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Are You Ready for Some Stash Busting?

by 25 Comments

stash busting As I’ve been reading the comments on this week’s giveaway about crafty resolutions, I noticed that a lot of people want to finish more projects and work from their stash. I can’t help you much with the finishing (I’m the worst when it comes to UFOs), but it occurs to me that I can help with motivating you and inspiring you to use more of your stash.

So, starting today and on through the rest of the month, I’m going to be focusing a lot on how to organize your odd balls and skeins, sharing projects you can make with a little or a lot of your stash, and helping you store yarn and keep your stash more under control in the future. I hope.

Through this process I hope you’ll share with me how it’s going, what you’re working on or how you intend to use your stash in the future. This should be a lot of fun!

To get started, go to the dark places in your house where you keep your stash and get as much of it in one place as you can. This may be the hardest part, just seeing it all together and trying to figure out how to sort it and what to do with it. Don’t worry, I’ll be with you every step of the way.

Who’s with me? I’ll bet most of our stashes could use a spring (even though it’s still winter or summer) cleaning.

Stash Busting? Try Knitting a Zero-Waste Shawl

Stash Busting with Knitted Toys

Getting Started Stash Busting: Whats in There?

Wrapping up Stash-Busting Month

 

 

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Comments

  1. One of my favorite ways to stash-bust is to join a KAL (knit-along; or CAL/crochet-a-long) and resolve to only use yarn that is already in my stash. I’ve also used up a few leftover skeins by making hats which I plan to donate to charity.

  3. I’m ready! My stuff is hiding in different places around the house…. this way my other half doesn’t know how much i have. 😉

  7. I’m in! I promised the hubs I won’t buy any more yarn until I use what I have stashed in my craft room…and the garage lol

  8. I’ve been working through my stash – particularly ends of balls – for about three months. As soon as I clear some, a friend gives me more! I have been knitting squares, scarves and hats for Syrian refugees.

  10. I also told my husband I wouldn’t buy any new yarn until I made a dent in my stash. I have lots of small balls of yarn and need some ideas. Looking forward o it.

  11. I have started doing this but stalled upon realizing how many different weights of yarn I have…that don’t work well together on lots of projects. Any solutions for remnants of diff. weights (sock, worsted and bulky mostly)?

  12. Me too! Count me in! Knitting is t my only stash–I have a ton of great fabric and felted wool as well. So this is the year of any UFO.

  13. I’m afraid that if I really got it all out in one place at the same time, my family would sign me up for “Hoarders”!

  14. Prior to reading this I had gathered my stash……. Scared seeing it all in one space! I’m in…..

  15. Well, now that I have recovered from the initial shock horror thoughts of exposing my stash…are we talking the whole stash, I mean the “really, really special, exquisite, dream of making something beautiful with it stash” too?…gulp..I’m not sure I can cope…..:-{

  17. My cleaning lady isn’t allowed in my craft room because she thinks I “might have that disease those people on TV have”–hoarders. She’s lucky we can pick up the rest of the house enough for to be able to clean! I have yarn in my closet, under the bed, and in bins in my craft room–I’ll never use it all up. sniff…sniff…I’m beginning to think I should just give it all to Goodwill.

  18. I’m so excited to see all this enthusiasm! And no, you don’t have to go through all your stash at once, and you don’t have to show my a picture. This is about encouraging you to do what you can, and what you’re comfortable with, and to make it exciting and fun to get in there and discover some projects you can’t wait to knit!

  19. I’m in as well. Like a few others, yarn isn’t my only stash. Yikes. I could sure use some creative ideas to use it up, or at least make a dent in it. Thanks for putting this together. I’m looking forward to your posts!!!

  21. My MIL makes scrap quilts. Hers are made up of one row of each color at random. They turn out beautiful. Even though hers are crocheted, you can still knit them, too. Just a plain stitch.

  24. This sounds like a good plan. I have so many great yarns but they hang out in plastic totes and don’t become anything. I have a lot of fabric and a lot of spinning fibers, too, because I handspin yarn. This all sounds super!

Have you read?

Book Review: Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit & Crochet Blankets

Blankets are a great blank slate project that you can change up in a million different ways. From color to stitch pattern to size, the possibilities are almost endless.

Jared Flood, the designer behind Brooklyn Tweed, was inspired by a log cabin quilt his mother made in 1995 to re-create that design in knitting, which led to more blankets and ultimate Brooklyn Tweed’s Knit and Crochet Blankets, which includes 25 patterns from an array of designers using different skills and techniques to make cozy, pretty blankets.

The patterns are divided into three aesthetic themes: traditions, minimalism and colorplay. The patterns are rated on a scale of one to five, with one being the easiest, and there aren’t any pieces rated five. Two blankets are rated one, 14 are two, eight are three and one is four. 

In addition, three of the 25 patterns are crocheted, but they either use single crochet or granny stitch, so they are pretty easy even if you don’t do a lot of crochet. You can see all the patterns on Ravelry.

Some of my favorites include Rattan by Rastus Hsu, a chunky blanket worked in knits and purls with simple crossing stitches to make a raised woven look; Homewood by Seth Richardson, covers in dramatic, loopy cables; Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Tessellate, one of the beginner projects that doesn’t really look beginner but is totally worked in knit and purl stitches; Warp + Weft by Aist? Butkevi?ien?, which is mostly knits and purls but makes a fun woven look fabric that blew my mind a little bit; and the same designer’s Canyonland, a multicolored blanket with wavy stripes.

The patterns tell you how to resize them for different dimensions and include information on pattern repeats where it is possible to make a totally custom size.

Many different techniques are included here such as cables, lace, shadow knitting, intarsia and other colorwork techniques, as well as modular knitting and lots of sewing pieces together. The patterns are all presented with charts, but there are line by line written instructions available on the Brooklyn Tweed website if you need them.

The book ends with a deep dive into log cabin knitting, telling the story of the quilt Jared’s mom made and how he made it in knitting, as well as the multitude of variations you can make if you want your own log cabin style design.

The back of the book includes a little written information about some of the special techniques needed, but there are no photos.

This is a lovely book full of inspiration for knitting and crochet blankets for any skill level. If you like to make blankets as gifts or aspire to have a handmade blanket in every room of the house, these designs would be a great place to start.

About the book: 192 pages, paperback, 25 patterns. Published 2024 by Abrams Books, suggested retail price $24.99.

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