Annual Stash Analysis

In what has become a somewhat yearly event in January for me, I spent the morning "being one" with my stash.  In fact I got in there, cleaned some things up, threw some junk/paper out and, in one case, frogged an item that had been nearly knit but neglected for the last 2 years.  (Thanks to MiL and FiL who have taken the toddler for the day- I could never do this in just a nap time... I need a lot of time to just get organized and plan my knitting.)

I find going through my stash a really REALLY productive and helpful activity.  It helps me come to terms with what's in the stash, (a lot of times I forget!) and helpful for me to plan on getting things out.  I really would like to whittle my stash down to the point where I have one drawer of things I've purchased for "last minute" knitting projects ideas but the rest I buy, as needed, on a project by project basis.  Last year I focused heavily on getting rid of my acrylic stash and beginning to tackle the leftovers and I was actually pretty successful.

To see my stash "before" photos you'll need to revist this post from last year here.  Let's see what I knit out of there, and what's in there for this year, shall we?  (Pictures will show 2013 first, and then 2014 second to work on as a comparison)

1) Sock Yarn Fingering Weight Stash

Well... I didn't really do much here, did I?  If anything this stash has grown, especially in the self striping department.

I don't even know what to say about this- because honestly, I don't have great big plans to knit a lot of socks this year.  I'm thinking about possibly knitting something rainbow-y (socks?) for the Olympics, just to make a mini statement on my disagreement of their {Russia} unfair/unjust laws relating to homosexuals.  But other than that- I'm not sure this stash is going to get much smaller.  (And quite frankly, it's not the priority this year.)

2) The Natural Sport/Worsted/Thick Yarns

Another stash where I failed at really doing much in the way of denting it's size.  I'd really like to see some movement in this stash this year.  I'm hoping to focus on projects that will eliminate 50% of these yarns.  (I know!  Ambitious!)

The grey balls, (new thanks to Boxing day) are hopefully going to be gone soon, as they become Umaro.  And maybe a nice beige Alpaca sweater for Vogue knitting?  And maybe I'll finally get a jump on that purple-y blanket?  There's a lot of stash in here.... and truthfully I could probably throw together at least one more baby blanket, if not 2 out of this stash without buying more yarn for it.  Just typing this makes me think I need to re-think my planned blankets for 2014.  (Did I mention I have to knit 3 so far?)

3) The Cotton Collection

Remains essentially the same.  I'm actually not as fussed about this stash size.  Dishcloths are perfect distraction/last minute gift ideas.  I don't mind there be options in this stash and as long as I'm not really adding more, I probably can relax about what's there to be knit.

4) Stash of Immense Shame (Acrylics)

You know, I'm actually pretty proud of the work I did in this stash this year.  I volunteered for a LOT of charity blankets.  (6!!)  But the end result means that I actually got this stash to a spot where I'm not as deeply ashamed about how much I have anymore.  Can more go?!  YES!  But, I think I can get it out of the way with just a few more charity projects this year- and so I will continue to be apart of that.

The red ball is already essentially spoken for, I'm just waiting for my turn to knit on the blanket with it.  Same goes for the big brown ball and I'm thinking I'll start my own project and donate the two matching whites as a part of a charity project. Plus the giant ball will be hats- as part of the hat agreement. Beyond that, as long as this stash doesn't grow, I'm sort of at peace, finally, with it's size.  I'd like a lot of it to be gone, but it's not going to be the main focus this year.

5) Leftovers

I didn't do too badly this year on this- but it will again, be a focus in this upcoming year.  There's just too much of it.  I can't throw it out, but I can't necessarily knit one project out of it, and so I need to keep being creative with what I do with it.

This year I actually broke the leftovers out into 2 piles, worsted and fingering weight leftovers.  Since it's really hard to combine the two into one project, it's probably better to get a handle on what's in each pile.

(Worsted)

(Fingering)

Mother in Law and I are planning a day where we go through our fingering weight leftovers and come up with a "scrap blanket" plan by combining similar colorways.  These blankets are SUCH good leftover projects, my goal is to knit one scrap blanket.  (I have SO. MUCH. off white in this pile... clearly off white is going to be in a project!)

So there you have it- everything that's in my stash for 2014.  I'm going to need to be focused!  This year's priority is leftovers/natural sport+ weight piles, to whittle those away and make room.  I'm hoping this exercise will stay in the back of my mind in March, while I'm at the Vogue Knitting Marketplace.  There is a lot of yarn/knitting related items for sale at these things.  I'm going to try to be restrained.  BUT, faced with all kinds of yarns that I don't normally see in my local shops, or have easy access too, I could get carried away.  I'm not going to commit to not buying anything (that's just CRAZINESS) but I'm going to re-read this post at least 4 times prior to going.  I need to see what's in my stash and remind myself of all the great things to knit with, before I buy a bunch more.

Now I'm going to hit up Ravelry and try and plan blankets for my current stash, to work down those piles!