I’m not doing any new year’s resolutions this year. Not for any real reason; mostly because I never can think of a really good resolution. But, I have been thinking of working on getting my stash down.
I mean, I often (almost always) knit from my stash, but I’ve still managed to end up with a surprising amount of yarn, just sitting there in my studio. Sure, a lot of it is single skeins, but I’ve got surprisingly large amounts of several yarns, and even some pretty special single skeins.
It seems a shame to leave them just sitting there.
But here’s the issue- I’m completely out of ideas for patterns that I might use for these yarns. Here’s hoping that one of you have a magical idea to help me use up some of this yarn.
First, I’ve got 360 yards of a super special, sport weight wool-angora blend from Local Color Fiber Studio. It’s glorious and soft, but looks really crunchy and natural. I’ve had it for a year or so, and get it out every time I’m looking for a new project. I still haven’t found just the right pattern for it. I’m this close to just making a garter triangle scarf, and calling it a day.
On the other end of the spectrum, I’ve got 5 and a half skeins of super soft, super chunky Knit Picks Swish Bulky. It’s leftover from a sweater I designed earlier this year (keep an eye out!), and I don’t think it’s enough to make a second full-sized sweater. It’s such a pretty green, though, I really want to use it for something.
I’ve also got a full sweater quantity of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Worsted, a nice wooly workhorse yarn, in sapphire blue. I’m currently working on a design in the same yarn, so I could just re-knit the same pattern again in blue, but I think I’d like to do something a little more interesting instead.
Continuing on the Knit Picks jag, I’ve got a giant bag of Hawthorne, my favorite sock yarn from KP. This is a tricky one, though. I’ve got about 10 different colors (that don’t necessarily go together), a handful of full skeins, and a bunch of partial skeins. I’m currently thinking I might use it to crochet an afghan, but that’s really just because I can’t figure out what else to do with it (apart from knitting one thousand socks).
I also found these three beautiful, peacock blue skeins of Knitting Notions Classic Merino Bamboo, a sport weight wool-rayon blend that is beautiful and shiny, but almost impossible to photograph. Between the three skeins, I’ve got almost 1500 yards, which has got to be enough to make something wonderful, but I haven’t been able to figure out what to do with it since I was gifted it several years ago. Will 2020 be the year of the Peacock yarn? Time will tell.
Have you done a deep dive into your stash lately? Find anything good?
And, seriously, if you have any ideas for my yarn, I’d love to hear them!
I also kind of guessed on the size, so it’s very, very big on the boy. Of course, he’ll grow into it, but I was kind of hoping he’d be able to wear it now, when it’s cold out, instead of in 6 months when it’s a million degrees out. (Well, 80. We live in Seattle after all.) Oh well.
And, I ended up having to buy a whole big skein of sock yarn to finish the top part of the sweater. Because, of course, I didn’t have any yarn that matched that particular shade of purple in my stash. So now I have 3/4 of a skein of sock yarn to add to my stash. So much for paring down my collection.
At least the kid seems to like his new sweater!
How do you use up your yarn? Or do you just keep buying it, like I seem to be doing?
On the Needles 