Friday, August 31, 2007

Too Much Yarn? (a peak at my yarn stash)

UPDATE: SEPTEMBER 5, 2007: THE RESULTS ARE IN - AND THE CONTEST IS OVER - THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO GUESSED! :)

I was thinking last night... do I have too much yarn? Driving home, I was trying to recall where all my yarn is... and the truth is that it's all over the house - under the bed, in closets, in drawers, in bags stored in the garage.... everywhere! Really, I was wanting to buy yarn for another sweater (another sweater? I have 5 sweaters in progress right now... one that's almost done, two that are gettin' close, and two that have a ways to go) not to mention the 7 (yes, 7) sweaters in queue waiting to be started - I don't know for sure that these all have patterns, but I do know that they're "sweater quantities" of yarn... I think there's 2 of these that are waiting for a pattern... here's (most of) the sweater stash:

It's right next to my EEG machine - one of the original prototypes designed by a doctor in Pasadena, CA - it was in his office after he passed away, and the family allowed me to go through to get anything I wanted out of the house - this is my favorite thing - it's super interesting - although I'd NEVER plug it in (I think I actually cut the plug off) and I have no idea how it works - all I know is that it was used to measure brainwave activity, and that the cabinet is a beautiful wood and I love it.

On to more yarn....

In the garage, I have some huge tubs full of yarn sale grabbings - these are not organized, but I do notice another sweater in here... a tiny baby sweater that's fair isle and going to be made out of teensy yarn - that one is ready to go, but the yarn (drops alpaca) that I was buying took so long to aquire because of its cost that the baby is too big to knit it for now... it's going to take a long time... and I'm not wanting to tackle that one right now...


In the garage... 2 more garbage bags FULL of yarn - some of this has been divided by type of project - but most of it is just piled together - and that's Dakota - she's wondering what I'm up to - flopping yarn bags all over the place, snapping photos.

Another bin full of yarn - waiting for assignments. Maybe this weekend I'll work on getting my yarn in order - wouldn't that be nice! :) I have to get organized so that I slow down on the purchases and figure out what I'm going to do with what I have!


This is my Noro stash - it's for my mitered blanket - this bin is stuffed 2 skeins high - lots of yarn but at least it's spoken for!


This is a collection of neutral yarns (hiding in the close) for a blanket possibly. I haven't figured it out - there's lots of yarn I love in here - some stuff from Ozark Handspun (yummy) - and the dog and cat fur yarn that vipfibers made for me - oh! AND the first try handspun stuff I made when I tried spinning a few weeks ago. Part of me thinks this will become some sort of freeform blanket, but I am not starting anything with it until I at least finish mom's freeform shawl -


THEN, there's the big drawers of yarn sorted (sort of) by color- the top drawer has a number of skeins (I think 6?) of the sari yarn - made from bits of cloth or fiber that are leftovers from the sari making business... beautiful - but no project planned... another drawer of oranges, browns, etc., and the bottom drawer of whites/creams...
the OTHER big 3 drawer thingy - with creams/oranges,/reds in all three drawers -
This is really work in progress yarn - the blue color is for a cabled sweater I'm working on, the green is for my "first" sweater (that I'm killing myself to finish; I have the first sleeve ALMOST completed, and need to do sleeve #2 then get it assembled) - the grey is leftover from a funky shape blanket I made - saving it so that if I want to *fix* it someday, there's yarn here to do it...

yarn for my master knitting program (in the white bag) and my newly aquired lambs pride that I got to make a million of the little bullion circle crochet things we learned to make in freeform class - a tiny (wacko) part of me thinks a blanket of these (thousands of them) would be cool... (yeah, that'll happen!)
oh look... more yarn - orphan skeins from the abandoned circle scarf project - it needs to be put somewhere, or reassigned - man - I do need to get my knitting stuff organized!
junk in my travel case - most of this is from freeform knitting class - it needs to get back in the big tub of purple/blue/pink/cream yarn that I'm pulling for that shawl...
these are just samples from woolmeise - I have yet to order any actual yarn from her - it's SO beautiful though - even the samples make me smile!


this is the big bin of green yarn that I had at one point planned to make a blanket out of... I have so many random collections of yarn.... it's scary.


here's the tan/brown/rust/etc. under bed bin of yarn - and the blue/green bin... oh and my foot. :)
here's another blue/teal/green bin and the previously mentioned bin of pink/purple/cream/etc. yarns...

