Stash, glorious stash

My family was lovely to me this year, as always. Here are some miscellaneous non-yarn additions to my collection of knitting paraphernalia:

That thar is the Sweater Wizard 3.0 software (thanks, Mom and Dad), and some stitch holders and stitch markers (thanks, dear husband Santa). I haven't installed the software yet, but it looks good and my husband is really itching to try it, too. The stitch markers were particularly welcome also because, well, they disappear. ("Attrition," my husband says.)

And speaking of my husband, he and my older daughter gave me this:

Three skeins of Cascade 220 in a lovely royal purple. I'm thinking a vest for myself. I'd love to make the "Aran Accent Vest" from this Patons booklet, but I don't have the booklet. I'm vacillating between trying to redact it, or using the Hilja pattern by Niina Hakkarainen as a structural base and dumping cables onto it which I redacted from looking at pictures of Alice Starmore's St. Brigid sweater pattern. Of course, a quick Googling shows me that I could always buy the Patons booklet online. Hmm...

Lastly, my older BIL decided to go ridiculously crazy and get me this:

That is...wait for it...TEN 100g skeins of Berocco Ultra Alpaca, a 50/50 alpaca/wool blend worsted weight yarn. It's terrific. The colour is an olivey/foresty green which is very nice, but unfortunately it wouldn't suit me. That's okay, though, because there is way too much yarn to make a sweater for me and be done with it. I'm thinking it will instead become said BIL's Christmas gift for next year. (BIL initially said that the only condition of the gift was that whatever I made with it could not be for him...but when I told him that's what I was considering, he said, "Oh. Well, okay then." :) I'm thinking Kilkenny, by Lorraine Condotta.

And finally, my older daughter, flush with success from doing her very first knitted gift ever, asked me yesterday whether I would be at all willing to let her use some of my stash for her next project. My answer, of course (excepting the condition that some of the stash is reserved for projects I'm planning), was a resounding yes. So instead of our usual bedtime story, we hightailed it off to my "mostly synthetic worsted weight or thicker" tote and started exploring. She has decided to double up with one strand of purple and one strand of pink. Her plan is to make some kind of small doll's blanket for her sister. (What a kid. Her consideration for others never ceases to amaze me.) When she showed me how big she wanted to be and I estimated we'd need a cast-on of 40 stitches, though, she instantly decided it could be smaller. :D So we'll see how it goes. It, like the scarf we made together for her uncle, will be done in garter stitch, but after that she's agreed to let me teach her how to purl.

The best part is how much she loved going through the stash. Awesome. I think she's hooked.