Recent Knitting

I have slowly been working my way through my yarn stash for about a year and a half now. I am not one to buy yarn just because I like it; I need to have a project in mind for it. Thus, my stash has never reached out-of-control proportions. However, sometimes I get yarn for something and lose interest in the pattern or realize the yarn and pattern don't jive, or end up not needing that last ball after all. I also get yarn here and there from people and don't immediately have something in mind forit.

I had the cardinal hoodie in my Ravelry queue for about a year and one day in Marchsuddenly realized that I had enough yarn in my stash to make it. So, I began a project that took me until about a week ago. This spring I was very busy with the dissertation, so rarely gave myself time for knitting. It really is a pretty quick project. And it felt so good to use up that yarn for something so nice. That's the best part about working from your stash: the surprises that arise when you get the perfect combo of pattern and yarn- without having to spend any money!
Alternately, it is also thrilling to buy new yarn here and there to get new color and texture into your collection and anticipate the project you want to use it for. My neighbors recently had a baby, and they are big into giraffes. So, when I bought Susan B. Anderson's Itty-bitty Toys, I knew one of the first projects I would be doing.Susan's patterns are always full of tiny details that really make her projects special.
This giraffe has an embroidered face, a pom pom mane, tail, and horns (Do giraffes have horns? What are those things on their heads?)
And spots, of course!