The Stash: Episode 1

Today, my new friends, is a special day. I have begun to assemble a stash! I bought a big blue tub to start putting all the yarn that's left over or that is being kept for future projects, along with any odd and ends that are knitting related. See it here in all it's glory!


What you are seeing in the box is mostly junk acrylic yarn my grandma gave me to learn with except for the three skeins of brown worsted weight that will be my dad's pull over for Christmas. I'll let you guys know when I start that one. I was thinking it was going to be next on the needles, but with all this garter stitch overload from my tank I may want to do the lace scarf first. lol

You also will see, tucked in to the corner, a drawstring christmas bag that Grandma gave me to put my first project in, and the knitting book that I bought 8 years later to RE-teach myself how to knit. Well... it was really just a brush up, right? hehe

In other Stash-related news, I've decided to start reclaiming yarn from used sweaters! I'm so excited about this, but was sooo nervous that it would be a ton of work, difficult, or not worth the effort! Let me tell you now: It is SO easy! And SO Fun!! Here's a picture of my first's afternoon's haul of about 1300 yards, and I still have 1/2 of the back of the sweater and another sleeve to do!!


I'm estimating in the ballpark of 2000 yards when I'm done. A similar 3-ply, 100% cotton yarn averages at about $6.00 per 400 yards. I only paid $3.50 for this sweater, and I'll probably get about $30 worth of yarn out of it! I chose this 100% cotton for my first project for a couple of reasons. First of all, it's abundant at the thrift store and I wanted to know if it was going to be any good to use. Secondly, I wasn't going to be deeply hurt if I managed to ruin this whole process in my first go at it. And last, I liked the colour of this yarn, and there was plenty of it in this men's XL sweater. I know it's harder to see in this picture but it's a three ply with one strand a golden colour, one copper and then one a kind of pewter almost. Pretty cool. Here's more of a closeup:




These beauties spent last night soaking in a luke-warm bath in my washing machine along with a bit of shampoo, so hopefully this morning they'll be okay to be squeezed out and hung up to dry. I'm HOPING it's going to relax it a bit to get rid of all of the kinkiness to the yarn.

What might I possibly use this yarn for, you ask? I've given it some thought. I could make this shawl and still have half of the stash from yesterday left over.


Or if I double over the yarn, I could attempt this cardigan, which even though it's *totally* my style and I would LOVE to own it, is probably over my head right now. But you know, for in the future, once I'm good at this. hehe



I'm also pondering sending a bunch of it to my mom for christmas so she can make a market bag that she's had her eyes on. I'll let you guys know later today how the yarn comes out after hanging. And Ooo! I've also started to make stitch markers for my first ever Ravelry SWAP! I'll post those later too! I think I've become obsessed with my blog! Thank you so much to my first 4 followers!! :)