Category: Knitting

Busting your stash isn’t necessary if you don’t accumulate one in the first place. [Listening for hysterical laughter from readers.] So it’s too late for that already…but going forward what tweaks can you make to your habits to moderate stash growth or even–gasp–shrink it? Here are a few suggestions:

• Don’t follow the rule of only changing yarns at the end of the row. Just keep going until you run out and then join the next ball. No left overs!
• Choose patterns where you can adjust the size depending on remaining yarn amounts, such as toe-up socks and top-down sweaters. If you are almost out of yarn, keep going! See my post “Don’t Play Yarn Chicken” for more ideas.
• Use the yarn called for in the pattern (or a very similar one) to get the best estimate of how much you need to buy, or buy one ball and swatch carefully (estimating yardage as you go) to make sure you know the right amount to buy before buying the rest of the balls. Check Ravelry for similar yarns and what yarns people have used to make the same project. Or visit Yarn Sub to see what gets matched up with the pattern yarn (these tend to be higher-end yarns).
• Only buy yarn you have a specific use planned for! [Listening for hysterical laughter again]
• Save your receipt and make your project as soon as you buy the yarn. You can return any unused balls if it is soon enough from the purchase date. [More laughter.]
• Use Ravelry to inventory your stash of yarn and your desired projects (the queue). When you are out and about, you can check your stash and wish lists on your phone to see what you have already at home before purchasing something. You don’t have to put everything you own into the database to make this a helpful feature–just the yarns you have the most of, specialty items, or patterns that require unusual yarns.
• If you have some yarn left over, add a fringe, ruffle, border, tassel, pop-pom, etc. Consult one of Nicky Epstein’s brilliant books such as Knitting On the Edge for ideas.
• Make friends with with the array of One Skein Wonder books by Judith Durant. Sometimes we see a yarn we can’t live without, but since we are not sure what to make out of it we just buy one skein. For lightweight yarn that will get you a wide array of project options, but often these are bulky novelty yarn where one skein doesn’t go very far….Plan to mix these up with boring yarns to stretch the square inches of project produced and tone down the, um, novelty.
• Teach someone to knit or crochet. Give them some yarn to get started with.
• Live by a new rule: Yarn out = yarn in. [Laughter?]
• Just say no to ISES: Inheriting Someone Else’s Stash [See post], buying yarn lots at yard sales or Goodwill, taking someone’s unwanted items off their hands at your SNB. You deserve to only work with the yarns you choose!

Seriously, if it gets to the point were your stash is running your life, you need to change your habits. My aunt had to move from a roomy three bedroom apartment with a garage to a one-bedroom with no garage when she retired. She filled a 10′ x 10′ storage unit with her boxes of yarn and projects which she is now struggling to go through. She needs to downsize to get into a smaller unit that she can afford. She has some beautiful yarns that she is looking forward to making up into projects in her golden years, but there is still a lot mixed in there that she doesn’t want.

Stay tuned to all of my Stashbusterology posts for creative ideas to make nice projects with the yarns you have!

How much space does your stash take up? What does the space look like? Post a photo!