I have a stash!

Since I started down this knitting/crocheting road, I've had to listen to a lot of people talking about their yarn stash. While I was filling my shelves with cheap acrylic to make blankets, baby gifts and cute little amigurumi, I secretly yearned after these mythical stashes filled to the rafters with soft squishy hanks of truly expensive yarns.

Being a practical sort, though, I didn't see much point in buying yarn simply because it was pretty. I need to know what it's going to become. I'd hate to think of buying a gorgeous skein of handpainted whatever, only to find, when I come to use it years down the line, that I actually need two, and now it's discontinued and impossible to get hold of in the right colour. Plus, y'know, I'm not made of money.

So I've planned my projects carefully, bought yarn only when needed, and in the exact quantities required. Of course, I've had to do a lot of yarn substitution as most of the patterns I've used have been American, which has led to accidental stashing of too much yarn. (See my massive over-estimation of yarn required for the Avalon Top, which allowed me to also make the Aurora Vest!)

But one thing the Year of Projects is allowing me to do is to plan ahead with my projects, and order the yarn in sensible batches to make the most of voucher codes and free delivery savings. So, after my last lovely parcel from Deramores arrived today, I think I can now claim to have a stash of my own!

This is my stash of acrylics, mostly DK weight with a little bit of bulky
on the side. There's also a ball of sock yarn hiding in there somewhere.

This is my Year of Projects shelf. All the yarn in here is assigned to
a project from my list, and will be used at some point this year.

The new additions to the stash today are a cardigan's worth of Wendy Merino Bliss DK in a lovely deep burgundy red, some beautiful slate grey Debbie Bliss Cashmerino Aran for a cowl, and a scarf's worth of Cashmerino DK.

As you can probably see from the acrylic shelf, I have a new toy as well. A great eBay find - my own ball winder!

I've been re-winding my acrylics to get them to fit better on the shelf. It's so much fun! I've still got a fair few balls to re-wind, but by the time I'm done, my shelf will have a lot more space for even more colours. Mostly, though, it's because I've discovered the joy of working from centre-pull cakes of yarn.

Knit Picks Shimmer, wound and ready to go for my Jane Austen Shawl