Ultra Stash Enichment

In the middle of the night last night I was awoken to the words "I brought you a present."
It was Will. I had given up on him; after deciding he wasn't coming after all, I had turned in.
The present, it turned out, was yarn. He threw a few balls at me. I was completely unimpressed because I had been asleep. But, since I was already up I groggily went to the bathroom. And returned to see:

Woah that's a lot more than a few balls.

So then, even though it was midnight, I looked through it and did some sorting.

Sorry for picture quality- it was midnight.

Among the good stuff, was a whole heap of Cotton-ease

There was also some Filtura De Crosa, Bryspun Kid-n-Ewe, Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride worsted, Berroco, Lion Brand Chenelle, Lion Brand Suede, and a ton of Wool-ease and Bernat pink baby striping yarn. Also, 6 balls of Bernat Harmony.
There was also Fun fur, and about 2 of those bags were just Red Heart. And homespun, which I completely hate and probably will donate.
Also tucked into the bag were a few stitch holders (2 different sizes) and a few knitting needles. There was 1 size 10.5 clover straight, 1 size 7 metal straight, and a HUGE size 17 29" circular pair of Addis. Only there was only one tip. So that was pretty stupid. Especially since I was excited as I've never used Addi's.

But my favorite thing in the whole bag was this:

So you're probably wondering where exactly all this yarn came from.
Will's sister Tiffany has a roommate who has a grandmother who used to knit. This grandmother apparently got sick and could no longer knit, and a few months ago sent a big bag of yarn my way. Said grandmother has now passed away.
Knowing this.....it kind of made me feel scared as I was sorting thorugh her stash. Like, when I die what is going to happen to these unfinished projects?
What the hell IS that thing she was working on? It's like a rectangle not big enough to be a blanket and not small enough to be a washcloth and there are no armholes and no neck so it can't be a sweater or vest. There's another piece as well, that she wasn't finshed with.

Along with maybe 5 or 6 balls of wool-ease in the same colorway.
The pattern is interesting:it starts off in 4 by 2 rib for 4 or 5 inches. Then it turns into this beautiful basketweave stitch.

How odd, that these peices represent hours of a knitter's life. And yet I'm just going to rip it all out and make a blanket out of it. But, I'm stealing this departed knitter's idea and using the same lovely basketweave pattern.

There was another interesting peice of archaeology as well.

I assume this was going to be a sweater. There is an eyelet pattern at the bottom, but what interested me the most was the stitch definition.

I don't know if you can tell, but I noticed immediately that every other row was twisted! At first I thought this knitter learned wrong and she never learned how to either purl or knit correctly, but then I looked again at the weird magenta objects and noticed that in the ribbing the knits and purls were perfect. I never would have thought to add a twisted stitch on each knit (or purl, but knit is easier) row in order to add a slight texture.
Mysteries. They'll never be explained.
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So anyways, now I have a ton of yarn. Also, I have run out of stash storage room.
I also recieved some packages today.
-6 balls of Berroco Ultra Alpaca
-3 balls of Cascade Ecological Wool (because Cascade raised their prices but webs is keeping the old ones until August 1)
and 7 skeins of Misti Alpaca silk/cotton is expected to arrive soon

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And finally, some progress.

Will's sock is coming along nicely, though I still have to add the heels.

 Also yesterday, I finally continued working on my Ringwood sweater. After all, I started that knitpicks sweater because I thought I'd need a sweater when I go camping the first weekend in August. Somehow, I thought it would be smarter to complete an entirely new sweater than to continue working on one that needs only the yoke and sleeves. 

Remember, I had thought it was impossible to do a fitted sleeve with the ringwood sweater because of the stitch pattern I chose. Turns out I just had to increase by kfb on the first and last stitch. (Instead of doing what I usually do- keep 2 or 3 stitches in stockinette at the seam and doing an M1 before and after.) 

So I worked on the first sleeve for a while.

I had much more than this.
That whole ball there was knitted up, along with a bit of a second ball.
See the problem was this: I'm not smart.
I did the math for the sleeve and decided to cast on 37 stitches and increase 2 stitches every inch until I reach 56 stitches.
However, I thought that seemed too small because I wanted more ease towards my shoulder. So, I cast on 40 stitches and increased to 64.
After working past the elbow, I realized that it was actually about 2 inches too big.
And frogged up to 60 and started from there.
It was still too big.
I frogged back to 56, and then put the damn thing away because I'm sick of having to redo things over and over and over again.
But, by this morning I think I've forgiven it and am ready to start working on it again.
Hopefully I'll finsh the sweater by the time I go camping.
I'm starting to have a suspicion I'm really going to like this sweater. Even if just because I'm being a perfectionist about it.
Anyways that's all for today.
I have to go find a place to put all that yarn....
(My mom mentioned converting one of our closets into a "yarn closet")