Just like many of you, at the end of the year I get the urge to purge, organize, clean out and clean up. (Yeah, I also have the urge to not cast on for anything new until I finish some of my WIPs, but I managed to fight that one off.) I’ve already started with my yarn stash. It’s been organized by yarn weight for quite a while, but new purchases kind of got stashed willy-nilly and it was looking sloppy again. Plus, there were gorgeous yarns getting lost, hidden by yarns I bought only because they were purple, or they were on sale. It was time to make it more efficient and more attractive.

I started with the super bulky and began winding skeins into cakes. It made them easier to stack, but more importantly, it made more room. I went through seven shelves of yarn, winding lots of yarn and petting skeins I had forgotten about. I also pulled yarns I didn’t think I’d ever conceivably use, though I wasn’t too strict about it. Given the choice, I will always knit or crochet with soft, pretty yarns, so ones that are too scratchy or colors I don’t like can probably go bye-bye. But then I think, what if someone orders something someday and this is exactly the yarn I need?? So yeah, I kept some for that reason, as silly as it is. Then were several others that I moved into the Sell/Trade stash on Ravelry and stuck at the back of the shelves. I still have them, but I’ve got my better yarns in front.

Still, after a few days of work, I had shelves that were freshly organized. I discovered I have a whole shelf’s worth of Aran weight yarn, which surprised me. (Side note: why is Malabrigo Worsted classified as an Aran weight?) I have more DK than I expected, but given my growing fondness for shawls, I’m excited about that.

The best part of the whole thing: I realized I have not achieved SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy)! I have around 200 yarns listed on Ravelry, and if I use one yarn a week, that’s about four years’ worth. That’s nothing! Some weeks I’ll probably use more than one yarn. And that even includes some old scratchy acrylic that I’m only keeping for details on character hats/toys etc. 

What to do but buy more yarn?? I’m off to visit yarn stores today with my knitting SIL. One of them is having a Buy One Get one 70% sale, and what knitter in their right mind would pass that up?