Destashing the blues

In preparation for a yarn swap at my knitting group, I dug out my stash. And I, the perennial lover of all things blue, discovered that I have too many blue yarns!

Did you ever think you would hear me say this? I doubt it. But it's true.

Going through my stash, I discovered a lot of blue acrylics (that I'll never use, and many of which went to the exchange), blue Cascade 220 (ooh!), blue ribbon yarns, blue sock yarns (mmm!), blue lace yarns (mmmm!)... with a few purples, greens, browns, tans, and reds thrown in for good measure.

Do you see a pattern there? Never mind that I actually have yet to make myself a blue sweater (that fits; there's the ill-fitting Grecian Plait from a few years back); there's the heathered brown raglan, the "spice" colored Eris (a UFO), and the recent red Soleil. Where are the blue sweaters? Even among my (horrors!?) store-bought ones, they're not all blue... Oh yeah, that's because I have way too many blue long-sleeved shirts of every shade and variety.

It was interesting reading all of your comments about how you decide what to knit next. For me it's usually a combination of having a long, usually mental, list of things I'd like to knit, both in terms of generic types of knitting and specific patterns. And I'm generally somewhat picky about making sure it's the right yarn for the project. Sometimes it's motivated by the need of knitting a gift, but I don't go crazy with the knitted gifts. I'd rather take the time to have the gifts be more meaningful and I'd rather take the time to do them right.

I finished something yesterday (which has been sent to its recipient and can be revealed in a few days), and am down to three UFOs: a plain stockinette pair of socks for Coffeeboy, the PNW shawl, and Cozy, which I started this weekend (in order to make it the subject of the knitting in the new banner). This leaves me with two big lace projects, one that requires peace and quiet, and the other which I can do while talking or watching TV, etc.

Cozy has been on my list since it came out on Knitty; I just never quite got around to it. I'm using a gorgeous alpaca-blend yarn for it that's oh-so-soft (Berocco Ultra Alpaca; it's on sale at an LYS). I'm really hoping to have it done for fall wearing, but we'll see. I'm also fighting off the urge to start a pair of patterned socks... Jaywalkers in that lovely blue Trekking, for example... and successfully resisting for now.

It's time, after all, to return to "real life."