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Are You Ready for Some Stash Busting?

January 8, 2014 by Sarah White

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

 

 

Next Pattern:

  • Stash Busting? Try Knitting a Zero-Waste Shawl
  • Stitch Up a Colorful, Stash Busting Headband
  • Get Started on Stash Busting with Ziggy Triangle
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»

Comments

  1. Carmen in WI says

    January 8, 2014 at 1:34 pm

    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.

  2. Helen says

    January 8, 2014 at 1:39 pm

    Eeek I really need to do this! :/

  3. Leslie says

    January 8, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    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. 😉

  4. Muireann says

    January 8, 2014 at 1:50 pm

    Perfect, I look forward to seeing your posts!

  5. Rhonda says

    January 8, 2014 at 2:13 pm

    I’m with you!

  6. becky says

    January 8, 2014 at 2:40 pm

    I’m in!

  7. Mel says

    January 8, 2014 at 2:45 pm

    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. Dina aka Bossymamma says

    January 8, 2014 at 2:50 pm

    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.

  9. Lisa says

    January 8, 2014 at 3:02 pm

    I’m in too!

  10. Peggy Coffey says

    January 8, 2014 at 4:50 pm

    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. Eliz says

    January 8, 2014 at 6:38 pm

    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. Marcy says

    January 8, 2014 at 6:53 pm

    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. Vicki K. says

    January 8, 2014 at 7:36 pm

    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. Rose says

    January 8, 2014 at 11:14 pm

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

  15. Tigertailor says

    January 8, 2014 at 11:36 pm

    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…..:-{

  16. Anja Bout says

    January 9, 2014 at 6:32 am

    I’m in. I daren’t to send you a picture of my stash 🙁

  17. Pat Hathaway says

    January 9, 2014 at 10:18 am

    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. Sarah White says

    January 9, 2014 at 12:31 pm

    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. Dottie says

    January 9, 2014 at 1:48 pm

    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!!!

  20. jane d says

    January 9, 2014 at 2:47 pm

    ALL of my stash(es)?? Really??

  21. Deborah Jennings says

    January 9, 2014 at 4:56 pm

    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.

  22. Linda says

    January 9, 2014 at 5:18 pm

    I am in! ????

  23. Theresa says

    January 9, 2014 at 8:44 pm

    Darn!! I was hoping to see some projects listed. I got all my yarn organized months ago.

  24. Cara Randall says

    January 10, 2014 at 4:06 am

    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!

  25. Sue Miller says

    January 10, 2014 at 1:41 pm

    I’m in. New stash buster ideas would be great.

Have you read?

Stitch Some Seagulls on Your Sweater

It’s been well documented that I love a knitting pattern with a bit of whimsy, so when I saw the Mine! Pullover from Sarah L. Kelly recently I knew I had to share it with you.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to knit a sweater with a yoke full of seagulls? And another seagull at the waist? Chasing little crabs?

The story behind the sweater (and you knew there had to be one, right?) is that while Sarah was traveling around Europe there were a lot of cheeky seagulls about. They reminded her of the scene in Finding Nemo where the seagulls say “mine, mine, mine” and thus the Mine! series of patterns was born. 

Oh yes, there’s a whole set. It was the sweater I saw first but there’s also a pair of socks (and the pattern says there’s a cowl, too, but I couldn’t find it as of this writing. If you see it let me know and I’ll add the link here!) so you can totally deck yourself out in pesky seabirds if you want.

But back to the sweater for now. This is worked in DK weight yarn from the top down in the round. The yoke and a section at the bottom are worked in stranded colorwork, with stripes on the body, though you could make the body a single color if you wanted. Details like the beaks and eyes are added with duplicate stitch to make the knitting a little easier.

The colorwork sections are charted. The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with a finished chest circumference ranging from 32 to 68 inches, or 80 to 170 cm.

The socks are worked in sock yarn and come in three sizes. There worked from the cuff down and change needle sizes to accommodate the less stretchy nature of stranded colorwork. You can choose from a side profile or a seagull that’s looking out from the sock. Make a matching pair or mix it up.

Both patterns are available on Ravelry: sweater and socks. If you make them I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo: Sarah L. Kelly]

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