Stash Expansion, Part II

Laura thinks I'll have enough of that Woolarina yarn for two Endpaper Mitts so I think that might be my Christmas project. We'll see. It sounds promising to me!

OK, stash expansion. Here goes. Five 100-gram balls of Regia sock yarn purchased from Wollsucht. Each ball will make one pair of socks. It's much cheaper to buy Regia from Germany - I couldn't believe the price difference! From left to right, Regia India Cotton 4301, India Cotton 4302, Canadian Colors 4732 (Toronto), Canadian Colors 4730 (Alberta), and Rellana Flotte Socke Jubiläum 3 4410. I'm not much for variegated yarn but I've never tried self-striping (mostly because I've never found a self-striping sock yarn that I liked). These seem nice in the sample poster so we'll see how they turn out. The last is a bit loud for my taste but I thought I'd experiment. After shipping, it came out to about $8/ball - not bad for a full pair of socks, eh? OK, that's it for the stash expansion... sort of. Does something count as a stash expansion purchase if you've already used it up??? I present the Traditional Bea Ellis hat in Black and Cream Heilo. As it turns out, I'm not the only one who has recently found a Bea Ellis kit to knit. The cotton headband liner is what is rolling up on the brim. I hope to sew it inside the hat this weekend. I'm still debating about putting some tassels on this hat. This is another hat for Aaron and he's not really all that keen on tassels but because so many stitches are drawn up at the top, the hole at the top is larger than I'd prefer for a tassel-free hat.
I like the pattern but I cut it short a full inch. The pattern suggested knitting for 8" past the brim before starting the crown shaping. While the shaping is only 6 rows, I find 8" awfully long. I was also running out of white yarn so I stopped at 7" and it's still a bit long.

Next, here's Aaron modeling that gray hat I worked up last weekend. I'm thinking about felting a knitted flower to add to it to make the effect less "meuh". It's not my favorite but I now have one less skein of yarn in my stash so that's OK. Those of you who are making some snide remark about how I just added 17 new skeins to stash? Shut it. :-)
Did any of you hear Dorie Greenspan's cookie piece on All Things Considered with Michele Norris? I decided to use her three cookie recipes for our holiday cookies. Let me highly recommend them! WOW! Sandies, World Peace Cookies and Rugelach! Here are some of the latest cookies:
On that note, I wish you happy holidays and lots of vacation knitting time!