What I'd Knit if I Weren't Stash-Busting

I suppose it would be more optimistic for me to have entitled this post "What I'll Knit When I'm Finished Stash-Busting" but it's hard to imagine getting through all of my stash yarn, even as I've completed more than 11 projects with stash yarn to date. (Note: I've actually completed 17 projects using stash yarn, in the last 5 months, but I didn't start my formal stash-using process until mid-January.)

I've got 4500 yards left to get through (over 23 projects). Increasingly, those projects are tiny Bluebirds of Happiness so the boredom factor goes up while the yardage factor goes down. In truth, I haven't made one of these yet so I can't confirm that they're boring. I sense I'll be in the mood for them when the fall comes around and I'm looking for a mini-gift. What's cuter than a little ornament?

I just discovered this great Ravelry feature, accessed from the bottom of the Projects page, wherein it shows you (graphically) how many yards of yarn you've used on all the projects you've cataloged. I neglected to weigh 4 of my finished projects so they don't count towards the totals but, in 81 projects (knitted over almost 5 years), I've used 36,390 metres or 39,797 yards. It's safe to say, including the 4 projects that weren't counted, I've knitted with 43,000 yards of yarn since I started back in 2011. Not negligible, huh?

It's for fun stats like this that you should keep tabs on EVERYTHING you do in Ravelry.

At any rate, as I'm not saintly, I spend much of my time considering what I'd knit if I could go out and buy any wool without restriction. What I have noticed is that now I'm a bit more strategic about this process than I would have been 3 months ago. These days, I'm looking at ways to purchase such that I can go through 2 full projects (one small, one large) with the same yarn - to diminish the likelihood that I'll have 100-200ish yard remnants to utilize. Cuz I'd rather plan to use a yarn I love twice - to make 2 projects that intrigue me equally - than to use it twice, one instance of which is a suboptimal, haphazard stash-bust.

Here are a few things that I'd like to knit right now:

• A new pair of socks using my standard Simple Sock pattern. It's amazing how much one desires socks when there are only non-matching remnants to work from. You may recall my staunch, anti-sock knitting stance from years ago. How times have changed...

• Then there's Sweet Jane by Amy Miller:

• I do love an asymmetric line that hides one's midsection while calling attention to one's legs and shoulders. This sucker eats yarn, if the pattern info is accurate (@1500 yards of sport-weight). I bet it would be awesome in Tosh Sport - but that would cost a fortune (like 200 bucks CDN).

• Can't say I'm not intrigued to make another Foolproof Cowl. But next time I'll make sure that I have adequate yardage of both colours to follow the Inspiration version of the pattern without deviating:

• That cream and navy colourway is dynamite. 

What do you wish you were knitting (even if you're happily knitting other things)?