Thank you Melissa. This is a huge help. I’m bitting off a lot. I’m knitting my first sweater with yarn I spun long draw. It is yarn that I learned how to do long draw with during Tour de Fleece. I’ve taken all the precautions to balance the inevitable inconsistencies, but I’m finding my average gauge is off for the pattern I want to do. I like the pattern and there is a tutorial. 🎉, so I hope to stick with it. I will be checking your other tutorial on yarn substitution and gauge. That one might get me started. The pattern is in metrics making that part another 1st. Your teaching skills and generous work to put these instructions together has been so valuable. I am very appreciative.

Oh gosh I needed to see how you go back and start working the back section after your front is finished.

All the blue around you has your eyes popping!!!

I'm with you! Those mittens are such absolutely beautiful works of art, that to use them would be a crime. Mittens just get too much wear and tear, too much dirt and grime!

Chart symbols in Claire Hallik's book are actually difficult for Estonians too as she uses "international symbols". We are more used to the ones we are taught at school, with little solid or empty squares and triangles. Like in "Haapsalu shawl" book.

happiest of holidays to you! and yes, wear the mittens -- that's what they are for!! have a lovely new years celebration and an excellent 2025.

Oooooohh! 👀👍

Happy Merry and thanks so much for these vids. Cheerful, entertaining, informative. And showing off lovely projects to boot. I've been following for years now, I think (found you through Albina McLoughlin way back when), and always find something to love. This week: those toes! Hope the New Year brings you and yours all and only good things. PS: wear the mittens.

I wouldn’t wear those beautiful mittens out to the chicken coop but maybe for a date to the bookstore or knit night❣️Love all of the things and info on reconstruction for a personal fit❣️ Happy holidays to you & Spencer❣️⭐️🎄☮️⛄️🧶

Now I would never yell at you. I learned to wear all. Life throws curveballs at you all the time, better wear them. Spencer's sweater is great, in the colour I love, can I borrow it? I would fripple all the time at the braids, not my thing. The end result is fantastic 🥰

Charmer of mohair! love it. Great sweaters, and I love the bear! About the mitts - I can see how you might feel they deserve the respect of an artpiece...I agree with the suggestion of making another pair (not as white, not as precious yarn) and then decide if you still need to keep this pair pristine. I'm not much of a resolution-maker, either, but always love to see what new topics you take on. Enjoy your snow and your holidays!

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!!🎉 It will be fun to see what you knit next year. And I think that I would have a hard time wearing those mittens too. Maybe make another pair with a dark background that wouldn’t show dirt and such.

Hi Melissa, I might have missed it, did you mention which yarn from Rauma you used? That blue is AMAZING and I need some 😂

Definitely wear the mittens ……but not this year. This winter they are precious to look at and enjoy in their perfect newness. Happy holidays to you.

Happy holidays, Melissa!

Use those beautiful mittens. Save for best and if they wear out, you will just have to knit another pair.

Watching you talk about the back of the sweater I kept wondering a lot about the existence, potential for, and curiosity of ... back boobs

Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year. Cheers! 🎄🎉

Boy, I am for sure never, Never, NEVER ever gonna borrow one of Spencer's (really nice!) sweaters! He plays rough when he takes them back, and I don't look good beheaded. Funny, though, how even with just a cameo appearance, he can steal the show. The braids are an interesting solution, but I was getting little itchies on my back just looking at them. Even in this early stage, the bear has a kind of powerful stance and look about it. Merry Happy and Jolly Joy Joy to you both.

I love hearing about your projects, you are so skilled at knitting! I have to do a bit more knitting to get as knowledgeable 😄🤞😄🎄🎄🙋💕

Spencer is a lucky guy! Great sweater! Wishing you a very festive holiday with lots of knitting and felting and everything fun! harpingJanet

Happy Holidays to you too! 😊

Beautiful mittens 🧤💙 Happy New Year

Hi Melissa. It’s been a while since I have commented. The whole neck stability comment is a good reminder. If I remembered all of the things about knitting that I hav learned over the years I would be an incredible knitter!

A perfect explanation of how to add and position short rows when the pattern doesn't call for them. Thank you for such a clear and concise explanation!

