stash enhancement

Well I had sex last week at a local yarn store (that is, stash enhancement excursion). The visit (and the sex) is unusual, because I so shop online for yarn. I know, I know. I do feel guilty because I really want local yarn stores (lys) to continue, and I do try to buy in person once in a while. But come on. How can you beat the price and selection of online shopping?

Anyway, I visited Mosaic Yarn Studio (in Des Plaines, IL, a Chicago suburb) to find some lace weight yarn for the Kimono Shawl by Cheryl Oberle in Folk Shawls (more about that later). I had some Cascade Petite, a shiny, silk, heavy lace weight, but I wanted a fingering weight. From the limited selection of lace weights that I saw at Mosaic, I was able to find this (Jagger Spun Zephyr, a silk/wool blend pictured with the Cascade Petite). I can use one strand of each: Then, I learned that the store owner is purging all Louisa Harding yarns from her shop, and I saw this - Louisa Harding Kimono Angora, an angora/wool/nylon DK for $2 a ball, normally $11.
Bring unable to resist a bargain like that, I piggishly bought all 13 balls. What will I do with it? I have no idea. It would be nice for a shawl, scarves, gloves or mittens, socks, hat, and I could make a lot of them with this haul. I don't see it as a sweater, even though there is enough. Please send me some ideas.

I felt lucky, so I bought some sock yarn for swatching a sweater idea:

The multi colored yarn is Tofutsies (wool/soysilk/cotton/chitin). I have always wanted to have a sweater made of shrimp.

The thing is that I have already have stash galore. This has accumulated over the last several months. I used to have a few balls of this and that, leftovers or vintage picked up at a thrift shop. I still do, some of it quite ancient, but somehow I have started to buy yarn in larger quantities either because it was a great buy or with project ideas in mind. I think this is because I have stopped buying so many books since I started working part time at a library. I have to spend money on something.

Here is what I currently have, not counting several where I have 5 or 6 balls. These are ones I have a lot of.

This is Colour Mart crunchy silk in a tweedy lilac shade. I have 3 small cones or about 1,900 (?) yards. It is called DK, but it seems light for DK. I was thinking shawl, but instead I might make a cable and lace type cardi, maybe Katherine Hepburn from Lace Style. Or else the Bird's Nest Shawl from Folk Shawls. The tangle is from the cat named Boo.

This next is 10 balls of Rowan Yorkshire Tweed Chunky in the color (or rather colour) Damp, a medium grey tweed with blue and green flecks. As you probably know, an E Bay store, Jannette's Rare Yarns, has been having a huge sale on this discontinued yet splendid yarn. I have already made a sweater from a different colorway of this. I think I want to make a Sarah Dallas moss stitch jacket from Rowan's Scottish tweed book.

I have 15 balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere for a sweater. I have used this for a sweater before, and it is wonderful - soft as can be and machine washable and dryable. Its only drawback is its splittiness. It must have a hundred plies. This was also an online bargain at someting like $4 a ball. And finally, I have 14 balls of Knit Picks Merino DK. The color is Vanilla and the yarn is so plain vanilla that I feel uninspired by it. But this color looks good on me, and I know I will like it for a slightly dressy jacket-type cardigan with contrast trim: Will I ever get all this knitting done? Stay tuned to this blog.