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Nice surprise in the post

I'm used to getting parcels in the post, I have an addiction to buying yarn - I'm sure I'm not the only one LOL. This parcel baffled me though. I didn't remember ordering it and was trying to figure out where it came from... Then it dawned on me (with a little help from the postage label (skmneedlecase)) that it must be my freebie from subscribing to Simply knitting. What a pleasant surprise.

Updates

I added a new column to the needle equivalent chart as I have been looking at a few old English patterns which use the old needle sizes. I've also added a bit on the sidebar that shows what I'm working on at the moment, thanks Ravelry for this great little app.

The dangers of buying wholesale yarn

I will admit it I am a pack rat. I collect sci/fi fantasy books, soaping stuff (equipment, ingredients, essential oils etc), recipes, knitting patterns, needles and yarn...

So when a pack rat like me has the brilliant idea of buying 190 balls of yarn wholesale to resell on ebay I suppose I am just asking for trouble. I now have two huge boxes downstairs full of Sirdar yarn. To give you an idea here's the list:

• Snuggly Tiny Tots (10 balls of each)
• 0932 snug (baby blue)
• 0930 bliss (baby pink)
• 0929 hush (white)
• 0931 coy (mint)
• 0933 cosy (cream)
• 0928 tender (pale lilac)

• Click DK

• 0118 blossom (peachy pink) - 20 balls
• 0117pistachio (pale green) - 30 balls

• Juicy DK
• 427 watermelon (pink) - 10 balls
• 426 nectarine (peach) - 20 balls
• 429 lychee (cream) - 30 balls
• 428 coconut milk (white) - 20 balls

Of course now I don't want to sell them, well I suppose I'm ok with selling the snuggly tiny tots and at a push the click can go but letting that wonderful Juicy bamboo/cotton yarn go is just out of the question...

I know I have to sell it, I can't afford to keep it, and in my defense I have packaged it away but I haven't taken the pictures or put it up for sale yet. I'm going to try very hard to do it tomorrow (I need daylight to take the photos). Or maybe I can just sell the tiny tots and keep the rest LOL

Needle equivalent chart

Here's a needle equivalents chart which comes in handy every so often. I have all bar 5 of these sizes (I even have the largest 25mm ones!) most in bamboo. I HAVE to have them to keep up with my ever increasing stash :-).

Metric	US	Old UK
1.75	00
2	0	14
2.25	1	13
2.5	11/2
2.75	2	12
3	21/2	11
3.25	3	10
3.5	4
3.75	5	9
4	6	8
4.5	7	7
5	8	6
5.5	9	5
6	10	4
6.5	101/2	3
7	103/4	2
7.5	-	1
8	11	0
9	13	00
10	15	000
12.75	17
15	19
19	35
25	50

Yarn equivalents

I got so fed up with trawling through my bookmarks every time I wanted to look something up that I decided to start a reference blog with all the details in one handy place.

I'm starting with a yarn equivalents table because I seem to be looking for that more than most LOL

UK	USA	Australia	Needle size	Approximate gauge*
2ply	Laceweight	2ply	1.5–2.25mm	32–34 sts
3ply	Light Fingering	3ply	2.25— 3 mm	32sts
4ply	Fingering	4ply	2.25— 3.25 mm	28 sts
Light DK	Sport	5ply	3.25— 3.75 mm	24–26sts
DK	DK/Light Worsted	8ply	3.75— 4.5 mm	22 sts
Aran	Worsted/Aran	10ply	4.5— 5.5 mm	18-20sts
Chunky	Bulky	12ply	5.5— 8 mm	14-15 sts
Super Chunky	Super Bulky		8mm and up	8-12 sts

* The approximate number of stitches over 4 inches/10cm