The Yarn Stash

When my mom started to do plastic canvas when I was in junior high, it started. It was a few skeins of a various colors at first, some a blue, red and a few multi-color. From there, it grew. Those couple of skeins that fit nicely in a basket, moved into a Rubbermaid container. Finally, my mom's stash of yarn reached about 4 containers, about 2x3. She still has yarn, and still makes things, but mostly for gifts and the holidays.

I think my stash started off of that one. One of the first things I made that required a quantity of yarn was an afghan that was made with 6 strands. I probably bought a total of 25-30 large skeins to make this afghan, and of course there were leftovers. White, yellow, a muted pink, a mixed green.

From there, my theory on yarn is that it's like rabbits - it just multiplied. I would see stuff on sale, and pick it up. The major addition came from my yarn stash after grandma passed the summer of 2000. She would always overbuy for afghans, because it beats running out of yarn! There were blues and greens and blacks. It was enough that I had graduated to a larger box for yarn.

From there, the yarn would multiply - baby afghans that too much yarn was bought for, chenille scarves were requested, and with each project there would be some leftover. Most cases, I probably had the receipt, and could have returned the extra, but for some reason I just figured I would use it for other projects.

When a local quilting shop went out of business, I picked up some off-white 100% cotton, that I have now used to edge on baby blankets, and some pink mohair that I was saving for a special project.

Another major addition came to my yarn stash after a trip to Virginia. Back in August 2005, I made a trip to Northern Virginia to see my cousin, and she introduced me to AC Moore. I love yarn, and for me, their yarn department rivals that of other stores. They have a larger area of yarn, and they have more of the fashion yarns. They also had a bag of three skeins of Lion Brand Homespun that was called "mill ends" - for $5 a bag, and there was the 40% off coupon, so that was a great deal. I managed to get several bags on this trip - enough that my luggage wouldn't close, and I had to have it shipped back!

I have been able to recently find these mill ends at a local Big Lots, and have bought several bags. I can see the possibilities, the blanket that I am making for myself, the pods for the babies, the scarves.

My current stash of yarn is contained in several very large containers, and my project for the winter is to go through and catalog it, I read online of a lady doing this - having a spreadsheet of all of her yarn. Sounds like a good idea to me!