Pages

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

5KCBWDAY2 - Introducing Stash Match

 photo Annual-2014-Knitting-Crochet-Blog-Week-on-Eskimimi-Makes_zpsf34d2821.jpg

It's the second day of Knitting and Crochet Blog Week, and I am already veering off-piste. Apologies to Eskimimi whose well-thought-out topics are about to get re-interpreted/ignored! Rather than write a dating profile for an FO as per today's topic prompt, I'm using today's post to launch a series of posts I've been pondering for quite a while. You see, it's my stash that needs some love, not my FOs. Hence, Stash Match.

Stash Match: What it is
(I didn't intentionally steal the phrase from anyone else, though some quick googling yields it on a quilting blog. I hope she doesn't mind.)

Over the course of an undetermined number of blog posts, I will attempt to allocate all (or most) of my stashed yarn to patterns / ideas for future knitting. I reserve the right to change my mind about these stash-pattern matches, but having a concrete list rather than a nebulous cluster of vague thoughts will make me feel a lot more organised.

Why I am stash-matching

In theory, I prefer to buy yarn with a pattern in mind. For sweater quantities of yarn, this works quite well in practice. For single skeins of pretty sock yarn, not so much - rather than a specific pattern, I end up telling myself "This could be a shawl(ette). Or it could be socks." That is not untrue; however, it is also not helpful! I end up with lots of beautiful yarn not allocated to a project, and when I need something for a particular project, I just buy more - invariably, nothing in my stash at the time seems right.

I try not to let it bother me too much, since pretty yarn sitting in stash is pretty yarn, but I think I have hit the point where I need to go through it all and at least tentatively allocate yarn for specific projects. After all, I have an extensive queue and favourites list to draw from - surely there are some perfect yarn to pattern pairings just waiting to be recognised! I can always change my mind if something even more awesome comes along.

The Candidates 

Most of my stash is in the photo below. Not included are sweater quantities of yarn, most leftovers from other projects, and handspun. (I have some handspun, but I didn't spin any of it myself, so don't get excited). And anything else I couldn't find or forgot about.

 photo IMG_7017_zpscd326d5a.jpg

After much deliberation, I have grouped it into rough categories as follows:

Green: Too pretty for socks
Cyan: WTF yarn
Yellow: Destined for colourwork
Pink: Alpaca
Blue: Sock yarn
Orange: Laceweight

The Green section is the one that is taunting me the most right now. I have deemed these Too Pretty for Socks because from my perspective they are unsuitable for socks for at least one reason. Some of them aren't superwash, some of them are too delicate, and all of them are so beautifully dyed that I can't imagine hiding them in shoes.

 photo IMG_7017b_zps399e0d86.jpg

From top to bottom, it includes the following:
Malabrigo Sock (402 m)
SweetGeorgia Cashluxe Fine (365 m)
Natural Born Dyers BFL-Nylon High Twist Sock (370 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Merino/Bamboo 4-ply (366 m)
Old Maiden Aunt Superwash Merino 4ply (366 m)
Cherry Tree Hill Supersock (411 m)
Fyberspates Sheila's Sock (365 m)
Shibui Sock (175 m)

So there it is. Team Too Pretty for Socks is up first for stash-matching. After blog week, I will be back with a post talking about the matches and how I came up with them. In the meantime, let me know if you have any brilliant ideas for the above yarn. Do you need to do a stash match, or is your stash already perfectly allocated to patterns/projects?

7 comments:

  1. I've started something similar, I've started to put my selections of yarn into a ziplock along with a note with my choice of pattern written on it. I feel like my stash is beginning to have a purpose and it's now so easy just to grab the next project and get going. I totally need to deal with the WTF yarn though...

    ReplyDelete
  2. This will be some impressive organisation! I've got one stash/pattern match that's been sitting for a year while I keep buying and casting on new things. The rest tends to be bought with eerily similar "this could make a nice X" thoughts. Oops.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm impressed with your organisation skills ! I'm in the process of moving house, I might do just like you and start to assign patterns to yarn !

    ReplyDelete
  4. Shawls ! Shawls ! Perfect for pretty sock yarn :) And I really want to know more about your WTF yarn :D

    ReplyDelete
  5. Nice stash! I go by what am I in the mood to knit for myself or for a gift and what yarn do I have. My CFO has put me on a stash diet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Lol - if that's all the non-sweater quantity stash you have. You are way too organized for me (or maybe I'm way too disorganized for you :) ). In any event, I'm with Vivianne - shawls, shawls, shawls and/or cowls, cowls, cowls. And I see you have a lovely hank of Centolavaggi - that's definitely got a beautiful shawl written all over it.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brilliant idea! I will be following along with interest because I am dealing with the same problems with my stash. You have some beautiful yarns in this first batch. I think it would be fun to combine a few together to make a sweater.

    ReplyDelete