Melissa - you are hilarious! I thought this episode was going to be about buying the same yarn again - either because you forgot you had it or because you wanted more after de-stashing, haha. I actually just got a nice sweater quantity from a lady who did just that (bought the same colorway twice in the same yarn). I don't really do big destashes (maybe that will change at some point - I just had to deal with my mom's stash when she moved into a facility and can't really knit anymore). My creativity is sparked by having materials on hand to use, and yes, I sometimes hold onto special skeins rather than use them, but it's not unusual for me to pull out skeins from years ago because now I have a project in mind for which they are perfect. It sounds to me like the process of really thinking about all the yarns in your stash sparked your creativity, too - I love both your baby sweaters. And that all those skeins of Spencer-yarn - I mean Rauma - are still going to get to be a sweater for Spencer =)

Semantics Alert! Technically a yarn is not considered 'destashed' until it is off the premises and in someone else's possession. And a yarn is only considered to be 'restashed' if the original yarn has been destashed (see above) and then, at some point, you go out and pay money to buy the same yarn in the same color or if you accept a gift from someone to you of the same yarn in the same color as the previously destashed yarn. So there you have it! You can continue on guilt free. You are simply recommitting to some items in your yarn stash. Hooray for you!

I imagine that these yarns ended up in your de-stash because you couldn’t imagine what you would knit with them. Then, suddenly, something to knit with those yarns fell into your lap. So, the yarn is going to be used, which is the goal of destashing these skeins to begin with. It’s your yarn, you are going to use it, so what is the problem??? You are allowed to change your mind about what you do with YOUR yarns! 😀 harpingJanet

Hi Melissa. A lot of people say, “ I shopped in my stash for this project.” But the great thing about your de-stash is that during the time you’re not using the yarn, someone else has the opportunity to use it. And why shouldn’t you take it and use it, it’s still your yarn. I love your baby sweaters!!

So, by destash we really mean making room for more stash, right? Shopping your destash pile is clever, frugal, and green. (Well, in your case, blue, but you know what I mean.) You loved it enough to buy it in the first place; if after a period of neglect you love it enough to use it, that's all good.

Hahaha...Perfect description of my destashing emotionalal turmoils. The what 'ifs' and our natural scarcity syndroms can be a challenge. Some days we are more brave /confident than others.... Thankful for your true confessions.

I'd call it "elsa-ing" and "smaug-ing". If you've decided to let it go, but then re-stash it, maybe what you're actually doing is hoarding. I can understand it if you use the yarn immediately, but if it's just going back into a tub, you've figuratively sat on it like Smaug and his Dragon hoard.

I've never really understood the energy around destashing, or where the sense of guilt re: having a large stash comes from? I don't think painters fret about having too many only-used-once-in-a-while paint colors in their collection, and that's what having a lot of yarns on hand feels like to me -- a paintbox I can draw on in an unplanned way (especially because I live in such a rural area & don't have a substantial LYS nearby if I want anything besides Icelandic yarn). there are quite a few projects from this past year that I never would have done if I hadn't had some particular yarn lying around that suddenly became the right fit with a project -- especially testknits, which are never planned in advance. there are definitely some skeins that either I've decided I don't like (I bought some superwash early in my knitting habit that now I don't really care for), or I signed up for a let-us-pick-your-colors deal from a dyer or yarn maker and received some colors I'll never use -- those I take to local knit-night periodically and just give away -- and the rest of my stash just waits patiently for the right moment to shine. no guilt, no angst.

It's so funny because I'd been checking your destash daily to see if that navy blue yarn was still there, trying to decide if I wanted to purchase it! I'm glad you found a use for it after all 😁

I just went through my community knitting section of the stash with some new criteria. Just because there is enough yarn to make a hat doesn't mean I want to make it with the yarn I have. Some of it was from others who destashed or no longer knit. I got this portion down two two large bags with all of the yarn something I would be happy to knit with. To celebrate, I cast on a hat from more than 20 years ago that a friend gave me this yarn. Now that I am knitting I can see moths invaded her stash before she gave it to me. I keep all of my wools in plastic bags since I had a moth problem.

