Yarn Irony and Cannibalism

I hope this Thursday finds you safe and well!  We're good here.

Work continues on all of the usual projects, so I don't have any new stuff to show you today.  What I thought I'd do instead is talk a little bit about yarn irony and cannibalism.

The major yarn irony I've experienced most recently is my love for cowls (and howls!).  Prior to late last summer, I wouldn't have touched a cowl with a 10-foot pole!  But I had all these leftovers from Perfect Blend, and Casapinka made a scrappy cowl pattern just for that purpose!  So I made the cowl.

How did I not know before how useful and flexible cowls can be??  They don't flap apart like scarves and shawls, you can slip the longer ones over your head and not look like a babushka, and you can knit them in the round, so no purling unless you're doing fancy patterned stitches or for some reason want reverse stockinette.

So here I am, at least 10 cowls later - including about 4-5 different variations on the original scrappy pattern theme, with tons more cowl ideas yet to come.  Who knew??

Now for some yarn cannibalism - using yarn bags to hold yarn projects!!  

I had all of these lined up on my futon and I thought they made a nice pic.  I have a few more of them scattered around as well.  Each of them holds a current project, and the one on the left is what I use for preemie mitts (it's a little bloated right now because it's got a full cone of Franklin in there!).

The one in back I made according to a fun pattern and with yarn I got specifically for that purpose (probably Brown Sheep Bulky).  For the other two, I used the Buttonhole Bag pattern from the MDK ladies, and used stash yarn.

That's right - you can stash bust your wool and/or alpaca yarns by making felted project bags so they can hold more yarns!!

A combination irony and cannibalism story involves the preemie mitt bag.  I originally made it because I had this yarn and I absolutely hated it.  I thought - I'll felt the crap out of you, ugly yarn!!!  I love the bag, and I can't tell you how many people have commented on the colors.  I even had one non-knitter wistfully suggest how much his wife would love a hat made with those colors!  (I would have made one, too, if I'd had enough of the yarn left!)

In wildlife news - yesterday at dusk I happened to look outside and saw one of our foxies jogging and sniffing around our lawn, zig-zagging everywhere and occasionally stopping to munch on something.  Super floofy tail too!  I must have watched him for about 10 minutes before he went behind a tree and out of eyesight.  It was snowing as well, and I felt bad for him being out there, even though he's probably waterproof and insulated with all that floof!