How one thing leads to another....

Many crafters have honed their ability to justify buying new craft supplies. I am no different, but I have been trying to use more from my stashes (plural to reflect many craft interests) rather than buying new with each project. In my last post, I showed you photos of Christmas stockings for my son Chuck and his wife Kim. Grandson Colton's stocking is going to feature a different but related design with a blue background rather than red or green. I was ready to begin but decided I didn't care for the blue yarn in my stash. Both the color and texture were off for what I had in mind. That, of course, led to the purchase of a new skein of yarn BUT the good news as I strive to keep my stashes from taking over is that the blue yarn was the ONLY skein I bought!

The decision that the original blue yarn wasn't going to work was made after stores were closed Tuesday night. That fact, coupled with internet browsing, led me to experiment with a free pattern and black yarn to make a fingerless glove. I wasn't interested in the style that has an opening for the thumb and one large opening for the four fingers, I wanted a true glove with fingertips exposed. The pattern I found not only fit this description, it was knitted from the top down. Typically gloves are knitted from the cuff to the fingertip. Many people knit socks from the cuff to the toe, but I prefer toe-up socks. What can I say? I'm a rebel!

I wasn't too far into this project before I could tell I wasn't going to wear this glove indoors when my hands get cold. It is too thick and bulky to suit me, but I persevered so that I could determine if I liked the pattern enough to use it again with a lighter weight yarn.

Yesterday afternoon I finished the glove with only the loose yarn ends (between the fingers) to weave in, but I wasn't planning to do that since I wasn't going to wear the glove. Enter my husband. The one who never wears sweaters that I knit because he always warm. He asked what I was working on. He told me that he always wanted a pair of these. Was I supposed to guess this? He never said a word about them before yesterday.

The glove fit him perfectly except the cuff needed to be lengthened. I undid the bind off, added more yarn and extended the cuff another inch. Here is the glove:

You know how this story is going to end, don't you? The is glove is now half of a completed project. I had enough black yarn for the experimental glove, but not enough for a pair. This means another shopping trip for yarn. The question is, will I be strong enough to ONLY but ONE skein of yarn for the second time in one week?

So many colors...so little time...and even less storage space!