I got a spinning wheel!

I know I've been away for a very long time now but I'm trying to get some order (peace & quiet) in my life. A few weeks ago I finally got what I've been wishing for. A spinning wheel! It's a Louet S10, it was used but in a very good state and at a very low price. About fifth of the price for a new and I got a lovely skein winder included in the price.

Here is a picture.

Missing but still here. And little project to show

I have been missing from the blog a few days/weeks. It is my intention to continue this blog but at the moment I'm at the end of writing my dissertation so that's why there has been such a long silence from me, but I'm still here and will soon continue with reviews and other things. Yesterday I bought yet another Craftsy course that I will be looking forward to review soon. 

But for now I wanted you to have a peek on "the" project that has been keeping me busy for about 2 months. I think this is the project I have been working the most on of all of my projects. It has been a challenging experience of the taxing kind. I would never have finished it if it was not for the Nerd Wars deadline. I owe a lot to the competition. But at last, here it is. THE Aeolian.

Begone stash!

So these few days I've been writing about stash. After rediscovering some "lost stash" I have concluded that I have approximately 380 kilometers of yarn... Now, probably most of you reading this have a lot of yarn stashed/hidden away somewhere in the house.

I have heard stories from people that they even smuggle yarn into the house so their spouse/companion don't see the naughty shopping they did. I've for one have at least tried doing it, without success I may add.
I couldn't  keep a secret even if my life depended on it, a few hours granted but no longer then that. I hate receiving ordered gifts to members of my family more then a few days before the occasion because I'm afraid I won't be able to keep the secret that long.

Now my BF are rather supportive about my yarn habit/addiction. He has never had any objections nor concerns about my growing stash so to be honest I have never had any reasons to hide it from him. But sometimes you come home with a completely unnecessary yarn purchase only based on the "they had a SALE" argument. Which to be honest, quickly can become old. In my family there is something magic about sales, "but what if they are selling something i really NEED for HALF the price". As I grow closer to 30 then 20 I have had a larger success avoiding sales with the argument that it will probably be only rubbish there. Most of us have probably fallen into the same trap with yarn sales. I still have trouble ignoring yarn sales, except for the old Drops summer and winter sales that feature the same old yarns every year.

If you believe that you need to lower your stash and purchases I think it's a good idea sorting your existing stash, photograph it and putting it up on Ravelry. It's so much easier to actually KNOW that you don't need that yarn and that you in fact already have the perfect yarn.

Sorting your stash

So today I want to "talk" a little about sorting your stash. I know there are some people that don't need to do this because all of their yarn can be fitted into a smaller box. This is, however, not the case for me, and I know there are probably more then me that fit into this category.

There are a number of ways to categorize you'r stash.

• Color 
• Weight (cobweb, lace, fingering, DK and so on)
• Material (Acrylic, wool, mix, cotton and so on)
• Size/project (Sweater sized lots, for scarfs)

The list could probably go on. Why don't you leave a comment how you do, that is always interesting to hear. 

I have started to sort my yarns in weight and color so that I can easily access the weight and color I would like. In an earlier post I talked about putting up my stash into Ravelry and I still think it's a good idea, I have noticed that you can use a list function for your stash and there you can choose to sort on weight, length, grams, skeins or even name. That way your stash on Ravelry gets more manageable and gives you a better view of what you have. After checking on that you can choose to go to the pattern search function and start to view diffrent projects you can make of your stash. 

Twist collective spring/summer 2012 is out!

I hope none of you have missed the fabulous Twist collective? If you have I strongly advise you to check it out. Their online magazine is published three times a year and contains several of the strongest knitwear designers. Their magazine takes the most stunning pictures and it's easy to forget that you can buy the patterns because it almost looks like a very expensive fashion magazine. One of their goals is to give designers a fair salary for their design which is commendably.

One of my favorites this number is the Elysium shawls which is almost like a piece of art, if you are interested in lace shawls you should check it out. Another beautiful piece is the Candlewick cardigan which is knit at a small gauge with a lace pattern. Very stylish and modern. This number of Twist Collective seems to be focusing on lace shawls but does also have a good amount of sleeveless tops, socks and a few cardigans. All very perfect for the upcoming summer.

Easiest way of organizing stash on Ravelry

This weekend I tried to get some order to my stash. I have been thinking of "cold sheeping" aka not to buy anymore yarn for at least a while. Don't worry, I have a lot of yarns from other indie dyers on Etsy that I'm planning to give a review on. I have also a quite large amount of books that I'm planning to review and some different kind of interchangeable sets and so on. 

Back to this weekend. I have been slowly photographing my stash to be able to upload it to Ravelry but after a while I came to the conclusion that my system was taking a lot of time so I changed it up a little. Instead of adding yarn with a picture at the same time I just simply wrote down everything I had brand, name, skeins and color. Then I sat down and added the information into Ravelry and the next few days I will photograph the yarn separately to put the right picture with the right post to know what I have. This way I will not have to go and dive in the stash every time I'm looking for something new to start. 

Ravelry also has a feature that can download your stash to an excel file and there you can add to see how many yards/meters you have. Don't ask your boyfriend or husband to help you with this unless he is VERY supportive of you'r yarn habit. If you don't have a large stash he might come over the chock faster. I however DO have a fairly big stash. It's total is up to almost 23 miles/36 km, that's not as excessive as some people. I have heard about people having triple the stash I have and sometimes more. 

In this yardage I have not added my mini skeins or my UFO's I also have some mystery yarn that is not in this equation, luckily I did remember some of my mystery yarns and my detective skills helped me a lot. One yarn all I could remember was that it had an owl on the label and that it was probably from Norway. Thank God for Ravelry as I could find it with this limited information. 

Having stash and keeping order

This January/February I came to the conclusion I have too much yarn. Now, I know that there are a lot of people having larger stash then me and that they don't have a problem with that. And frankly, good for them. Now I, on the other hand, live in a rather small apartment with a man and a cat. There is some limit to my storage which can't expand indefinitely.

For now, I'm storing my yarn in zip lock bags that are placed in large plastic bins. Now I have come to the point where there are no more storage bins to put the yarn in and my roughly 75 zip lock bags are out. I do not want to buy more plastic bins nor zip lock bags since I feel that this would require a bigger investment which I quite honest rather would  put on yarn.

What's the solution? Shopping of course! I decided to buy the book "Stashbuster knits" by Melissa Leapman.

amazon.com link

I was expecting a little more of the "valuable step-by-step guidance on organizing and shopping your stash to inspire creative new knitting ideas and color combinations"  that was promised but I do enjoy the book which has some good tips.

So now I'm on my way of photographing and putting my stash up on Ravelry to know what I have. It's hard work and time consuming but I do enjoy it. Just don't try to do this in one evening if you have a lot of yarn.

Have a great weekend!