call on both Instagram (using the hashtag #knit1000g)
and on her podcast and pretty soon we were joined by a small group of
knitters all eager to make the most of their stash.
The #knit1000g
challenge is very much a personal one, where everyone involved has
decided what they want their rules to be; I decided that WIPs would
count, and that I would only be counting personal projects, not third
party commissions, although self-published projects would count (there
is a backlog!). And with those rules set out, I started knitting.
The
first project was easy - a baby cardigan for a friend's new baby, which
was on the needles and very nearly finished. The cardigan is a slightly
scaled up version of the Barley Twist cardigan published in issue 65 of
Knit Now, and I'm aiming to have the pattern available in ages 3 months
to 12 years early next year. 87g
The
second project was another WIP - socks for my son in the wonderful West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4 ply. The yarn is from their cocktails
range and this colourway is called Mojito. WYS 4 ply is one of my
favourite sock yarns; it's excellent value and I love all the colourways
in the cocktail stripes range that was launched this summer. 47g
One
final WIP made up project three: a baby blanket featuring buttons. This
is a project that has been in my head for a long time, and I was
delighted to finally get it committed to yarn! I'm in the process of
getting the pattern finalised, and hope to have it published in the next
few weeks. 603g
My
fourth project was an urgent one: a hat for my daughter. In the past
week the weather has turned from late summer to proper autumn. I decided
on a cute seasonal hat, Harvest's Bounty, and the finished hat is
adorable (it's getting lots of compliments on the school run too)! 40g
Project
five was something new, and rather festive: a cushion featuring a large
intarsia snowflake. Another project that I'd been planning for a while,
and the #knit1000g challenge was the impetus I needed to get it on
the needles. I was really cutting the amount of yarn fine on this one,
and had only a scrap of blue yarn left at the end. The pattern is now available in my Ravelry store, allowing anyone else who wants a go
plenty of time to knit one in time for Christmas. 307g
And
there we have it, 1084g of yarn used! I'm not stopping there though. I
mostly use heavier weight yarns, so my personal challenge will be to use
3000g, ideally by Christmas. This may even include a cardigan for me!
Do you want to join in the #knit1000g challenge? Set your own targets
and join the fun! And as a reward, you can buy some more yarn when you
reach your target!
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