Is There Such a Thing as a Perfect Yarn Stash?

I have gathered a lot of yarn through the years of being a professional writer about knitting. Some of it is great, and some of it isn’t. Some of it just isn’t great for me, and would do better in someone else’s stash, or, even better, with someone who would knit with it.

I believe that having some stash is good. You don’t always want to have to run to the store when the mood hits to start a new project, and it’s nice to have all that potential just sitting in your house. But it can definitely get out of control.

So I found this article on Post Stitch’s blog really interesting. It’s about how to build the perfect yarn stash. It suggests that knitters should keep a variety of weights on hand, should stock up mostly on solid colors (because they’re easier to combine in projects) and should remember that, unless you only knit one skein projects, sometimes buying more than one of the same thing is a good idea.

They also suggest keeping your stash organized and documented using Ravelry or their printable yarn stash cards, which are really cute and maybe an easier way to keep track than loading it all into Ravelry. (Though I’d like a spot on the card where you could indicate where the yarn is stored, since I have yarn in a couple of different places in my house.)

Do you think it’s possible to have a perfect stash? What would that mean to you? (For me, a perfect stash would like in a TARDIS-like closet and all hanks would be self-winding!) I’d love to hear your thoughts.

[Photo via Post Stitch.]

Over the years I have shared a lot of pumpkin knitting patterns, and I’ve knit and crocheted a lot of pumpkins myself. But it feels like there are always more fun things to try with knit pumpkins, so this year I wanted to look a little more beyond basic stockinette or ribbed pumpkins and share some pumpkin patterns with cables, bobbles and colorwork.

In the cable collection we’ve got these cute little basic cable and ribbed pumpkins from Elly Bear Knits. There are two sizes that make a wide, flat pumpkin and a taller round pumpkin. Both are worked in the round as a tube that’s cinched top and bottom when you’re done, and they use bulky weight yarn.

Another cute cable pumpkin knitting pattern comes from Gray Bear Akswokrat. This one is knit flat and it looks like a chunky yarn but you could use other weights to make pumpkins of different sizes. This one also has an I-cord stem and uses yarn to cinch up the sections of the pumpkin, giving it a more natural look.

Add some bobbles to your pumpkins with this design from Autumn Shelter Makes. Also worked in the round in a tube, it features a repeating pattern of bobbles and uses yarn wrapped around the outside to make segments. This one looks like worsted weight yarn to me.

Of course there’s nothing that says your pumpkin has to be a single color, so let’s throw in some colorwork. I love the look of the Cozy Fall Pumpkin knitting pattern from South Stitch Girls. The little leather loop adds a rustic touch but you could also just add a stick. These pumpkins have five colorwork options and are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round.

There’s also the Autumn Fair Isle Trio pumpkins pattern from Equestriann Style, which has three different sizes of pumpkins with four colorwork designs. They are worked in super bulky yarn in the round and look good with high contrast or more muted color combinations.

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