Knit Down Your Stash in a Year!

I'm a project person. I need a project to occupy my thoughts and my actions. Don't get me wrong - I love a day on the couch watching movies and knitting but I need something to be in charge of and I need to feel that I'm working toward a large goal. Opening a museum, designing a new kitchen, organizing a closet - all of these activities involve planning, thought, and execution. And I get a great rush from these activities. But a lot of my projects involve spending money. I'm looking for a project that is nicer to the wallet.

So for 2012 I'm going to knit down my yarn stash. For the non-knitters out there, knitters buy yarn and lots of it. Often it is not for a specific project - you just love the yarn, the color, the texture and you have to have it. I buy a lot of stash yarn on vacation when we visit other local yarn shops. I buy stash yarn because it is a good deal. I've even bought stash yarn that I have the pattern for and I'm going to start the project next and then something comes up and it joins the rest of the stash yarn. Where do I keep all this yarn?? Well, under beds and in closets mostly. I store it in plastic bags or in plastic containers. I know what I have thanks to Ravelry and the amazing stash feature there. As you can see from the screen shot below, I have 142 different yarns in my stash. That's not 142 balls of yarn - that's 142 different types of yarn. That's a lot of yarn.

My plan is this - I will select a yarn at random (depending my mood) and I will find a pattern and start knitting. The majority of my stash yarn is already tied to a pattern or project so this should not be difficult. What will be difficult is finishing the project. I'm a process knitter, not a project knitter. This means I enjoy the process of knitting rather than the joy of completing a project. When I get bored, I simply move on to the next project that catches my eye. Some might call it ADD Knitting and it results in a lot of UFOs (Unfinished Objects).  My husband gently reminders me from time to time about the pair of socks I started knitting for him about 4 years ago.

But the goal of this project is to actually finish projects. I'm not saying that I will begin one project and work on only that one until it is finished. I would be setting myself up for failure if that was the scenario. The goal is to use yarn that I actually already have and not buy more for a little while. That will be the real challenge.

Sunday, January 1, 2012 I will start a new project and continue working on several project I need to complete. I'll post about the projects I'm working on and the achievements and struggles. I hope you enjoy the journey as much as I hope I will.