In which I consider how to use the stash

In my last post I looked at the issue of inventory.  I spent significant time inventorying my fiber stash as 2017 arrived.

But I also have a yarn stash; many of us do.  Mine is--ahem--largish.  It's not quite as large as my fiber stash, but I justify that because fiber is bulkier and it is business-related.  My yarn is for personal use. Nevertheless, it needs a job.

I should clarify: it needs a lot of jobs, because there is a lot of it, and since I love to spin, I keep making more.  Some of it is commercial yarn, much of it is handspun.  I have "sweater-quantity" amounts separated, and still have at least 5 18 gallon storage containers full of yarn.

There--I said it out loud.  Confession is good for the soul, right? Five-18 gallon storage containers, plus another with sweater-quantities of yarn.

I've been looking at patterns to help me give this yarn some jobs.  Here are a few I have found:

1) I love to knit socks.  In fact, a few years ago I took on the 52 pairs in 52 weeks challenge, to make 52 pairs of socks in one year.  While I didn't quite reach that level of production, I did knit 30+ pairs of socks that year, resulting in a lot of leftover sock yarn.  Hence, the sock yarn blankie:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/sock-yarn-blanket

A brilliant way to use up small amounts of sock yarn--modular squares in a big blanket.  Also easy to transport, if you do squares and connect them up later.  Not so easy to transport if you pick up stitches to add new squares as you go.  :-)  I'm considering making the squares separately, and then crocheting them together with a black yarn for a stained glass effect.

If you haven't done a mitered square, check this out:

The Magic of Miters: How to Knit a Modular Square: Get a step-by-step photo tutorial and instructions for knitting a mitered square, joining mitered squares and using mitered squares in your projects.

2) How about a cardigan with different skeins of yarn?  This one gives lots of good information about mixing different colorways of yarn together, when you don't have enough for a whole sweater:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEw12/KSPATTlessismore.php

I love the fact that you can make this in so many different ways, and a cardigan is very practical here in Minnesota.

3) Here's another cardigan in the same vein:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/stripes-on-thursday

4) If you like shawls, there are tons of options for using up bits of yarn.  This one is a classic type:

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/log-cabin-shawl

5) You can always go for small items as well.  Headbands and hats are nice for Minnesota winters.  Here's one of my own:

This pattern will be available soon in my Etsy store, or you can email me if interested.


What patterns have you used to make a dent in your stash?  I'd love to get more ideas to dig out from under mine!

In which I recommit myself to my craft and my business

Long time, no post!

Until I pulled up the blog page and took a look at my prior posts, I had no idea that it had been so long since I visited here.  It's not that I haven't been spinning or creating fiber blends--I've been doing a lot!  But I haven't been sharing my efforts here.  I plan to commit myself to new posts weekly for 2017!

So what I have been up to lately?  Over New Years one of my goals was to complete an inventory of my business and personal fiber stash.  Wow!  That was an herculean effort!  But all of my major unspun fiber is now weighed and inventoried--it's not all in my database yet, but it is on paper.

I chose to use an Excel spreadsheet for tracking my fiber.  I started with the document offered by Jillian Moreno with her Interweave video class, Spin Your Stash.  http://www.interweave.com/store/spin-your-stash-video-download 

I found the video to be very helpful in clarifying my thoughts as I went through my stash.  I didn't classify my fiber in the same way she does, into these five categories:

• keep
• give away
• unusable
• transform
• maybe

I also modified the columns of her suggested spreadsheet, but it gave me a framework to think about the fiber I have.  Sadly, there was really nothing in my stash that I decided to give away, but the good news is, there was nothing hopelessly felted or unusable, either.  Here's the link to my version of the spreadsheet: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B8lC-7CkXM-1R01Ec0c3UDhvaWc

My completed spreadsheet got me up to Box 9 for stash storage, and all 9 boxes are quite full.  I have some processing to do!

I'm curious to learn how you keep track of your stash.  Is it utterly random and serendipitous?  Is it weighed and measured to the last ounce, and you know where all of it is?  Do you have a plan for all of it, or do you see pretty and buy it?  There is no good or bad answer, but we all have our own methods.  Let me know about yours!