I am thinking of getting a friend to help me organize this during the weekend -since we have Labor Day and there's 3 days, it might be nice to organize my yarn, get it organized (along with needles, etc.) so I have a good grip on what I have and what I might want and need.... I can also be generous and get rid of (donate) yarns that I will never use...

so I ask you... should I be out buying yarn? is this too much for a "stash"? do I have a problem or is your stash bigger? - I know that a LOT of my stash came from Bishops when they were closing - and lots of it was too good to be true acquisitions, but there's thousands of dollars worth of yarn piled in my house -

Take A Guess - How Much Yarn Does Kyle Have?

How many balls of yarn do I have - put your guess in the comments - and the person who gets the closest to the actual number (or the number we arrive at after the re-organization effort) will win a fun (most likely yarn based) prize! I have tons of goodies to give out and love sending packages - I know having your number in the comments is not very "secret" and everyone else will be able to see, but since it's SOOOO random, (and since even I have no idea how much yarn I have) I think it's still fair! I should have the results next week. Good Luck!

aah the plans of a yarn whore! :) Happy knitting everyone! -

44 comments:

loopykd said...

Ok so first let me say, I am very jealous! Second, you may have a problem. Third, I have to take a guess because I can't pass it up. I'm guessing somewhere close to 1475 balls or skeins or however you are counting them. This is a very scientific calculated.......Nope it's a stab in the dark.

Anonymous said...

I'm SO jealous of your stash. Seriously, I think mine consist of about 15 balls! I think yours has 725 balls of yarn.

knitography said...

Holy crap, I have never seen so much yarn that wasn't in a yarn store! I'm going to guess 800 skeins.

Anonymous said...

That green/blue/teal bin alone (yes, it all by itself) makes me jealous. Totally. I am jonesing for anything teal right now. Green and blue are bonus colors :)

I am going for.... 1600. 'Cause I like 16.

cthulhulovesme said...

Found this post from Ravelry. I'll guess 1132, just because.

Anonymous said...

yeah, ok, but OMG; that cute little dog! if that doggie is the prize, i'll take a wild stab at a guess 925!

marie in florida

mym from Ravelry

Anonymous said...

How about 842? No, 923. No, 1198. Yes, 1198 is my final answer. Probably light, but what the heck.

You make me feel like I'm not trying very hard.

sophanne said...

I'm guessing 2200. While I love a good stash, there is an organizer in me that has just collapsed from exhaustion. Good Luck this Weekend. When it's over, you might want to call YA. (yarn anon.)

Unknown said...

Blessed be, that's a lot of yarn. I never know how to feel when seeing other people's collections. Jealousy is such an awful thing :) I'll settle for just being happy for you. Let's say 1316 skeins. I really kind of hope that guess is too high though!

Anna said...

I'm AnnaEA from Ravelry. I am totally jealous of your stash - mine fits in two string bags.

I guess you have approximately 850 skeins of yarn there.

linuxgrl said...

I'm going with 700.

CatBookMom said...

LOL! Mine is bigger and even less organized. I keep meaning to spend a day tidying it up.... Sigh. You should know that the yarn gets out in the night and frolics, and sometimes multiplies and certainly doesn't put itself back in any sort of tidy order.

Guessing about the # of skeins, I'm going with 527. I realize that this is way lower than everyone else's guess, but then I've counted mine once or twice.

Crafty Andy said...

I have to say about 350 is my guess

The A.D.D. Knitter said...

Ok, your stash is KILLER!! I'm guessing 289...

