Friday, March 9, 2007

Yarn Stash Inventory

After 3 evenings of inventory, I can say that I didn't know I had this much yarn. It's confined to a smaller number of bins now. I won't have to buy yarn for at least a year. My official total is 56,700 yards (51,846.48 meters) not including UFO's. How does my stash compare to others out in blog land? Any comments?

I have decided not to inventory the magazines, patterns, and books. I store magazines on my dresser top and small bookcase in magazine holders. My books are in my closet on shelves or on the bookshelves.

Well, for now, I am somewhat organized. Scary isn't it!

18 comments:

rho said...

you could go on a yarn diet and just knit from your stash if you are concerned by how much there is. I think that it depends on how many skeins or how many projects it is that would sway me rather than the yardage (although it is impressive) It could be a small number of lace weight yarns or a whole bunch of socks or 8 or 10 good size projects.....don't you feel better about it thinking of it that way :D

Anonymous said...

I have 28,000 yards of laceweight alone. Feel better? ;) (Of course, then there's the sock yarn - enough for around 60 pairs. And the sweater yarn. And the baby yarn. I'll shut up now!)

Anonymous said...

I have enough sock yarn for over 70 pairs. I too won't count my sport weight, worsted, baby etc. Then there's my crochet cotton--more than the local LYS and Michaels combined.

KnitterCNY Blog said...

I do have yarn for several sweaters. I probably have enough for 5-6 pairs of socks. Doing a yarn inventory was in some ways liberating because now, I know what I have. And now when I pull out a pattern, I know I probably have the yarn to complete it. It's a nice feeling!

Artlady said...

We have a thread going over at www.knittinghelp.com FORUM...under Knitalongs>The Year of the Stash 2007. Care to join the Stash Train? :-) Our goal is simply this: for every project you knit and finish using Stash Yarn....or every WIP you finish...you earn the privilege of buying New Yarn...with one condition: you knit the new yarn right away. You cannot add the Reward New Yarn to the Stash Yarn. :-) Our mission is to become aware of all the beautiful yarns we have acquired and put into what we affecitonately call "Yarn Jail"! They are begging for release! We have learned to become aware of our yarn buying/stashing practices! Some of us have shared photos on the thread...called FLASH YOUR STASH! It is a hoot! May 1st in our FLASH YOUR STASH DAY. Have you ever seen the acronym: S.A.B.L.E. on T-shirts and license plates??? It stands for Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. Well, if that is you, you are a Serial Stasher! My name is Dollyce and I am a Recovering Serial Stasher! :-) Come on over and visit us at www.knittinghelp.com > FORUM. You will find us under Knitalongs>Year of the Stash 2007!

Anonymous said...

I don't want to know how many projects I have! I'm trying to find storage bins for under the bed. Right now all my yarn is in 3 big clear plastic bags - the kind that duvets and pillows come packaged in...

Anonymous said...

Hi
My mother has filled up a room, but she has been - and still is - knitting since the 40's...
No way to count the yards, sorry, but there is about 15x15 yards with shelves and boxes and... almoust no room to walk. She sais she could never move, and that she should have been a cat with 9 lives to have time to get knit it all up (remeber the song "so many men, so little time? well, change that for "yarn" in her case)
But I'm lucky, I'we got my own private yarn-store with excellent qualities ;-)

Donna said...

Got you beat by a long shot. I did inventory everything and I have 117,351 yards left. I went on a yarn diet a month ago so I've use a bit up. It is contained in 20 x 25LB tomato boxes (18x18x24). I would love to half that before I buy anymore.

Sue said...

Hi from a fellow CNY knitter! I inventoried my yarn a year ago or so and at that time I had around 600+ skeins. I didn't add up the yards. I gave away 3 garbage bags of the acrylic and novelty yarns but I don't think it made much of a difference. And I've added quite a bit more since then. I guess I just like collecting yarn!

Kay-From the Back Yard said...

Life is so bloomin' short. A few balls of yarn that give you pleasure, if even just to look at, can only be a good thing.

Jenn said...

I inventoried and made a list of all yarns, colors and number of skeins recently. It made me realize that I do have a huge amount of yarn. Now it's easier for me to knit from stash. I'm on a yarn diet, but didn't include sock yarn in that... so what am I doing? Buying sock yarns that I've never gotten to use. STR, J Knits, Tofutsies, etc. If you think you have enough, you probably do!

Kamala said...

Right now I have over 100,000 yards of yarn and still have to go through the lace and sock bins.

It is amazing how those little balls of yarn can add up so quickly without one realizing it.

Laura said...

I inventoried my yarn last summer and I've been much better about knitting from stash. It is way easier to sort by columns on a spreadsheet to come up with the yarns that might work for a project than to go diving through bins (though not nearly as fun!). DH likes to keep track of my stash in miles :)

Susie said...

Ha! I couldn't possibly inventory everything. It is too frightening. I have Starmore kits waiting, Ebay prizes I couldn't resist, two huge plastic bins of sock yarn and the two giant bins of Noro that I love, but haven't touched. This doesn't include the Briggs and Little mitten yarn and the various quantities of hat targeted wools. And I have a box of Rowan denim I got on sale and haven't touched. We aren't even discussing needlepoint. How's that?

Anonymous said...

You've been knitting for 15 years. Imagine this.... I've been knitting for 60 years! Each time I move I clear out my old stash to make room for new stash. Since my last move a little over a year ago, I finally learned a good lesson. I only buy what I'm actually ready to knit within the next couple months. I don't do impulse buying anymore. Instead, I really think about it and if it's gone when I go back for it, I know I can have it special ordered or find it online. Took a long time to come to this point, but now I don't have that little pang of guilt or the big decision as to which yarn to use first. Old dogs can learn new tricks! :)

Holly said...

What? Only yarn. Ought to see what happens to stash when you are also a spinner.
There are only two upper cupboards of fiber. And the bins, we can not forget about the bins.
Sock yarn, enough for a good 60 pairs. And the rest of the wool. The only time I buy new is when I can't find something to divert.
I have never been in the habit of just picking up wool. So that tells you how many projects that I have planned...
-Holly

Anonymous said...

Well you can always have garage sales if you need to make more space for more *new* yarns. That's provided you can part with your stash...

erica said...

I did an inventory last year and I've updated it as I've bought yarn. I'm currently at 135 skeins of yarn. Should have counted yards but I didn't think of it at the time. It's more of a project inventory than a yarn inventory, that's how I can justify to the husband. :)