In the first six days of 2019, I have crocheted four beanies. Two of them are not worth showing off. They are made with vintage acrylic in shades of brown and I am just glad to get some of the yarn used up and done with. The other two are nicer. The one above is made with Sommer-Wolle Carnevale, a gorgeous wool blend that I bought in Switzerland last summer.

I don’t usually buy wool but last August I really wanted to make Tai Chi Man’s cousin and his wife some beanies to keep their heads warm while camping in their trailer, as they were so generous with their time and food when we were in Switzerland. In a Co-op in St Moritz (those two things don’t seem to go together, somehow!) I found some of this Sommer-Wolle in the beautiful shades of turquoise which seemed perfect for red-haired Lisa, and a masculine shade of Sommer-Wolle Venezia in dark greens and blues with black/white sections for Andreas.

The beanie below is mostly black and white because when I made the first two hats out of this skein I cut out some of it so it didn’t dominate over the coloured sections.

I can’t remember how much I paid for these balls of yarn, but I got three crocheted beanies out of each one. And by making these this weekend, I cleared out some stash.

I also cleared out a bagful of ugly old acrylics and weighed it – 1200 grams – which I will be donating to a thrift store, along with some of the beanies I’ve made. So when I tell you that I ordered yarn this week, you will understand that it’s totally ok because it’s still a net loss in the stash account!!

What did I order? Well, it’s a rather pretty colour pack from Wool Warehouse. The Scheepjes Stonewashed/Riverwashed XL colour pack has 50 little 15g balls of all the shades in those ranges in a lovely presentation box. It’s going to be like having a big box of candy arrive on the doorstep. How will I bear to break into it and actually use the yarn? I don’t know! In addition, I decided that it would be a good idea to get some extra of the lightest shade, Moonstone, so that I have a neutral that I can use with the brighter colours. Of course with Canada Post’s union woes, it could take a while to arrive, but I’m hoping they have their problems sorted out now. (Tai Chi Man’s birthday card from the UK took a month to get here.)

If you’ve never ordered from Wool Warehouse, I have to say they are brilliant. You order in British pounds but they give an approximation of the exchange rate next to the pound figure on each page. Their shipping is an incredible £3.99 – seriously, that’s amazing considering they are sending 1 kilogram of yarn my way across the expanse of the Atlantic!

Here’s a screenshot if you don’t want to click through to their site…

My goal for this year is more out than in, so that the stash doesn’t grow. And new stuff has to have plant fibre content, not be 100% synthetic. The Scheepjes yarn is 70% cotton.

We’ve had surprisingly mild temperatures this week – two of the days this year have hit double digits (Celsius) according to my car’s thermometer. The snow has melted quite a bit and we’ve seen some sunshine.

I hope you’ve had an awesome weekend. Feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what your yarn goals are for 2019.