The Great Personal Destash Challenge of 2015

There comes a time in (nearly) every crafter's life when they have to admit they have a problem. Mine time came about a week ago.

I've been wanting to use up some of my yarn stash and do some work with my rigid heddle loom but was short on inspiration.  So when someone mentioned Deborah Jarchow's class, Simply Stunning Scarves, on Craftsy, I signed up right away. I promised myself that I would  not buy any new yarns to do the class projects - surely I had enough already that I could easily find what was needed.

Wrong!  I had yarn stashed all over my studio, in closets, under tables - any place you could hide something, I had squirreled away a little (or a lot of) yarn.  I did find some lovely vintage handspun from Switzerland, and made the first scarf in the class (more on that at the end of this entry).  BTW - I highly recommend this class to rigid heddle beginners. 

When it came time to start the second scarf, I started the whole frustrating process of searching high and low again.  And quickly got fed up.  The result was that I collected my nine tubs (!) of yarn and all the bags and baskets hidden around the house and dumped them in the middle of my living room floor.

Here I have to confess three things:

1) this is after a major destash just last month.  I've already gone through my yarns and donated several cartons to my weaving class.  This is just the stuff I wasn't ready to part with.

2) this isn't all of it.  There are at least four or five different yarns I'm certain I still have hidden somewhere in the house - probably several skeins of each. 

3) this really isn't all of it.  I've deliberately excluded my sock yarn collection, my unspun fibers, and my handspun.  And the cones of yarn for machine knitting. Those are all problems for another time.

Phew, glad I got that off my chest.

So I thought I'd spend an hour or so sorting into neat little groups by texture.  I've already tried sorting by color and then by fiber content - neither method worked for me.  Six hours later, I had this:

In the process, I found half a dozen projects I've started in the last few years and lost track of.  They're now in buckets and baskets (about 9:00 in this photo) where they will remind me that they need attention. What you don't see here is the huge bag of yarn I culled out to donate to my weaving class.

Anyway, I put all the yarns tidily in their respective tubs, and was ready to get back to the business of weaving.  While sorting, I chose the yarn for my next scarf project, and actually got the loom warped.  Then decided I should probably find the yarn for the third scarf while I had all the tubs out.  And realized that I still had to go through every single tub to find what I wanted.

I bit the bullet, and have spent all of my spare time this past week updating my stash on Ravelry.  Every skein of yarn I own (with the exceptions confessed above) is now listed on my stash page with a photo.  This comprises 592.5 skeins of 221 different varieties or colorways of yarns weighing just over 105 pounds.  Egad!   This afternoon I finally finished and now have my tubs neatly put away on top of the bookshelves in my studio like so:

Each tub is labeled with the type or purpose of the yarn, and the date it was last sorted through.  Wonder if I'll be able to maintain this?








So here's the challenge part of this post.   I have promised myself that I will not buy any new yarn for the next six months.  Ok, so I originally promised myself no new yarn for a year, but who am I kidding?  I think I can make it for six months.  Or maybe three.  In the meantime, I will try to use up at least a quarter of the stash. That's 25 pounds of yarn in six months.  This could be either by finishing projects of my own, or sharing with one of my sisters, who has just begun her transformation to the darkside.  (She ordered her loomette last week  and I'm seeing a rigid heddle loom in her future,  mwa-ha-ha.)

To shame myself into completing some projects I started and set aside, here's what I've already committed to finishing:

A triangle shawl.  I finished the weaving part a couple of weeks ago but still need to finish the long edge and add the fringe.

The unused yarn for this project is not included in my stash.  Make that 106 pounds.

Another triangle shawl.  This is made with Lion Brand Homespun, which I will never, ever use again.  Any ends that aren't tied off unravel spontaneously.  Yuck.  I'll be looking for a crochet edging pattern to finish this one off.

A ribbed keyhole scarf using a pattern found on Ravelry. 

And a second scarf using the same pattern and chunky yarn.  How I came to start the same pattern twice, I have no clue.

The Bella Lana Reversible Cable Scarf, another pattern found on Ravelry.

 I’ve wanted to learn to knit cables for ages. I started and re-started this scarf half a dozen times before I put it on the shelf ‘temporarily.’ Unfortunately I think I gave away the other skein of yarn I had reserved for this scarf in my destash of February 2015. Guess I’ll be starting it again in a different yarn because I still do want to conquer cables.

The "Crammed and Spaced" scarf currently on my rigid heddle loom. 

















And a few projects waiting in the wings:





Planning to use this fun eyelash yarn on my Spriggs adjustable rectangle loom.  I actually started it a couple of years ago but made a mistake right at the beginning that I discovered after  weaving about 15 rounds.  Couldn't figure out how to fix without frogging the whole thing.  Which I finally did last week.