Stephanie said...

Wow, I feel so much better about my assorted yarn piles now. Thank you thank you. I'm guessing 889.

good luck with the organizing.

Charles said...

Kyle!
Iam guessing around 880 skeins!
I hope this is the right anwer!

Unknown said...

I'll guess 965

Michelle said...

I know there are other guesses near mine, but I'm sticking to 897.

jeanius said...

wow.. makes me want to show my DH your stash :rofl:
umm...786 is my guess....
lovely!

Unknown said...

I'm guessing 675.

Michelle said...

I'll say 575. I have no clue how much you have shoved into those drawers.

sko_G knits said...

1067.

and yes, you have a lot of yarn. my stash is probably half the size of yours and before the summer began, i put myself on a yarn diet. that is no new yarn until i use up my stash...unless for a specific gift project that i need something that is not in my stash.

good luck with the organizing..hey now you will be able to post it all to ravelry!!

Jeri said...

Another knitter here who found your blog from ravelry. I'm going to guess a nice even 500.

patternwhisperer on ravelry
my blog soapquiltknit.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

887! [i'm megiknit off of ravelry]

bookgrump said...

That's some stash! I'd envy it, but I'd have nowhere to put it. Lucky you!

I'd guess 452 balls.

- bookgrump (on ravelry, blogs, knittyboard, etc.)

Samantha said...

Hiya, Samistrange from Ravelry!

My guess is 916.

Anonymous said...

I am guessing 1239.

Jenn said...

I am going with 435!

Sheryl said...

Very impressive stash! I'm going to guess 1375.

BlackRayne said...

Saw your post on Ravelry (I am blackrayne there as well), and OMG that's a lovely collection!

I am guessing 653.

Debbie said...

My guess is 742. Hope you'll post when you organize it.

Debbie aka Knittingkewpie on Ravelry

Matt....... said...

My guess is a bit on the short end, how about 205? and the eeg machine is an awesome find!

Josiane said...

I'd guess 974. Good luck with the organization!

Josiane (kimianak on Ravelry)

Anonymous said...

399 maybe?

Marianne said...

My guess is 674 skeins, another shot in the dark.

knittermom from Ravelry

Anonymous said...

I am guessing 1155

Rose aka spinsterbat from ravelry

Anonymous said...

Wild guess: 884
What a fabulous looking stash!

Anonymous said...

I am going to guess 918!
nhknitgirl on Ravelry

Elabeth said...

OK, I'm guessing you have in the neighborhood of 2600 balls/hanks/skeins of yarn. That's just based on the pictures and the number of trash bags you said you have. I opened my store with 4400, and I probably have another 4000 at home in the personal stash so I'm not gonna judge you.
I'd suggest if you have a guest room in your house you should turn it into the yarn room like I did with mine. Just go to IKEA and get some of those big cube shelves then fill those suckers up. One of them will hold 1,000 balls of Plymouth Galway (for example) and even more of the things with smaller put-ups. You could also cover a wall in pegboard and hang hanks from that for a pretty "Wall of yarn" effect. It could be like your own personal yarn store right there in your house!

Anonymous said...

Lessee - we have over 100 pounds of yarn taking up a corner of our attic, and I thought that was a lot! Looks like you've got lots more than we do. I guess you've probably got close to 3,000 skeins.

ikkinlala said...

I think you may have a little too much if you can't remember where it all is!

And I'll guess 1085 balls.

Anonymous said...

If my anxiety caused me to break out in hives, I would've just broken out in hives. My comparatively miniscule stash (about 100 skeins) makes me anxious! You're braver than I am, that's for sure. My guess... 1147. Although, maybe I should say something like 10 just in case I win and you try to send me yarn! ;) Good luck with your re-organisation!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to guess 927 skeins

Kathleen said...

Lets see now:
376 balls for possible sweaters-27 sock yarns (socks don't count I have heard)
436 balls for sweaters-43 "what was I thinking" balls + about 56 balls you haven't even found yet
= a shitload