Tossing The Stash

Warning…more cleaning and organizing!

If you are a follower of The Yarn Harlot, you know that Ms. Stephanie likes to “toss” her stash once a year. She’s not getting rid of anything, just mixing it all around so the old stuff is not constantly stuck on the bottom. I decided I needed a bit of the same thing. Even though my yarn closet had a little bit of organization to it, it had gotten a bit out of hand and I’m not sure what all I have anymore.

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These are shots of my closet. It was stuffed. I couldn’t see the floor anymore and to get the folding tables out, I would have to pull out several bags of yarn first. This was really starting to irritate me.

Step 1 is to get everything out of the closet! As usual, my guest bedroom is the staging area for the mess that was to ensue.

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I had already taken the sheets off the guest bed to wash. If I had not already done it, it would have been necessary after this. Piles of yarns makes a mess and something in my stash makes me itch a bit. I have no idea what as I touched everything so I’ll have to keep an eye out when I finally get to knitting some of this stuff. Note, both the bed and the fold-out table in the back are covered with yarn.

Some of my yarn is still in the bags they were purchased in but so many of them had the misfortune of just roaming free. If you really need a reason to keep your stash organized and neat, just take a look at the yarn nests that had been created.

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The situation was actually worse than it looks in the picture. It took hours to get all of the yarns untangled. And actually that black has not been completely untangled yet. I think I’m going to have to devote some serious movie-watching time to this one. To keep this from happening again, I have separated all of the yarns into separate plastic bags. I have collected a mass of those plastic covers from sheets, pillowcases, curtains, etc. And I am so glad that I have. These things really come in handy. When I was out of those, various sizes of zip bags fit the bill just fine.

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Getting it all organized and neatly put back into the closet has made me want to get back to my yarn crafts, but there is one more thing I am determined to do first. More on that later. For now, look at how great my closet looks now. I’m so happy I can actually see the floor and my folding tables can slide out with no yarn shifting at all.

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For all you yarn crafters out there, are you a regular stash tosser?

2011 Project #1

My crafting is getting off to a great start. I have completed two triangle shawl/scarves. This one is for me. The bright one is for my older sister. I am going to start on one for my younger sister later today. I wear min as a triangle scarf, but they are also perfect for wearing as shawls.
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These are quick projects that really only take 2-3 days to complete. Not only am I on a crochet kick but I’m also on a never ending quest to cut down my stash. I did a pretty good job of it this past year but a trip to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival and a visit to Webs in Northampton, Mass derailed me a bit.

But this year, I am tackling it with a greater desire for organized storage space. I am starting the year off with a total of 75 yarns in my stash as listed in Ravelry. All of my yarns are listed there with the exception of the cotton I purchased during the holidays. Some of the 75 yarns are single skeins. Some are 10 skeins or more. The stash number only decreases when all skeins of a particular yarn have been used or given away or in some other way out of my hands. I still have more of the JoJo Land yarn used to make my scarf, but the yarn used to make my sister’s was just one skein of Noro sock yarn. So, I’m down to 74. We’ll see how things go in the new year.

How are you all doing on your stash?

I Am Serious About This!

I am all about getting yarn out of the stash, especially considering Stitches South is coming up and I know I am going to come home with too much new yarn.  So I am knitting away, determined to get at least half of my stash into projects for me or for the many new babies that keep sprouting up in my life. I track my yarn in Ravelry and right now I have 82 yarns (Some of these yarns consists of several skeins) in my stash. They can only come out of the active stash when they have been completely knit up or given away.  So, the goal for April 20th of this year is to be down to 41 yarns or less.  I encourage you all to do the same.
I was happy to find the Amelia Earhart Cap pattern that I used for the little cap in the last posting. It can be knit using one skein of yarn and is really cute.  Be careful that the yarn you use has at least 140+ yards though. The latest is white and very cute.


 I have already cast on the next project which will allow me to knock one more yarn off my count.  It's knitting up beautifully so I'm looking forward to finishing.  I'll post more about it later.  I have some  knitting time scheduled with friends later so I may just be able to finish it this weekend.

Aside from getting to clear the stash, all of the knitting is giving me some much needed stress relief.  I did so well to make it through the work week and I attribute it to the knitting.