It started as an endeavor to be practical....

Use what you have to make what you use.  Simple enough, right?

It began with the idea to plan my knitting out for the next year.  Purchase patterns and supplies to stash away as needed. Knit through everything on the needles, move on through the planned list, no muss, no fuss.  I should have all sorts of lovely finished items at the end as well as stashed projects in potentia to last me through a good portion of 2021, which does not include any of the embroidery, cross stitch or clothes sewing projects already hanging around.

Then, I started contemplating the yarns I was using; most are some flavor of wool, sometimes blended with other fibers.  How were they going to wear?  What environmental impact had I overlooked in my search for the "perfect" yarn for the project?  What was wrong with "plain" wool?
Nothing is wrong with wool.  I own quite a lot of it, mostly in half-finished projects from most of a decade ago.
Well, why didn't I rip out the unfinished items and re-use the yarn for something I might actually finish?  Brilliant.

We've been doing a lot of planning for back packing and camping trips lately (that started with a discussion about re-doing our emergency kits that escalated quickly into must have all the gear)....why not make a lovely wool blanket for that?  I had two skeins of Cascade EcoWool now available.  Unsurprisingly, I also had a pattern I could use.

It's working up beautifully, but...it's a bit lacey and a bit prickly, not the snuggly thing I had in mind.  So, flannel backing seemed like a good idea...but soft, cotton flannel gets soggy easy, (it's the PacNorthwest, lots of things do).  Hmmm, a layer of duck maybe, then the flannel?  (Trying to avoid plastics and the like).  But would that be enough?  My brain helpfully reminded me that there is wool batting.  Now my simple, use my stash wool blanket project has become a camping quilt with a hand knit wool top.

Then someone in the house pointed out how useful boot socks would be.  Boot season is pretty much here, all the local stores that stock socks have them....but I do like to have a non-store bought option available...for pretty much everything, and I do have a knitting pattern.  I haven't yet gone stash diving to see if I have enough yarn.  Husband has some rather large feet, so I may let myself buy some sport or DK weight sock yarn to speed up the process a bit.

I may have also bought a coffee plant, as well as an orchid:

And maybe a yerba mate too:

Is this all practical?  Sort of.  After a fashion.  I suppose.  Mostly, it makes me feel better.  Is security puttering a thing?