I was given this bag of gorgeous Chinese red yarn and discovered last week that a warp had already been cut from some of it. Looks to be about right for the length and width of a scarf, so I'll do this as a project in weaving class. Thinking about whether to just do a simple tabby or if it wants a twill tie-up.

I took a class in December 2013 on making Felfs - got as far as knitting my test swatch and dropped the ball. Will have to start over testing because I have no clue what happened to my first test and notes…

I think one skein should be enough to make one pair but I bought a second skein just to be safe.

And just to prove that I can actually finish something I start:

This is the open weave felted scarf from the Deborah Jarchow class I mentioned earlier.  I warped it on a Wednesday night and had it felted by Saturday night.  Note - the color looks different in each of the photos - this is due to my poor photography and not changes to the yarn.  The photo of the finished scarf is closest to the actual color of the yarn. 

This is the tag from the yarn I used.  It's part of the stash I was given when I bought my Gilmore loom from an estate.  Despite being handspun, it worked beautifully for both warp and weft and I didn't have a single break.

Project on the loom.  The purple strips are scrap-booking paper cut to 1" widths used for spacers.

The scarf after twisting and knotting the fringe, but before felting.

And (tada!) the scarf after felting. Since my washer is front-loading, it can't be used for felting.  I used a little countertop washer and checked the scarf every 2-3 minutes.  It took 21 minutes to reach this point.

Hats and Blankets

Nearly a month since I last wrote and  time seems to be rushing past faster each day.  Guess I should consider myself lucky to never be lacking for something to do.


Still concentrating on the machine knitting.  Right after my last post, I made another hat using the techniques I learned in my Newton's class -- this time an adult-sized one.   My friend Corrinne was a good sport and modeled it for me.


Saturday Spinners met at my house a couple of weekends ago, and I could kick myself for not taking pictures.  Members shared their finished projects and works in progress.  At one point my dining room table was covered with wonderful fibery creations and I was so in awe of everyone's work that I didn't think to grab my phone and start snapping.

While moving the 360K knitting machine that weekend, I dropped the yarn mast and one of the tension knobs shattered.  And of course it was a holiday weekend.  I had planned to spend most of my free day practicing more on fair isle technique.  Didn't even occur to me to get out the MK-70 until just now.  Dagnabit!

Following weekend I had my third machine knitting class at Newton's Yarn Country.  Fortunately, they had the parts to repair my yarn mast and I was back in business.  Third lesson was a car-seat sized baby blanket.  Techniques included a weaving cast-on, using ravel cord, fair isle, hanging a hem, and tuck stitch. I learned to finish the sides with a scalloped looking trim that you make by hanging the three end stitches on needles, knitting six rows, then hanging the next three stitches and knitting six rows, until you have covered the length of the piece.

I was a complete disaster in class that day.  I kept leaving out important steps (such as switching the levers on the carriage when changing techniques or adding the contrast yarn when starting the fair isle rows).  Lost track of how many times I had to start over.  But by the end of class, I had completed everything but one side of the trim.  And I have to say that as frustrating as my mistakes were, I still enjoyed the class.  It's very liberating when you give yourself permission to make mistakes.

Finished the blanket the very next day and here it is:

Proceeded to start another blanket using the full width of the machine the very same day.  Found out the hard way that I didn't have a single ravel cord long enough.  Faked it (which in hindsight turned out not to work but I didn't know at the time).  Got all set up for the first fair isle row and forgot to add the contrast yarn.  Again.    The pattern I chose had only one contrast stitch in the first row, so I thought perhaps I could pick up the dropped stitches and proceed.  Wrong!  The more I tried, the more stitches I dropped, until I just had to give up.  But the good news is that if I had been able to proceed, I would have invested a lot more work and a lot more yarn in the project only to find out at the end that there was a gap between the two pieces of ravel cord I used and I would have had waste yarn stuck in one hem.  Found someone selling ravel cord on ebay and ordered myself a bunch of it. 

A friend asked me if she could pay me to make another car-seat sized blanket for her niece.  Absolutely made my day.   I will love making another this weekend but I'm not going to charge her for it.  Having her admire it enough to want one is payment enough.

Last night's TriCommunity class was a treat.  I'm still spinning the same  "Potluck Roving" from Ferndale Fiber in "Stormy Sea" that I started last April when Bunny Watson joined my spinning wheel family.  The same fiber I have been spinning at every class and every guild meeting with just a short break for the Tour de Fleece.


I'm down to just one or two yards of roving left.  At Saturday Spinners we announced our resolutions for the new year - mine is to finish spinning this and actually make something with it.   I may actually be able to keep this resolution.

