I took a few hours yesterday to tackle my yarn stash, armed with clear blanket bags and a ruthless attitude towards yarn that's been languishing for years. A little background: I live in a 2-room apartment, rather spacious for NYC, but quite small by any other standards. My yarn lives in and around a wooden toy chest in a corner of the living room, tucked away by the entranceway to the room. It had begun to spread out, starting to block the way in. Not attractive, in various and sundry plastic bags and overflowing baskets.
I bought a large amount of blanket bags several months ago at a good price (I'll try to find the website, for anyone who wants the link - they had a variety of sizes, very cheap). So I pulled everything out, placing each lot of yarn (except odd balls) and WIPs in separate bags. Anything that I didn't really like or probably won't knit in my lifetime went in a big garbage bag, to be donated to charity or to other knitters. Then I put everything back, putting the stuff I won't use anytime soon on the bottom, and WIPs on top. I wish I had taken photos of before, during and after! What a difference! And the during shot would have been pretty funny - bags and bags of yarn covering the entire living room.
Oh - and I catalogued everything as I was putting it back. Obsessive? Probably. But I feel better seeing everything listed. I made three lists: Yarn without a specific project; yarn for a specific project; and WIPs. The lists are pretty equal in length.
But then later in the evening, I remembered that there are 4 under-bed storage type bins filled with yarn that I didn't catalogue. Oh well - maybe in the new year. Or maybe not.
And just so you don't think I was doing all that to avoid knitting Hank8, I'll have you know that I did finally (!) cut one of the armhole steeks and started a sleeve. I did about 2 inches last night. Scott assured me that it's so beautiful, my dad can't possibly mind that it's not finished. I also wove in ends on my sister's sweater, washed the cashmere hat for my Secret Santa recipient, and ripped out and restarted the too-small hat. All in all, a good day's work.
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