Challenging resurrection!

Hello! Long time no see......isn't that a strange phrase? It's a phrase I use occasionally but I can't remember ever having seen it written down before and it looks really odd. Maybe it's missing some punctuation, a comma perhaps? Anyway, it's not nearly as affective in writing as it is in person.

I have been thinking recently about starting a podcast. I'm still thinking about starting a podcast but meantime I thought I would resurrect my blog which has been sorely neglected. In fact it's more like a secret room in an abandoned house, covered in cobwebs and dust so thick I could write my name in it. I will have a good spring clean and tidy up and do my best to visit more often :-)

I have recently become hooked on watching podcasts. I have my favourites and occasionally add another to the list. Truly Myrtle, Tilly Trout, Little Bobbins, Sockmatician, Knitting Expat, Kill to Craft are some of the ones I enjoy. I quite like podcasts I can watch from the beginning and seem to be put off those that have hundreds of episodes because I know it will take me ages to catch up. I'm also partial to British ones although I also enjoy Susan B Anderson, she has a lovely tone and very soothing voice and Wonderwolle is another non British one I watch.  Podcasts help me feel really connected to the knitting world and maybe that's why I like the British ones best, I love to hear about the places I know, love and have visited or lived in back home (NZ is home now, we love it here and we don't plan to move back to the UK but it will always be referred to as 'back home' for some reason!)

So while I ponder filming a podcast I thought I would bring you all up to date on my current challenge. It seems a long time since my last yarn diet challenge and I've set myself another one. After attending Knit August Nights again this year I decided I wanted to have another year off from purchasing yarn. I don't have a huge stash when compared to some knitters but it's all relevant to each individual hoarder haha. During my last challenge I was surprised how little I actually used and how much I enjoyed the focus of not buying more but making what I had work for me. This time I added a twist...........

I purchased 9128 metres of yarn at this years KAN. I am challenging myself to knit at least that amount by next years retreat at the end of August 2016 using only stash. I won't limit myself to yarn I purchased during that weekend, I will also use current stash. I have set up a project page for the challenge which will calculate my yardage as I knit my projects (isn't Ravelry fantastic??!) you can read about the challenge here and follow along with my FO's here. I posted about my challenge in the Knit August Nights Forum and I have been really encouraged to have quite a few people join me with their own similar challenges. There is only one other Raveller who is also doing the no new yarn challenge with me but it's exciting to see others knit their way through the amount of yarn they purchased and I love having the support of others. So far so good :-)

My latest cast on is an Askews Me shawl by Stephen West....this is an addictive knit and I can see it won't take me that long to finish it.  I was tempted to try the single pass technique that Nathan of Sockmatician uses and has made a video of but I think I will save that for the next project.

Well, that's it for now...I will bring you up to date on my latest WIP's and FO's in the next post.  Thanks for catching up :-)