It's a downward spiral...

This Year of Projects is doing bad things for my yarn buying habits. Last month, I posted about how I finally have a stash of yarn, having bought in advance for some of the things on my list.

Last week I went one stage further down this slippery slope, and found myself doing two crazy things.

My first crazy thing was buying a skein of Wollmeise 80/20 Twin sock yarn from eBay. It's for my Hypernova scarf, which is not likely to be cast on for a couple of months; I'd like to get the Easy Lace Stole finished and out of the way first.

I had originally intended to use Malabrigo sock for this scarf, but decided after seeing so many projects in the Wollmeise that I should try and get my hands on some. I stalked the trade and sell pages on Ravelry, and eBay, and eventually plumped for this gorgeous purple and brown skein. Before I committed I checked out other finished objects on Ravelry in this colourway, to make sure I like how it knits up. It's amazing to see how different it looks depending on the pattern:



Mystery Summer Shawlette by siljadevine



Clothilde by LyaNox



Heika's Hitchhiker



anitakvz's Pointelle socks

Judging by the other Hypernova projects, mine should knit up quite stripey. Can't wait to get started, but for now, this lovely skein will have to sit on the shelf with all the other lovely skeins waiting to be knit or crocheted!

My second crazy thing: buying yarn without a project in mind! I've said before that I'm the kind of person who picks a project, chooses a yarn and then buys that yarn and only that yarn. If I have left overs, I do my best to find another project to use it up that doesn't require me to buy more yarn. However, I was idly browsing the internet last week, and noticed an advert for a destash of yarn (not in Ravelry, in a different forum). I thought I'd have a glance down the list, just in case there was anything exciting. There was.

Four balls of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Chunky in chocolate brown! I haven't even started knitting with the DK or Aran weights of this yarn I've bought, and I already love it so much to want more. I believe this may have been discontinued already, but I'm not sure. It's definitely hard to get hold of; most places I've looked have very limited numbers of a limited range of colours.

So, the question now arises: what to do with 250 yards of chunky cashmerino yarn?

Free Rapunzel hat, by tiny owl knits

I am tempted by this hat. Of course, for this I will need new knitting needles, and to suddenly develop the ability to knit hats. I may add it to my list of projects for the YoP, if I get to the end of my knitting list and still have time to go before the end of June 2012. Or else I'll just make it anyway, when I feel like it!

If you have any other suggestions for patterns to use my Cashmerino Chunky for, I'd love to hear them.