As you all can probably guess, I struggle mightily with the stash acquisition thing. I have bins and bins of yarn around here, as well as a couple of bins of fiber that can be spun into more yarn. Yet I found myself yesterday online, window shopping for more yarn. “Ooooohhh, Shiny!!”
Something made me close the browser window and step away from the computer. I keep talking about knitting from stash, but I never actually get around to doing it. So I decided to rummage around in the bins of yarn I already have. I decided on a novel approach, just pull out one box and see what’s in there. It’s sort of an archive of my yarn shopping for the past decade or so.
I decided to start with Box #1*. The numbered boxes are somewhat chronological, though not entirely, since I’ve reorganized the whole mess once or twice over the years. Here we go:
Want to see what’s in it?
That’s a sweater’s worth of nice oatmeal colored wool from Elann. John looked at that and called “mine”. I think he needs a Mr. Rogers cardigan, don’t you?
That’s a shawl’s worth of a really pretty lace mohair/viscose blend. There’s enough there for a Wing ‘o the Moth Shawl.
Next up is two colors of Inca Alpaca. There are 4 hanks of the brown, and 3 of the cream. I’m thinking scarves. They both would go with my winter coat.
Then there is enough of this Green Mountain Spinnery Silkspun for mittens. Bright purple mittens for me!
Last but not least, one lonely skein of something:
I think that’s a skein of that same oatmeal, but likely from a different dye lot. I actually did a swatch with this, but I think there is enough left for another pair of mitts.
So there you go, a blast from the past. I’m almost up to finishing something already on the needles, then I’m going to start one of these projects next. Let’s see how much of this box I can get through before I cave and buy more yarn!
*To put that in perspective, there are 20 numbered boxes in my closet. That doesn’t include the box of enough crayon colored Cotton Ease for several sweaters. And a miscellaneous box of Dale Baby Ull and Euroflax in a variety of colors. I clearly do not need more yarn, I just need to go shopping at home.
Ah…kindred souls! She who dies with the most yarn wins! 🙂
I’m a recently retired school administrator…and happily received many beautiful gifts of yarn and knitting books from faculty and students alike over the years. I only have 6 bins but they are jammed full to the brims- and I’ll never live long enough to knit all that yarn in a million years!
My husband took a road trip with me last month to WEBS (please come to New England and I’ll take you there – it’s in MA…and be sure to bring your credit card!). I wanted some specific colors for mittens that I couldn’t find locally and guess what – we came home with 12 skeins of merino and cashmere that he saw and fell in love with. I’m still working on the OFP – so-o-o-o-o this new stash acquisition will have to wait until the new year! So much for stash busting! I need a new 7th container…not a good sign!
Happy knitting and happy yarn buying! 🙂
I try really hard not to accumulate, and thought I was doing well until I looked into a bag in my closet. I was shocked, I need to work on my stashlet too. But it’s so much fun to buy and dream of the end result.
The oatmeal cardi will be fabulous.
I have been trying not to buy more yarn, unless it’s for a gift for someone, or I am visiting someplace where I see yarn not available anywhere else.
It’s hard though!
Girl, I’m telling you…you bought that yarn because you liked it. You might as well use it. It’s been working pretty well for me this year…
Just 20? I thought you had a yarn problem. 🙂
I love shopping in my own yarn stash! I don’t do it nearly often enough. I have most of it listed in Ravelry so I don’t really have to open the boxes if I don’t want to, but there is something inspiring about getting your hands in the stuff and being reminded why you bought it in the first place. I highly recommend clear boxes.
I think a Mr. Rogers sweater would be AWESOME! It makes me want to make one for my hubby.