Phew. So many interviews, so many new ideas and my queue has definitely tripled since before the Indie Design Gift Along started. You have been reading about only 13 of the 300 plus designers participating in the GAL and I hope you have found one or two new favourites. I know I certainly did! And I’m glad to see that some of you managed to win a new favourite pattern during the giveaways.

See, it’s definitely worth signing up for the newsletter, so you don’t miss any of this 🙂

I loved having interviews with designers I discovered, so I’ll definitely keep that up for the new year! But for now I need to work on clearing out a little more of my stash!

This year of yarn diet is almost over and I haven’t even cleared one single drawer yet! How is that even possible? I’ve been knitting like crazy and finished all of these during the last month and still no white shimmering through the yarn cracks… There must be a spell on my stash! 6 Owls, three dragon hats, two pairs of convertible monster mittens, several baby hats and fingerless mittens later, there’s not even a dent in my stash it seems. (Well, to be honest I do see the difference, but I’m pretty sure my husband would tell you otherwise)

This one was intended as a Christmas gift for my toddler, but was discovered early and adopted on the spot. So good to see that my kids love what I make for them! Bigglesworth the Bat by Cilla Webb was my first purchase for the GAL and a fabulous knit! I usually have trouble following patterns (even my own), but this one was so straight forward I couldn’t go wrong. Of course I ran out of yarn in the process, so I added bits and pieces of my treasure trove (aka leftover bowl) to him and love how he turned out! So much character! Now it has an acrylic body with alpaca ears and even a bit of silk on his wing tip and nose 🙂

There’s just one two more weeks left until this year is out, and I am dead set on reducing my stash even more. I am sure even my husband will see the difference by then! But as much as he laughs about my yarn craze, he also supports me a lot here. As he saw I was rock hard in my resolve not to buy any yarn myself he gave me the Opal yarn adventcalendar as a birthday gift. How can I not love this guy??

So on those tiny hours between getting the monsters into their beds and falling asleep on the sofa I managed to dig into this trove of mini skeins that brighten my every day now. One toddler sized sock leaves me with enough left overs that I can combine for a crazy colourful pair of socks for myself! Whoopwhoop!

My latest FO s this pair of convertible mittens with thumb flap for a friend. She has very small hands, so I hope they will fit her. I used Mumpitz Sock nebula glitter and am really in love with these, so maybe I need to make a pair for myself once the Christmas frenzy is over…

Now I need to grab my DK yarn drawer by the knob (pardon my French) and knit the heck out of those leftovers in there! At least ONE drawer will be empty by the end of the year, I promise!!! (ARGH)

To the needles!!

Happy knitting and happy holidays!!