Long before Wendy posted about her plan to knit from her stash, I had been pondering doing something similar. Part of the reason is basic physics. Since we will be hosting Christmas for my extended family this year, and thus need to provide space for my little sister, her husband and my niece, to stay when they come down, I knew that I needed to focus this year on clearing things away to make that possible. In order to turn the library into a space that is useful as a guest room, I needed to clean up my mess. Most of the yarn was in bins on a shelf, but there's a big table in there that has been covered with piles and boxes and things that needed to be organized and put away for far too long a time to admit to.
So on Monday, the very first day of the new year, I took a deep breath and finally decided to tackle the stash. Everything was sorted. Shelves in the computer room were cleared off to make room for my slowly growing knitting library. The shelf that holds all my bins of yarn was moved into the computer room. All my leftover sock yarn was compiled into one large paper bag, to be stashed in a closet until such time as I figure out what to do with it (tesselated fish blanket? mitered square blanket? several thousand fingerless gloves?). Then I sat down and made up a sizable list of projects that I want to accomplish, all of which will be done from yarn that is already in my stash, and more importantly, I pulled out all of that yarn and put it into separate bins or bags, all lined up neatly on my desk, some even with patterns tucked inside, so that they are a visible reminder to me every time I walk into the computer room, and, every time I ponder wanting to buy more yarn, or start something new.
The process is not yet completed - the table full of piles is still in the library (although I did manage to clear off about half of it) and I need to sort through the box of miscellaneous needles and try to put them back into their respective bags and needle cases, so I can *find* them when I need them next. The knitting machine needs to be boxed up and stored on top of the giant shelf of yarn (but only after I use it to whip up parts of a baby sweater). I need to figure out a clever place to store my blocking pads and the perfectly sized piece of wood that I use as a base for knitting machine, swift and ball winder (since every single counter and table in this house has rounded edges and is thus unsuitable for clamping any of my knitting paraphenelia). And I have already swapped out some of the yarn I carefully set aside, for a different pile of yarn (still from the stash, though!), to cast on for a pinwheel blanket for the upcoming baby shower. But right now I am feeling pretty pleased with the progress, and hopeful that I can keep it up. And I figure I might as well join in the fun of the Knit From Your Stash 2007 group, if only because it's nice to know I won't be alone.
Great plan!
Posted by: Carrie K at January 8, 2007 04:11 PM