Of Wind, Wool, and Stash Busting

A couple of you - okay, one - asked for some shots of my latest knitting projects after I posted about my knit-wit ways a couple weeks back. I'm happy to oblige.

I've declared 2012 the year of stash busting. I never meant to built up a stash of yarn (honest!), but somehow, with little bits being leftover from a project here and a project there, my yarn bag runneth over. Rather than devoting the winter months to a major sweater project like I have the last two winters, this year I'm all about using up the little odds and ends.

Let the stash busting begin!

I mention yesterday that I need new chopper liners. (Read yesterday's post if you don't know what chopper liners are!) However, after seeing my dad's literally disintegrating chopper liners over Christmas, I knew he need them more than I did. I used some red wool left over from a pair of mittens for Andy and a bit of almond left over from a wedding afghan for these guys. The mittens are double knit, which makes them extra cozy and much more wind resistant than most knit goods.

Andy's a big fan of the double knit concept (so much so that he has two pairs of mittens like the ones above) and when he found a couple bits of bulky yarn in my stash - leftover from some felted men's caps - he requested a double knit hat. So I improvised . . . 

Obviously, my off-the cusp pattern needs some perfecting since this was made to fit Andy, but just barely squeezes over my head. In my defense, I just barely had enough yarn to finish the cap as is. It's definitely not colors I would have chosen for myself (but are colors I had chosen for others' presents . . . ? Again in my defense, the presents were for men, if that makes an difference. . . .) but after taking this cap on last week's ice fishing adventure, it's proven itself to be a warm wind stopper.  I wear this cap when I walk out to the mail and am often so warm by the end of the walk that I have to take my mittens off.

My latest project is destined to be a stash busting failure though. Why? Because I'm going to run out of yarn before I finish with these anklets, made out of leftover yarn from another sock project! Not terribly good stash busting if you end up going out to buy more yarn, eh? Ah well, I'll just have to make another pair of socks with my new leftover yarn. ;)

If you're on Ravelry, feel free to friend me. I love seeing what everyone else is working on.

That said: What knitting projects are you working on - knitting or otherwise?