<shrug> it's your yarn, if you want/need to get rid of it for some reason then go for it. If you change your mind, that's your prerogative as well. I don't tend to de-stash unless I am absolutely sure I'm never going to use it and then it leaves the house within a day so I don't have a chance to re-stash it. :)

I've definitely been there ... restashing 24/7 :)

Sorry, Melissa, this is going to be a long one. One factor that you haven't hit on yet, is the emotions around the financial issues. Deciding to destash a yarn is like admitting to myself that it was a mistake to buy it in the first place. Destashing at less than what I paid feels like I'm compounding the mistake. That alone keeps the Path To Kitten's Stash mostly a one-way street. This is why I've only ever done two large destashes, both of mostly acrylics and blends from my early crafting days when I only shopped Woolworths and the likes. So, not so much emotions about "very special yarns, " just the financial issue. Both times I went through Craigslist. The first one, the lovely lady who responded came and selected what she wanted - about 90% of what I was offering, and we agreed on a price. The rest went back into stash. The second time, I put it up as a must-take-all lot (about 30 lbs), and again the purchaser was a sweetheart, so we came to a price very quickly. That quick-shot method worked well for me, as I didn't have time to reconsider any specific items, and I was very fortunate with who responded. Other than that, I've destashed by either freecycling or donating. That way the cost issue is moot. It's not a loss, it's a donation. If I'd had a long-running destash page, where items were lingering, and perhaps people were interested, but wanting to haggle over each item, I don't think I could put up with the hassles. Getting back to the very special skeins, and the I'm not worthy syndrome that keeps me from using them. Because "I'll never have that yarn again!" I thought I could get around that feeling, with the argument "But I'll have other yarns that I'll like just as well, and I can prove it. Because I already do!" To which I quite sagely reply "Yeah, and I'm not worthy of them either!"

Thanks for stopping by everyone!

Maybe Rauma Finull yarn for the lopi sweater? It's considered a fingering, but it so flexible with gauges from fingering to light dk. Another one I haven't tried in a sweater yet is Juniper Moon organic merino. I knit a cowl out of it, and it has been surprisingly durable and wears well plus has flexible gauge also. I am hard on sweaters, so rarely knit one for me in merino, but, I am going to try a sweater in this yarn. My favorite yarn is Cumbria from Fiber Co. , the fingering is fluffy 😊. Beautiful sweater! Look forward to seeing what you use!

That mohair sweater turned out beautifully. Another vote for the turtleneck, btw. Lots of fluff left even though you've eaten some. Fibre is fibre, right? Sadly, I am just OCD enough that it would give me a tic to have a sweater where the pattern doesn't line up all the way to the top. Unavoidable w decreases, but means this is not a sweater I need to make. Good thing really; not that fond of eating mohair. The Weatherman, though…

Congratulations on completing your sweater. It is gorgeous. Keep the turtleneck.

As you go.... just weave in those ends as you go...mohair...the other non mohair I would wait until I'm finished. Great episode! My vote is the turtle neck but so nice to have the option if you ever want a change. Henly top is Nacre.....I found it by searching your podcasts and typing Henly.

Your Aureliano is spectacular! Congratulations on a masterwork. I am obsessed with colorwork and will soon be launching into a Marie Wallin all over colorwork pullover, a pattern I've been lusting after for years. 🙂

Love the hat, reminds me of crop circles lol. I really like the swirl on the top of the grey sweater pattern as well. Your mohair turned out great. I would be happy to see it finished too and I agree...I like the collar better not turned down. I thought that looked Norwegian. Steeking seems to be common on a lot of them.

Oh, and for The Weatherman NOT in lopi, you might want to check out Jamiesons of Shetland (not J&S) Double Knitting - it’s in the same color range as Spindrift. Woolly Thistle and Jimmy Beans Wool probably have it.

The Aureliano sweater is stunning!!!! Congratulations. I’m definitely team turtleneck.

Lovely episode. Braiding create sometimes bulk in the back

That specific colored green looks incredible with your bright blue eyes. I think you’ll be shocked knitted up. See how it looks. It looks gorgeous on you the lace weight Kashmir.

Hi Melissa. You showed some really beautiful sweaters today. I think green will look good on you. Looking at the 2 hanks you showed, I would say to be sure to alternate skeins. I recently ended up reknittimg the top of a sweater because I ended up with an obvious line that I didn’t even see until I blocked it. 😮