Must organise…

Ok, I posted a few days ago about possibly having a problem with my stash. I decided to organise it a bit better, and I have discovered that I most definitely have a problem. I’m not proud of this, but here is a photo of my yarn stash all in one place.

It’s ridiculous! I’m getting close to the Ravelry term SABLE – Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. In my defence, about 50% of this stash was given to me by elderly friends or people cleaning out their cupboards, so I haven’t actively bought it all. Even so, I need to get it organised and start using it up.

I currently use Ravelry’s stash organiser, which is a fantastic idea, but I find it hard to keep up to date. I never get round to uploading photos of my yarn, so then I start to forget what I have. I decided to revert to a good old fashioned low-tech notebook. I’m writing down the name and weight of the yarn, the meterage per ball, and the number of balls in stash. Then I’m attaching a small sample of the yarn to the side of the page, so that I can instantly remember what it looks and feels like. The notebook can then be used alongside my pattern collection when I’m trying to find yarn for new projects.

Believe it or not, I do have plans for most of the stuff in there. The only problem is that my brain knits faster than my hands, so it’s going to be a while before yarn becomes finished objects. However, my aim for the next few weeks is to match yarn to patterns and try to find some sort of order in the chaos. Wish me luck!