The Knitting Pantry, Phase II, and Stash Giveaway III

Want some Mirasol Tupa? Comment on the blog before Nov. 29!

The Knitting Pantry Posts begin here and continue here; Phase II of the knitting pantry is for those who have graduated from scarves to hats, mittens, and maybe even baby sweaters.

So you’re an intermediate knitter.  You are starting to realize that you need a plastic container or two for your yarn, and when someone told you you could use a flower vase to hold your straight needles you gave them a great big hug.  More than that, you’re starting to wonder about design (come on – you are, right?).  Could you make a scarf in a particularly cool ribbing you just saw?  Would you be able to add some lace edging to the hat you just finished?  This is an exciting time to be a knitter: the world is your oyster (and so is your local yarn shop).

Your Knitting Pantry should include:

Needle Containment. You’re starting to have a nice collection of needles, but if you aren’t careful you’ll end up with multiples.  Needle wrangling is essential to knitting serenity.  Whether you use needle cases like those made by Della Q and Lantern Moon, or find a lower-profile case maker on Etsy, or even just shove them into your flower vase and use an iPhone app to remind yourself which needles you own (try Vogue Knitting or KnitMinder), your needle plan needs two components: a way to keep your needles safe, and a way to remind yourself which needles you own.  Needle cases will allow you to see which needles you own and aren’t using, while needle inventories (which also could just be an index card in your wallet) give you an idea of the whole range you have, whether or not they’re stuck in that unfinished sock you put down three months ago).

Yarn Strategy. The big issues that confront all knitters: what do I do with my yarn, how much yarn is it okay to have, and how do I keep it safe? Airtight plastic containers work best for me; I like the shoeboxes from The Container Store.  They come in packs of 20 and they stack.  I put yarns of similar colors or similar gauges into the same box; sorting by gauge is interesting, because it forces me to combine colors I’d never thought to put together.  If you don’t have enough yarn to fill 20 shoeboxes, you can use the rest of the boxes for shoes (and pat yourself on the back for being a restrainer yarn purchaser).  

Stitch Dictionaries. If you find yourself starting to wonder whether you can make a scarf with some kind of lace edging or a pair of socks with a diamond pattern on them, it might be time to start trying to design your own patterns.  Stitch dictionaries are just what they sound like: collections of all kinds of knitting stitches, from lace to colorwork to simple knit-and-purl combinations.  Barbara Walker‘s books are classics; she single-handedly collected four volumes of stitch patterns.  [Check out my post on her miniature knitting, too. The woman is a genius.]

If you’re an intermediate knitter, what do you want to learn to knit the most?  What knitting accessory helped you most at this stage? Let us know, in the comments.

And finally…drumroll please…we get to:

Stash Giveaway III. You know you want it!  The Mirasol Tupa (rav lnk) pictured above was purchased at fibre space last spring, when I thought I had all the time in the world to make various and sundry scarves, hats, smaller objects of all kinds.  The yarn has been stored in a plastic container in our non-smoking, one-cat home since then.  If you read my post about Mirasol Sulka last winter, you know how obsessed I am with this company – and the Tupa is gorgeous. With a content of 50 percent wool and 50 percent silk, it would make a beautiful beret or pair of mittens.  Two skeins of navy blue and one of pink – just begging to come home with you. Comment on any post on this blog by 10 a.m. EST on Monday, November 29, and you’ll be entered in the random drawing to win.  Ooh, aah!