Monday, January 30, 2012

Stashbusting Goals: Socks!

For the last of the Stashbusting Lists, I present the Sock List.

Right around 2009, I knit a lot of socks.  I had a college-sanctioned mini-closet that I kept full of yarn, and one day I looked in my mini closet and realized that I had about 12 skeins of sock yarn left - which, to a normal person, sounds like a lot, but I had already knit something like 6 pairs of socks in the space of a few months.  12 skeins of sock yarn wasn't really going to cut it for much longer.

So, of course, my response was to make calculated decisions to buy more sock yarn.  Then I stopped knitting socks quite so often, but sock yarn remained great souvenir yarn, as it is inexpensive and small in volume.  So now my sock yarn stash is by far the largest part of my stash: it takes up 3 cubes of my Ikea shelving unit, it's squishy and nice, and I keep 3 skeins of it in a bowl on my coffee table because it's so pretty.  But I need more socks in my sock drawer and less sock yarn stash, so I suppose it's time for me to Knit More Socks.

Last year, I knit 3 pairs of socks (which is kind of sad), so in the interests of keeping my goals attainable, I'm taking the add-one-and-see-what-happens approach.  So four pairs of socks it is!

The 4-Pair Sock List of 2012:

SS 11 (3)   IMG_1539        
1.  Solid Socks Mystery Feb/March 2011 (rav link) by Lisa Stichweh, using 1 skein of Madelinetosh Tosh Sock in colorway Robin's Egg (395 yards)

   

2.  Serab by Hunter Hammersen (rav link) from Silk Road Socks, using 1 skein Sundara Sock in colorway Cobalt over Mediterranean (350 yards)

006   IMG_0007

3.  Breaking Hearts Socks (rav link) by Cristi H. Brockway aka Turtlegirl76, using 1 skein of BMFA Socks That Rock Lightweight in the colorway Waterlilies (360 yards)

greensocks    IMG_1542

4.  Go With The Flow Socks (rav link) by Evelyn Clark, from Favorite Socks (or maybe another one from Favorite Socks?), using Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Solids in colorway Dove (420 yards)

One of my biggest goals in working down these particular stash yarns is that they are all currently wound into yarn cakes and have been for a while.  Although cakes are the best for actually using, I find skeins/hanks much more visually appealing.  That, and they like to jump down off of the shelves at me.

Final yardage:  1525 yards, or .866 miles.

All sock photos (excepting green socks) copyright their designers and/or publishers.

4 comments:

Miss M said...

I like the idea, incremental improvement. Looking forward to seeing them!

paola said...

LOVE the patterns you've chosen. I'm going to have to steal some of those :)

Ibunnysavetroy said...

great patterns! I'll have to keep looking for the FOs! is this the plan for the whole year?

Cory Ellen Boberg said...

@Miss M: Yes - I like to keep my goals reasonable so that if I can reach them with just a bit of effort, and if I surpass them then I can feel really good about that too!

@Paola: I'm glad you like them! I've definitely picked up a couple of these favorites from the blogs I read.

@Ibunnysavetroy: Thanks! This is the plan for the whole year, but hopefully I'll be able to go above and beyond. I'll be sure to post any extra sock projects to the blog!