A few weeks ago, some fellow Inland Empire Handweavers Guild members and I ordered 1-foot square pieces of carding cloth through the Spinsters on Ravelry.  They're a Puget-Sound based group that put together a large order from Howard Brush for a DIY blending board project.  They generously allowed others to participate.  The carding cloth arrived last week, and last night my friend and teacher Gail surprised me with my finished blending board!  She had some beautiful wood cabinet doors left over from a remodeling project, and cut them down to size.  The wood has been nicely refinished, and Gail added a handle, making the board easy to carry.  She even added a dowel for rolling the finished rolags off the board.  Now to get Michelle at Textile Sanity to make us some blending board covers.

Then dear Kathleen arrived and presented me with two of her late aunt's machine knitting books:




Hand Manipulated Stitches for Machine Knitters.

I mentioned this book a few months ago, when I borrowed a copy.  And have been lusting after it ever since.  This book has a really clear explanation about how knitting machines work, various tools you might need, and the basics of casting on and binding off before it gets into the more exotic and decorative stitches. After taking a few lessons, I'm getting more from the second reading of this lovely book.





The Harmony Guide to Machine Knitting Stitches.

Includes a very well-illustrated explanation of machine stitch basics, cast-on and cast-off, increasing, decreasing, and finishing techniques, then explains how to use the included patterns to make punch cards, graphs, or hand-manipulate individual needles.  Topics include Fairisle, Motifs, Tuck Stitch, Tuck Lace, Slip Stitch, Weaving, Cable Panels, Cable Patterns, Lace (using two different types of transfer carriage), and Fancy Lace.  So now I get to try punching my own cards (a moose on page 18 and a hedgehog on page 19 are calling to me), and I have a bunch of patterns to choose from now when my lessons get to the laces and cables. 

Dear Congressperson

Dear Congressperson,

This week the U.S. Olympic Committee took on the wrong people when they sent Ravelry a nasty cease and desist letter.

It seems they think the "Ravelympics" is a threat to their trademark.  Hunh?  Like anyone seeing this name is going to be misled into thinking it has any association whatsoever with the Olympic Games?

While I don't agree with the amount of rage many in the fiber community have been displaying, I would like to ask you one question.  How the he** can Congress grant ownership of a single word to someone?  If that's ok, I would like you to grant me ownership of "the."  Then I'm going to bully the heck out of everyone who uses my word.  Or even includes it in part of another word.  By default, I will own "theater" and "monothestic."  Actors and religious studies scholars, look out!  And I will also own neat words like "sympathy" because they sound kinda like my word.  Talk about a Hallmark moment!  Those Hallmark people are going to have to give up a whole line of greeting cards or pay me big time for the privilege of using a word that sounds like mine.  (Sorry Hallmark -- I like you,  I really do. You have the best greeting cards and I buy them all the time. But trademarks is trademarks.)

Silly?  Yes.  So is giving one entity exclusive rights to a single word.  I can see granting exclusive rights to "Olympic Games."  or "Games of the XXXX Olympiad."  But seriously?  If  I'm reading my history right, the fine community of Olympia, Washington was chartered in 1859.  And a whole bunch of businesses since that time have named themselves after the town.  Isn't that prior art?  Doesn't that give them a prior right to the name?  Apparently the USOC doesn't believe so, because they have consistently bullied businesses in that area to change their names.

What about all the American citizens  of Greek origin?  Shouldn't they have the right to name their businesses after the home of their ancestral gods?  I don't think I would walk into the Olympic Drycleaners ever imagining that it has anything to do with THE Olympic Games.

And, dear congressperson, may I point out that you agreed to give ownership of this word to a group supporting amateur athletics?  Seems that the amateur part isn't so important any more.

Then there's the parody defense.  As distasteful as their events sound,  I'm pretty sure the Redneck Olympics are a parody of the real Olympic Games.  I'm not likely to attend those, but if I did, I would not for a second confuse the toilet seat toss with the shot put.   But after a run-in with the USOC, it's now the "Redneck Games."  

Maybe it's time to reconsider giving away ownership of words.  Phrases, ok.  Words, no.  Or maybe allow people to use "Olympic" or a variation thereof as long as it is accompanied by the phrase "not associated with the Olympic Games or the USOC."


Oh, and one last thing.  While I admire and respect most athletes for their dedication and accomplishments, they are not heroes.  The real heroes in this world are the policemen and firefighters who daily risk their lives to save mine.  And the soldiers who have sacrificed themselves to defend freedom.  And maybe the Ravelers who make caps for cancer patients, or afghans for sick or orphaned children.  Or beautiful prayer shawls for people in need of comfort.  Self-sacrifice to achieve a personal goal is (usually) an admirable thing.  Self-sacrifice to bring aid and comfort to others is heroic.  Let's stop confusing the two.

Thank you, dear congressperson, for reading my letter.  If you have actually read this far, I want to tell you how super you are.  Uh oh -- are the NFL people going to come after me for using their exclusive word?