Stash busting

These past few months I have become aware that I am buying yarn rather faster than I can knit it. Sometimes the problem is that I'm designing something, so no one has handily told me the precise amount of yarn to buy, so I have to guess and it's always better to go for too much over too little, just in case you can't get more of the same dyelot; sometimes it's those pesky market nights on Facebook, where indie dyers lay out their yarns so beautifully that I want them all; sometimes it's a sale of something I can't normally justify (like a jumper's worth of Rowan in the perfect colour at half price); sometimes it's just popping into a local yarn store and feeling obliged to buy something; and sometimes I just see something I cannot resist. And yarn clubs, there's something about a yarn club I find rather enticing. In any case, the yarn habit is getting a little out of control. A friend asked whether my yarn stash weighed more than the combined weight of my children. 35 kg. And it might. I'm not going to check. All I know is that there is yarn stashed everywhere, and there isn't really space for any more.

So over the past few weeks I've been planning. Remembering what is in all those boxes. And having lots of fun matching yarn to patterns. I have planned a purple aran weight shawl for a school-run friend (winter is fast approaching); a cowl for a friend for Christmas - it'll be made of about 250 g of beautiful green Blue Faced Leicester bought when Artesano discontinued it just before my daughter was born; I'm using up some Sirdar Snuggly to make an adorable vest and hat set for a friend's new baby; I'm going to hunt out the black, white and pink sock wool and finally cast on those LoveSocks; and I've started a long-requested wiggly worm blanket for my son, which should make a large dent in the DK acrylic stash (and is perfect autumn crafting). And once I've done all of that, I shall pop back upstairs, open a cupboard and see what else is in stock in my personal yarn store.

Stash busting project one: Sirdar Snuggly vest and hat

But I can't quite manage not to buy any yarn. I am off to my first yarn festival later this month and I cannot wait. I will be taking a carefully curated list and am aiming not to buy more than 300-400g of yarn that is for specific projects. Wish me luck, I think I'll need it. Notions don't count, do they?! And you can never have too many project bags...