In the mood to toss it all....
Today was quite traumatic... I came to the conclusion that I don't need 90% of the acrylic yarn I had in my stash, and have packed it up in bags and boxes with the intention of shipping it off to a good home during my garage sale. Basically, I came to the conclusion that I like having new yarn, I like to buy with a special project in mind, and knowing I probably have 10x what I could ever possibly use already at home, it's not fun to bring things home, because I am inevitably put on a guilt trip for spending. Now, I don't want you to think that I've completely thrown out my stash... to the contrary, I have a closet packed with yarn, but it's stuff that isn't 100% acrylic. Basically, the purge process went like this. I brought all the boxes of yarn from my storage unit home. I had rubbermaid storage boxes stacked 7 feet tall, on about 3x4 feet of floor space. A lot of yarn. And that was just what was in storage - we haven't even scratched the surface on what's hiding at home.
Anyway, step one was opening everything and pulling out the stuff Iknew I would keep. I had a couple boxes of 100% cotton and cotton blends for sweaters, dish cloths, baby items and crochet threads of every size and color. Those, being the heaviest yarns, went on the floor under the lowest shelf. Next, I put all the novelty yarns and sock yarns into Sterilite totes that are taller, narrower and have locking lids with handles on them. 3 boxes fit perfectly on the top shelf which is only 1/2 as deep as the others. Then I put all the woolease yarn in another bin, other wool blend yarns in another container, those went on another shelf. Then my pure wools for felting and for my Philosopher's Wool kits went into 2 more bins. I have 2 shelves left and have an overflowing 18 gallon container of LB Homespun left over from afghans I made for christmas gifts 5 years ago, several LB Pound of Love skeins I want to keep, some Red Heart that I just bought to make some funky blankets out of.
In the interest of keeping my yarn stash full, I of course went out today and bought 6 balls of LB Trellis ladder yarn to make a "waist scarf" and ordered yarn for a summer scarf and shawl from KnitPicks, because I really wanted the knitting pouch that hooks onto your belt loop and you get free shipping if you spend $40, so of course I spent $40 when I could have paid $18 plus shipping... it's a disease, I tell you! The summer scarf is going to be using their Stockpot Scarf pattern, knit with a base yarn and eyelash, lengthwise. I'm not an eyelash person, but this stuff, butterfly kisses, looks to be more delicate and less tacky than the Fun Fur I have stockpiled from christmas gifts 2 years ago. Then, I got a couple skeins of a lace weight merino in a color called grape jelly (now how could I resist that?) I love lace weight yarns, the problem is that I seem to set them down for long periods of time and not be able to figure out where exactly I left off. Perhaps I'll try to do a pie are square shawl again. The last one I tried was in this truly hideous turquoise Jaggerspun Zepher.
I've also developed a knit & crochet library in my other closet, on the top shelf. I've been digging thru my basement trying to find the books, and I think the shelf is going to overflow before I find them all. I have a lot of booklets of patterns that I've forgotten about. At some point I'm going to catalog all my yarns, books, patterns, tools, etc, but right now it's just a matter of getting everything to fit into the space I have. My straight needle collection is currently residing in a pink plastic ice bucket from Joann's. I bought a Circular Solution hanging circ organizer, which will be mounted to the wall sometime in the next week, hopefully. I have a Double Points folding organzer, also from Circular Solutions, but I need to gather all my dpns and get them put away. The hardest ones are my sock needles, because I think I never have enough, so I keep buying & buying. Crochet hooks, too... I'll bet I have at least 8 size I hooks.
Well, tomorrow is a another day. I need to finish putting everything away, and find a place to store the equivalent of 8 garbage bags of acrylic yarn in anticipation of the garage sale.
Anyway, step one was opening everything and pulling out the stuff Iknew I would keep. I had a couple boxes of 100% cotton and cotton blends for sweaters, dish cloths, baby items and crochet threads of every size and color. Those, being the heaviest yarns, went on the floor under the lowest shelf. Next, I put all the novelty yarns and sock yarns into Sterilite totes that are taller, narrower and have locking lids with handles on them. 3 boxes fit perfectly on the top shelf which is only 1/2 as deep as the others. Then I put all the woolease yarn in another bin, other wool blend yarns in another container, those went on another shelf. Then my pure wools for felting and for my Philosopher's Wool kits went into 2 more bins. I have 2 shelves left and have an overflowing 18 gallon container of LB Homespun left over from afghans I made for christmas gifts 5 years ago, several LB Pound of Love skeins I want to keep, some Red Heart that I just bought to make some funky blankets out of.
In the interest of keeping my yarn stash full, I of course went out today and bought 6 balls of LB Trellis ladder yarn to make a "waist scarf" and ordered yarn for a summer scarf and shawl from KnitPicks, because I really wanted the knitting pouch that hooks onto your belt loop and you get free shipping if you spend $40, so of course I spent $40 when I could have paid $18 plus shipping... it's a disease, I tell you! The summer scarf is going to be using their Stockpot Scarf pattern, knit with a base yarn and eyelash, lengthwise. I'm not an eyelash person, but this stuff, butterfly kisses, looks to be more delicate and less tacky than the Fun Fur I have stockpiled from christmas gifts 2 years ago. Then, I got a couple skeins of a lace weight merino in a color called grape jelly (now how could I resist that?) I love lace weight yarns, the problem is that I seem to set them down for long periods of time and not be able to figure out where exactly I left off. Perhaps I'll try to do a pie are square shawl again. The last one I tried was in this truly hideous turquoise Jaggerspun Zepher.
I've also developed a knit & crochet library in my other closet, on the top shelf. I've been digging thru my basement trying to find the books, and I think the shelf is going to overflow before I find them all. I have a lot of booklets of patterns that I've forgotten about. At some point I'm going to catalog all my yarns, books, patterns, tools, etc, but right now it's just a matter of getting everything to fit into the space I have. My straight needle collection is currently residing in a pink plastic ice bucket from Joann's. I bought a Circular Solution hanging circ organizer, which will be mounted to the wall sometime in the next week, hopefully. I have a Double Points folding organzer, also from Circular Solutions, but I need to gather all my dpns and get them put away. The hardest ones are my sock needles, because I think I never have enough, so I keep buying & buying. Crochet hooks, too... I'll bet I have at least 8 size I hooks.
Well, tomorrow is a another day. I need to finish putting everything away, and find a place to store the equivalent of 8 garbage bags of acrylic yarn in anticipation of the garage sale.
posted by Shannon at 11:10 PM
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