Since I try to limit my design yarn to that which I’m going to use — and since I’ve only planned about a year out for projects & books — my design yarn stash is, I believe, under control.
I’m not so sure about the personal stash.
Let’s just get the Shetland out of the way, shall we? Â It’s personal yarn that I count as overlapping with designing yarn, and it’s kept in a cedar chest in the dining room. Â It tucks under the window, next to the front door, and is occasionally used as extra seating.
I have two vintage cedar chests. Â One was left to me by my grandma, the other I found on (yes, you guessed it) Craigslist. Â Both have contained yarn at some point in time. Â In fact, I got the second just to contain yarn. Â Now my grandma’s chest stores linens (and a little bit of yarn) and the larger the Shetland.
Cedar chests are great for yarn storage IF you know what’s in there and IF you enjoy emptying it all out once in awhile to doublecheck you really do know what’s in there. Â (I do.) You have to do a bit of digging otherwise, to find things.
I do try to have the Shetland arranged by color…but that doesn’t really work so well. Â If I had (or made) dividers, I’d be able to manage it a bit better.
On the topic of Shetland…I have a variety of colors from J&S, Jamieson’s, Elemental Affects, and a little bit of Alice Starmore Campion. Â The latter is for sale on my Ravelry stash page — I can’t justify keeping Shetland yarn I can’t use for designs, and, since it’s discontinued and not all the subs for the other companies’ colorways are exact, I don’t want to use it.
Sock yarn and miscellaneous yarn is kept in the English Arts & Crafts bookcase (Craigslist) (see above pic).
Sweater yarn is either in the bookcase as well, in the barrister’s bookcase in the living room, in our bedroom closet, and in grandma’s cedar chest. Â It’s not that there’s a lot of it — probably six sweaters’ worth*? — just that it’s ended up in several places. Â It used to all by in the second cedar chest, but the linens ended up there. Â I’m working on destashing some fleeces & roving (if you’re local, and are looking to build up your fiber stash, leave me a comment!) so it will end up in the bins that used to hold those items.
Even were I to give up designing, I think I have enough yarn to keep me busy for many, many, MANY years.
Do you have a large yarn stash? Â Is it a SABLE? (stash acquisition beyond life expectancy)?
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*Okay, here goes. Â After making this list, I was so delusional with the 6 sweaters’ worth guesstimate. Â Granted, some of these are more vest quantities than sweater, but to me, that counts.
- AS Hebridean 2 Ply
- AS Hebridean 3 Ply for St Brigid, wip
- AS Hebridean 3 Ply in Storm Petrel
- AS Hebridean 3 Ply in Machair
- Beaverslide Mohair/Merino
- Black Water Abbey (since I design with their yarns, I *could* count this as design yarn, though I bought it at my first Stitches West well before I began designing)
- Classic Elite Lush (I think I still have this, though I’ve wavered between rehoming it & keeping it)
- Jaeger Shetland
- Some llama yarn from a llama named Nicole
- La Lana Wools silk
- Marr Haven sport
- This & this from Juniper Moon  (see how I sneak two onto one line?)
- A slew of Rowan denim
- Some Rowan Magpie
- Sublime Angora Merino
- En0ugh Sundara sock for a sweater
- Alpaca (actually charcoal, swapped the spice)
- Warm Valley Romney/Alpaca
- and a Bohus kit (Turquoise Light)
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Here are all the posts in the series:
Project Organization: Â Introduction
Project Organization: Â Overview
Project Organization: Â The Stash (Design Yarn)
Project Organization: The Stash (PersonalYarn)
Project Organization: Â Knitting Books
Project Organization: Â Knitting Tools
Project Organization: Â The Business of Knitting