Seminar Knitting & Sock Yarn Stash

Mondays are graduate seminar day here in Chemical and Biological Engineering. What does this mean? It means a full hour of uninterupted stockinette (ie no looking and almost no attention required) knitting time. I actually found that I was really sad last week was a holiday, since it mean no seminar and by extension I didn't get that hour of knitting or free snacks for that matter.

This is perfect for simple socks! So the BBF Lapis socks are a fair bit longer now.

So in the interest of full disclosure and apologies for the slight bluriness of the photo, this is my sock stash as of 10/12/06. (We won't discuss the "Soctoberfest" sock yarn that is on the way.) The sad/funny part of this story is that I had just finished a 6 month destashing period (no yarn buying at all) in August, in which I had been out of sock yarn for *months*. This is the result.


(For an annotated version of this image visit it in my Flickr gallery.)

Also I am a little bit late, but I thought I would respond to Lolly's second round of sock questions.

Do you have certain patterns planned for some of the yarns? Do you buy yarn and then choose a pattern?
Some of this is exactly planned, some only roughly planned, and some is not planned at all.

• The orange Cascade Fixation in the bottom right hand corner is going to be a pair of socks for my future brother-in-law. My sister was sneaky and got me measurements. Nothing more exciting than simple stockinette is planned for now for now.
  
• In the upper center part of the photo there are yellow, blues/browns/greens, yellow/black, and black singles skeins that will become children's socks. These will probably be stockinette socks.
  
• There are 2 2oz balls of copper and 2 2 oz balls of black Jaggerspun Maineline. This is a 100% wool yarn that comes on cones. It is fairly fine for socks, but I find that on US 0s this makes a beautiful velvety insole in stockinette. These will become 2 more pairs of socks for my SO. I did a pair of seed stitch ribbed socks last time (actually one still needs the top ripped out and replaced), so maybe something different for these.
  
• The Artyarns (green and brown) in the upper righthand corner are tentatively going to be socks for my aunt. Given the texture of the color, stockinette is likely.
  
• The Trekking XXL (blue) in the lower lefthand corner will become socks for me. Stockinette is likely here too.
  
• The Jawoll sock yarn (solid brown) in the center will probably become socks for the SO. Pattern is undecided.
  
• The Cherry Tree Hill yarn (teal) in the lower lefthand corner will probably be socks for me. I wanted some solid stuff for me so I can do some textured knitting. These will either be cabled or some other highly textured knitting.
  
• My Mind's Eye sock yarn in coral snake (not shown but it is black and red) will be socks for me.
• The stripy Regia in the upper lefthand corner (german flag and rainbow) are thinking about becoming Jaywalkers.
• The Lorna's Laces on the lefthand side (in Watercolor, Bittersweet, and Iris) will probably all be stockinette socks. Bittersweet is tentatively for my sister who wears both a lot of ornage and bright pink and can pull the combo off.
• Everything else is completely undeclared.
  

Looks like quite a bit of stockinette in my future. It is boring, but it works out well for when I am supposed to pay attention to something else (see seminar discussion above).

Does a certain sock yarn you have in your stash take you back to a certain event? (where you were when you bought/received it? what was going on in your life at the time!)

• A lot of this yarn was bought while I was in Wisconsin. Mostly this was at Lakeside Fibers (Lorna's Laces in Watercolors, Koigu, Artyarns, Maineline), but also some at Wisconsin Craft Market (mostly Patons).
  
• All of the Cascade Fixation was bought at Mind's Eye Yarns in Cambridge, MA.
• The leftover balls of lilac Artyarns Ultramerino at the bottom in the center were bought at Loop on out first real family vacation this year.
• The Cherry Tree Hill was bought at Windsor Button in Boston, MA at the Boston Knit Out and Crochet Too '06.
• I also do a fair amount of online shopping. Favorites sock yarn sources include Black Bunny Fiber, kpixie, and Carodan Farm. I don't get that same sense of community and memories with online shopping though. All the more reason to support my local LYSs. (Not that I will stop shopping online of course.)