Is that a crime for a knitter to say she has too much yarn?

I have too much yarn.

Far too much. I was sorting bits of it out yesterday, well trying to find something completely different but thought it might have jumped into one of the yarn bags, and I have realised that I have far more than I want. Is that a crime for a knitter to say she has too much yarn?

I think that I have, or more likely I have too much junk stuff that I don't really want. I want a stash that is gorgeous and lovely and a joy to look at and use. I want to be able to knit an entire garment from the same type rather then cobble it from bits that I have laying around. I want to be able to see it all, in one place, so I make the right choice about what I want to knit rather than dredge through bags trying to get all of one kind together. I want to be more organised.

If I can get the living room sorted and tidying before the weekend I might start the grand sort through of the yarn on Sunday. If the weather is nice I shall take bits of the stash out into the garden to photograph them nicely and then list them properly on Ravelry and then put them in clear bags and then but the bags of 4 ply, double knit, Aran and chunky separately and then they can get stored in the cupboard.

So there that's the plan.

It won't last of course, I shall get distracted, or bored, or start knitting random things, or reading things but it's a plan.

And a good one at that.

The Stash

Why or rather how is it that I seem to have collected a huge amount of yarn but not enough to actually knit a single garment from?

Today I have been trying to sort out my stash as I am planning to not buy any until I have used at least half of what I have already - unless it's for a particular garment that someone else wants me to knit. So far I have amassed over 100 types and most of it sock yarn or 4 ply but there are a few other things in there too.

In my main cupboard I have a bookcase that I sawed the end off so that it fitted and it works really well as the case is divided into blocks. Each of the blocks has a number and that has been added to my ravelry stash page so that I can find it if needs be. Once I have it all recorded then I'll put all the different weights together so that even if I don't have enough for a complete garment I can at least mix and match to get it gone but I can see that I'm going to be knitting loads of socks, shawls and scarves this year.

To help bust the stash I am also going to try and knit a christmas present a month for the next 12 months. I have the January project already sorted as it's going to be a felted handbag, possibly for my niece but possibly not.