Just a trick. I never really clean house. My stash, however, is out of control. Yesterday, my loving husband asked me how many hiding spots I have full of yarn stash, and I couldn't answer. I didn't want to answer, either.But Friday, with a day off work, I decided to spend some time going through the mess and getting my stuff in order. I was inspired by Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's stash-busting project kits, and I decided to do something similar. While she made herself a sock-of-the-month club out of her current stash, I made myself a small-project-of-the-month club. The first of each month, I'll pick something at (sort of) random and complete it before the end of the month. I started by thinking about all the patterns that I want to use, then pulled them out and made copies. I checked to make sure I had the yarn I needed for the project, then wound it into hanks if necessary, and bagged it up with the pattern. By the end of the day, I had 13 kits for myself.
Some of the kits will take just a few hours to complete. For example, the Ostrich Feather Kerchief takes about eight hours from beginning to end, and it's pretty. It will use up about one hank of the light chartreuse cashmere I've had hiding for awhile. I will also attempt knitting with beads, using up some seed beads that have been in the craft drawer for about 10 years. (Yes, it's true--at least 10 years.) Other kits will require some attention, like the patterned socks, but many of them will be easy knitting, and I will have some nice items for myself or emergency gifts.
My February project is a silk tank top that is supposed to take about a weekend to complete. I don't really believe that, but it's a small doable project that is kind of mindless up to the armscyes. I hope I have enough of the silk to finish it; if not, I'll wait until my niece grows out of the top I made her from the same yarn.
The stash is now breathing a bit, but I didn't put much of a dent into it. My next big project is to do the same kit making with some larger projects.
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