We all can agree that I never need to buy yarn again. We would probably all agree that at some point, I will buy more yarn but . . just hear me out please . . I might can explain to some degree how the stash got so out of control.
Knitting isn’t like quilting when it comes to the yarn/fabric. If I’m making a quilt that needs 4 yards of blue, I can likely substitute 2 blue fabrics or 3 or 4 blue fabrics or a whole bunch of blue fabrics and make it scrappy.
Sweaters don’t work so well. Even if I decide to use 2 blues, different yarns behave differently. Even a worsted weight might be 100% wool or 100% superwash wool or 80% wool/20% something else. It might be 2 ply. It might be 4 ply. It might be more plies.
When I buy yarn for a sweater . . say I buy 8 skeins and then I decide to use the yarn for something else, and the next sweater only needs 6 skeins, then I have 2 skeins leftover. I could make mittens or a hat . . but I’m kinda wasting 2 skeins of yarn.
Previously I had organized my yarn and I thought I had done an amazing job. I had it all in bags and labeled as to the project. I had it all on a spreadsheet so I could sort it by yarn weight, pattern, number of skeins, etc.
Now that I’m seriously trying not to buy yarn, it was hard to find the yarn I might want to use if I decided to use yarn dedicated to one project for another project.
Say I want to make Glenfeddich, I could end up pulling yarn from 6 or 8 buckets to decide which yarn I wanted to use.
Boots
Last week, I decided I was going to re-do my stash system. It was a huge job but I had lots of help. Boots got into all the buckets to be sure they were worthy of holding my yarn.
Boots
Then he posed with each skein of yarn I photographed. Then . . he grabbed each skein and ran off with them! 🙁
Now I have all my yarn in buckets according to weight.
Yarn Stash
It will be easy to find yarn and hopefully I can use some of what I have instead of buying yarn for every project I want to make. It’s so much easier just to get online and order what I want instead of digging through those buckets but I am going to start digging through them!
On Ravelry, I’ve added most of my stash, photos and all. I can sort the yarn there by weight and that’s another way to find what I may have.
Ravelry Stash
I’ve spent way too much time doing all this but I feel better about the stash and about being able to find things in there. I’ll feel a whole lot better when I start emptying out those totes!
sao in Midlothian (Shirley Albertson Owens) says
Sounds like a good plan!
sao in Midlothian, VA
Joyce says
I mostly have my stash sorted by weight. Of course in my case there is the issue of the stash outgrowing its designated containers. sigh. On Ravelry I usually sort my stash by order of purchase. Occasionally I will re-sort by weight just to see what I have in certain weights and where I’m lacking. (HA) My favorite is to order by color. I have a lot of purple! 🙂 It looks a lot more manageable online, though. It’s scary in person.
Joyce says
I forgot to add…Boots looks like a good helper! I’m glad he checked out all those totes for you. You never know what might be in there otherwise…squishy yarn to nap on…
Swooze says
Good job on taking another crack at organization! You just have to keep trying until you find a solution that works for you!
Pdudgeon says
this looks really good–especially knowing the colors and the number of skeins!
the organization is really going to pay off when you see a pattern that you like, flip to your chart, and say “YES!, I CAN DO THIS!”
there is nothing quite like instant gratification. Good job, Judy!!!