Well, this is what happens when you leave your yarn unattended for too long.

It explodes.

This is pretty much my entire yarn stash. It had been a while since I really examined what I had, and things in the closet were starting to get messy. (You know how it is. Yarn is quiet, but can get pretty rowdy.)

So this afternoon, I pulled it all out of the closet and took a look.

  First, there’s the sock yarn. There’s enough there for about 8 or 9 pairs of socks, but really, not too bad. It’s a small little pile. Easy to store away. (Note my curly-haired little assistant.)

  Then there’s the Cascade 220. Practically tiny, really. Eight skeins for my Perfect cardigan (once Ann and Kay have the pattern ready), and two skeins for a Tychus hat for my Dad. All nicely ear-marked for specific projects.

  Some Debbie Bliss yarn–5 skeins of Cashmerino Aran leftover from sweaters, and 5 skeins of Alpaca Silk waiting for some kind of project. Again. Tiny really. But we’re starting to see signs of a problem. Leftovers and yarn with no purpose in life? Sad, sad little skeins….

  Hmm, this pile is kind of big. This is my Rowan yarn. Some Cashsoft 4-ply leftover from my Union Market Square pullover, some Calmer that I bougth when our LYS went out of business last Spring, and, oh yes, the oldest yarn in my stash. Rowan’s Wool and Cotton, from back before they took the ampersand out of the name. THAT goes back almost 15 years to when a different LYS was going out of business. I couldn’t really afford it, but I just adored the yarn, so I bought two bagfuls. I used some of it for my Bjerk sweater a couple years ago, but am almost reluctant to actually use what I still have. It’s been in my closet for so long, it’s like a friend. Hmmm . . . this is starting to look problematic.

  Manos del Uruguay (and a couple skeins of that other Uruguayan yarn). This has been in my closet for a couple of years now, too. The skeins of topaz-colored yarn are leftover from the pullover I made two years ago, but the long skeins? Well, what I’d really like to do is turn them into an afghan. I love the colors, it would look gorgeous in my room, but, well . . . there are other things I’d rather be knitting . . . and so it just hangs there in the closet (draped over trouser-hangers)–nicely out of the way, but . . .

  Hmm . . . now we come to the REAL problem. The lace yarn. Like this collection of Kid Silk Haze, for example. Does anyone really need this much crack?

  And then there’s the Zephyr. Blue. Purple. White. And the evil Copper.

  Not to mention the other lace yarn–the Alpaca-Silk, the Cherry Tree Hill, the leftover Chai from my Flower Basket Shawl.

Yep, I think it’s with the lace yarn that we really see that there’s a problem. Now, I know, some of you are sitting there laughing at my stash. Because, really, this is pretty much the entire thing. (Unless you count spinning supplies or handspun, which I don’t. And I didn’t take close-ups of some of the odds-and-ends kind of yarns, though you can see them in the original photo, if you care to look that hard. I didn’t show you my Olympics yarn again, either, because, well, you just saw that.)

Things I noticed about my stash, though? Really, very little of it that I don’t actually WANT. I did put some skeins of “extras” into a bag with the intent of getting rid of them, but really . . . what would anybody want with a skein and a half of some leftover yarn? Of course, I rarely do the tiny projects like hats. I save some of the leftovers because I tell myself that I’ll make socks to match the just-finished sweater, or that it’s a shame to get rid of perfectly nice yarn, or that I should keep extras in case of emergency mending needs later on . . . and yet, then it just sits there.

I’ve got a very nice stash, really. And I’d honestly like to make something out of just about all of it. The quality is excellent. I still like all the colors . . . although it’s interesting that there are very few neutral colors in my stash at all. Blues. Reds. Purples. Greens. Almost no browns or whites, and no black at all, except for a skein of fuzzy fake-fur kind of yarn that I got for an Elmer Fudd hat’s ear flaps that I never actually made. (You’ll note Chappy’s avid look–he really wanted to “help” some more. He just laid there, staring longingly at the piles of yarn while I sorted….)

Oh well. The real problem?? Buying NEW yarn is so much fun!

  And, oh yes, the other thing I did? I sorted through my knitting books. These are the reference-type and basic books that I use the most–top shelf of the bookcase in the closet, easiest to reach.

  The second shelf has more pattern-type books. Also my books on spinning and (for now at least) my sewing basket, because it has to live somewhere.

  The bottom shelf holds the other craft books–quilts, embroidery, crochet. (Yes, crochet.) One book I’d completely forgotten I had? Alice Starmore’s Celtic Needlepoint. Now, I knew I had her Celtic Collections for knitting, but had forgotten that this other book was one of A.S.’s. Now, the sad part is that I didn’t pick up her Fair Isle or her Aran Knitting when I had a chance, when they were new. I thought (laughingly) at the time that they were too expensive, but . . . I had no idea. If I’d known that they’d be selling for $150-$250 for a copy now, well . . . I would have grabbed a copy when I could!

But the really surprising thing of my having this needlepoint book? I don’t do needlepoint. Oh, I know how, but I prefer other types of embroidery–it was just that the designs in this book were so beautiful, I really wanted a copy. Ironic, huh?

Now, what else did I want to tell you?

Oh, yes.

  I finished my Jaywalkers.

I’ve got to admit, though (please don’t yell)–I don’t love these socks. I DO love the zigzag look of the pattern. But I don’t love the way they fit. I didn’t put any negative ease in at all, since the pattern states that there isn’t much stretch because of the zigzags, but . . . the socks feel large. Especially the heels. I should have made the heel flaps MUCH smaller. They sure do look pretty, though!

• Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning • Permalink:Stash Explosion //