A few nights back I decided to update my stash spreadsheet. I’d been to the Australian Country Spinners mill shop since I last updated it, so there was definitely more yarn to add. It was also a good excuse to admire the yarn, remember what I had planned for it and consider what to make next.

Though I haven’t always stuck to my stash manifesto, one change I noticed was that I don’t have a gadzillion small batches of yarn that I can only make yet more scarves and hats out of. Instead I have more large batches of yarn for jumpers, cardys and jackets. And maybe even blankets.

I managed to cull over a kilogram of yarn (reducing the stash to 23.5 kilos). Most of it Patons Bluebell. I was using it for headscarves. Now that I’ve hit on the idea of making headbands out of leftover sock yarn, Bluebell seems harsh and boring. Out it goes.

Looking at the cotton stash, I decided it was time I stopped thinking about using up project leftovers by making facecloths and actually made them. They went into a bag that’ll sit next to the couch so I can whip one up when I want a break from a wip, or something to throw in my handbag. So far I’ve knit two:

The crinkly Cottontop wasn’t much fun to knit with, to tell the truth, and impossible to crochet with as the crinkles don’t like slipping through loops. I wonder how I managed to knit an entire top out of it without going mad. I guess back then I didn’t know that knitting with cotton didn’t have to be unpleasant.

So I turned to the leftovers from my 70s Costume. That’s when the trouble started. It must be something about this yarn. It puts whacky ideas in my head.

A thought popped into my head, you see, that I could make cute little granny squares out of it. Before I knew it, there they were:

I had a row of eight before I managed to stop myself. The were so fast to make. So bright and colourful.

That night I wanted to start the arms of the Ribbed Wrap Jacket. I’d finished the body, joined the shoulders and picked up stitches the night before, but realised knitting the arms would be much easier with dpns. But none of the dpns I had were the right size. What’s spooky is that, the next day, I had another look and found some. It’s as thought I blanked them from my sight just so I could continue making granny squares. By the end of the evening I had 24 squares. My hands hurt. I told myself I’d spread the rest out over a few weeks.

By the end of the next night I had this:

36 granny squares. I couldn’t make any more because I’d run out of yellow. They looked fetching all in a row:

And in the zip-lock bag I stowed them into:

The next question was what to do with them? Clearly I need to join them all together. They looked rather good against the purple patch of the old crochet blanket I’d laid them out onto, so today I popped into Lindcraft to get some purple in the same yarn.

Of course, they don’t make purple. And there were no other 8ply cottons let lone one in purple. So in desperation I bought the ‘plum’, which is a deep shade of pink. With ever square bordered and joined in this, it would be one very luridly coloured blanket. So I’m also considering white, as I have some white Bendy cotton.

What do you think?