Saturday Stash Summary

Whew!  I feel good!  Like you do after a great cardio workout.  Tired but very, very virtuous.  I've finished the stash prep and, today, you get to follow me through the last three days.

 

Stage 1.  Shock therapy.  I just went around the house pulling out any yarn from wherever it was hiding.  I figured the best thing to do was just dump it all in the middle of the floor.  That was probably the moment I questioned my sanity. 

 

Stage 2.  Sorting.  I had no idea where to begin...it was daunting.  By color?  By fiber?  Because I could dither forever, I made a quick executive decision and started pulling out by fiber content.  I realized after a few minutes that I could also sort by weight.  I managed a small bag of actual garbage at this point.  Who knows why I kept a one meter piece of ribbon yarn? 

Stage 3.  Purging.  Once it was all sorted, I started to decide what was worth keeping.  That is, what I would actually use.  Not could use...that's what got me into this mess.  Five big bags were destined for the thrift shop.  This is mostly the acrylics and baby yarn.  Over the years, I've been the recipient of two or three batches of 'estate yarn'.  These women did a lot of acrylic yarn knitting!  Most all of the wool and cotton I kept.  Everything was bagged, tagged and placed in boxes.  This was just for overnight tidiness.

Stage 4.  Finding storage.  This was way easier than I thought it was going to be.  I took my trusty pen and paper - in the end this was the easiest way - and I recorded the contents of each bag and where it was being placed.  All of it fit into two chests!  This was the most gratifying part of the whole exercise. 

Hoarding horror story - or hilarious, depending on your point of view.  Remember that birthday we just celebrated?  Well, I found a wee dress that I had started knitting for her and never finished.  With one sleeve left to knit, I lost the pattern.  This package has been lovingly stored in various houses as I've moved and I think it's time I finished it.   I have looked through my old patterns that I've colleected over the past 40 few years and, no luck.  By now, though, I think I have the experience to be able to just copy the existing sleeve. 

Of course, playing with all that yarn has put at least a half-dozen projects in my head that need to be started right now!   I know I've made a six-month pledge but it could be a lot longer than that if I planned to use it all up. Obviously, the lace-weight yarns are a lifetime of work all by themselves.  The stash Choco-vanilla Swirl skirt is coming along nicely.  I can't put it down for fear I'll never start it again.  The knitting is incredibly boring with the short-row gussets giving momentary respite before the long slog starts again.

I hope to have these projects completed and others started for next Saturday's report.