Spring Stash Cleaning
That’s right. I have taken on the most daunting task of organizing the stash. I want to knit up what I’ve got for the next little while (off to a bad start though, don’t want to talk about it). My lovely mother came over last weekend and I hauled yarn out of every nook and cranny in the house. It was really coming out of the wood works though! There were a couple of bins in the bedroom closet, some piles in the living room, in jars on a shelf, in baskets, in boxes, I had it strewn all over the living room! It was like a heavenly nightmare. The yarn was piled high and then I found the bag.
The bag was full of acrylic yarn from way way back. It’s in kind of earthy colours and squeaks when you knit it. Seeing that yarn again brought back memories of my first knits. They were blankets composed of wide strips of different stitches with seed stitch around the borders. I would find a stitch I liked from my 99 Knit Stitches book (possible circa 1970) and then do a little math, add a border and knit away. I had some plastic double points with elastic bands on the ends from my mumsy and I would knit about half of one, then start 2 more (4 double points means you can work on 3 strips at a time, I was a multi-project knitter right from the start). I made these blankets over 6 feet long for my tall dad and brothers. They were monstrosities but they are still around. There are 3 of these babies at my parents house. They have been washed a couple of times and they still look the same as the day I knit them.
I digress of course. I organized my yarn in a couple of different ways. Each stash is unique and if you decide to organize your own you will almost certainly have different categories, but here are the ones I went with:
Large Bin 1: Worsted (mostly Malabrigo, I have some projects in mind for that)
Large Bin 2: Cascade
Large Bin 3: Odds and sods. These are the ends or 1/2 balls left over from various projects. I haven’t quite decided what to do with these ones. Perhaps a pom-pom project of sorts?
Large Bin 4: Cottons. I don’t think this really counts as a whole large bin because it contains 2 blankets that are stitches away from being finished. I suppose it does count until I ACTUALLY finish them.
Small Bin 1: Blue Sky Alpacas, everything except the sport and melange
Small Bin 2: Blue Sky Alpacas sport and melange. Lots of colourwork means lots of leftovers!
Small Bin 3: Sweet Sweet Georgia (Emily saw this bin and commented on what a spoiled knitter I am, she is right of course)
Small Bin 4: Sock yarn! I am loving this bin right now. One of my favorite things about sock yarn is that there are so many things you can do with one skein. I am just plotting my return to socks after my Christmas sock blitz.
All it took was a couple of days and a trip to Ikea but I am ready for anything the knitting world might bring!
LisaB said,
April 30, 2010 at 6:35 pm
You have a bin of SweetGeorgia yarn? Very jealous!!