Let's talk about sex, ba-by,

No, not that kind of sex. This kind of SEX:

A Stash Enrichment eXpedition.

I'm pretty sure I am about to break the Cardinal Rule of Stash in a big way. See, I know some knitters read this blog. But some non-knitters do as well. Even non-knitters I am related to. And one should never show your stash to non-knitters, especially ones you are related to, cuz they just aren't. going. to. understand. There may even be a few knitters out there who think I need a good dose of Yarnholics Anonymous, but when you factor in the 50% off, well, as long as you aren't spending what you don't have, all rules are off.

I found out about a yarn store near me about a month ago. It is even closer than the one I usually go to and I was planning to check it out soon. Then last night one of the ladies in my knitting group posted that the store was suddenly closing, everything was 50% off, and today was likely the last day it would be open.

50% off.

Well.

You can imagine. So this morning I pulled up my Ravelry queue and jotted down yarn requirements for things I have planned. I had no idea what yarns were awaiting me...would they be picked over? Would there be sweaters' worths of yarn or bits and pieces of dye lots? I had no idea.

I drove over a little after noon. Left the house without my list and impatiently came back for it. Started off again.

The photo above is just the stuff I bought with my daughters in mind. from top to bottom, left to right: Cash Vero in Ruby (to mix with some DB cashmerino I have in black), Cascade Sierra in pink, Sierra in red, Cotton Twist in purple, Jeannee in a light aqua, Mandarin in black, Cotton Fleece in blue, Cascade Quattro in mixed purples, Fantasy in red, Mandarin in brown, pink, and light aqua, and Cascade 220 in fuschia.

Ahem.

With a sale like this, I decided to buy sweaters' worths of yarn. Buy it now or buy it later. As long as I love the colors, I might as well by it now at 50% off.

This is all Sierra. It is 80% cotton, 20% wool, which is ideal down here in Texas. I got some pink and red up above for the girls, but the stuff at left is for me...three colors I love.

I kept putting this down and walking away and coming back to it. When you keep going back to something, it means you like it, so I decided that it will be a simple top or cardigan...I don't usually do variegated yarns...but I love the colors.

The teal stuff may become Bella Paquita. The milk chocolate brown may become Something Brown.

Now for the wools. I left the flash off in the top photo trying to get truer color representation, especially the coral on the left, since that stuff seems to be hard to photograph. It isn't quite as bright as the photo would suggest. This is all Cascade 220: a solid, a tweed, and a heather.

The solid is a pretty coral color that I kept going back to. I used to have a twin set close to this color back in my early working days. It was lightweight (small gauge) merino wool and I wore it a lot because nearly everywhere I wore it, I got compliments on the color. The twin set no longer fits and went off to charity a few years ago, but I am excited at the prospect of a pretty cardigan out of this stuff. I don't do wool sweaters, but I can handle a wool cardi down here in Big D. This might become a Nantucket Jacket. (Only longer...since I am long-waisted.) Or I may do something lacy.

Now on to the green tweed. No, it doesn't really look green here, but it is. And it is gorgeous. It was the first stuff into my basket. I am 99% sure that will become a Green Street Cabled Cardigan. It's the cardi on the bottom of that link, and that is not a great photo, but if you are a Ravelry-er, you can see some better photos there.

The heathered brown..."autumn heather"...with green and rust in a medium brown base. The photo does not do it justice. This may become A Cardigan for Arwen. I've been eyeing that since I got the magazine 2 years ago, and now I know I am experienced enough to do it. I really like the Ravelry version one lady did without the hood, with the stand-up collar. I wonder if I am experienced enough to do that. I don't usually modify things. I would also make it longer, but that is not hard. Since I am so freaking long-waisted, cropped sweaters are a no-go for me. They barely worked back in my skinny days, and there is no hope of looking good in one now.

Ahem.

We aren't done yet.

Noro kureyon in a muted colorway with teal. have I mentioned how much I like teal? Perhaps you've noticed the teal in my living room furniture in a few of my past photos...or the Sierra photo up above. I have a thing for teal. More Shaeffer yarn in the Renata Tebaldi colorway. I still have some of this in the Miss Priss weight. It's what I made my moebius out of and I am planning to make gloves and perhaps a scarf. This is the Esperanza weight and will likely become a hat. Schaeffer is expensive, so I was lucky to find this there. The red is Kid Seta. I've been wanting to knit with it, and at 50% off and such a great color, why not?

I also got a few patterns, some stitch markers, and the Elizabeth Zimmerman Almanac.

And now I believe we are done with the yarn p0rn....errr, I mean tour. Maybe this weekend I will post photos of some cotton yarn I bought a couple of weeks ago for Yosemite, which I love and wanted to start last week. I got sidetracked by a couple of small teddy bears in progress and this hat, which I knit for a friend who will have a booth at the DFW Fiberfest next weekend. This is her handspun and she wanted a FO of the fiber for people to see and feel. I really liked knitting with it. I don't have any handspun in my stash and I've seen Kristina spin this stuff and I have been looking forward to another SEX next weekend. I will probably not spend like I had planned, given the current status of my stash, but, um, you know....handspun is different. I don't have handspun. A little handspun will make for a more complete stash.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I just shattered the Cardinal Rule of Stash...and I'm pretty sure all you non-knitters think I need to go to YA. But I'm not admitting any sort of problem. Yet. :-)