Overconsumption and Dealing with My Stash
What my stash looks like, how I feel about it, and what I want to do with it
As my personal response to overconsumption as a creator, I am aiming to be more transparent (to both you and myself) of my own stash collection. Recently, I took on the daunting task of going through my entire stash, figuring out where everything came from, and making plans that excite me.
I wrote a post quite a while ago about how I don’t really keep a stash. Having a lot of yarn lying around induces stress for me and I no longer receive pleasure out of my knitting, wanting to knit so fast that I don’t enjoy the process.
Nevertheless, life happens, and I have ended up with a more than my fair share of yarn sitting in the cupboard. I currently have 4010g of yarn. Here’s what I plan to do with it.
Fibre Naturally 5 ply Australian Alpaca
The first yarn that I want to discuss is something that I purchased at a yarn festival in Melbourne almost 12 months ago. It is the Fibre Naturally 5 ply Australian Alpaca, which is a 100% alpaca yarn in its natural colour.
I purchased this yarn with the intention of making a Cinnamomum Pullover by Teti Lutsak. However, that was before I completed the Polina Pullover, also by Teti Lutsak, and realised that her patterns tend to underestimate yarn yardage (for my preferred garment length and gauge, at least). I only purchased JUST enough of the Fibre Naturally based on the pattern recommendations and it wasn’t going to be possible to purchase more. This yarn came from a single animal and is a natural colour, so any other yarn purchased will likely look very different.
Since coming to this realisation, I have felt a bit stagnant with this yarn. I love it so much and I want to make a special project out of it, but that has caused some procrastination and decision paralysis.
I can now officially say that I am going to make a vest! I have chosen to make the Solstice Spencer by Mandy Julie. I chose this pattern because of the shoulder construction. I find that far too often, the shoulders of vest patterns flare out and it’s not a silhouette that I particularly like. It also has some fun texture and I think it will be a fantastic wardrobe staple for me this winter.
Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 Ply (wool)
This yarn goes all the way back to my first ever major knitting project - a pair of socks. I didn’t know anything about sock knitting at the time, so I purchased 100% wool yarn - the Cleckheaton Country Naturals 8 ply wool (which has since been discontinued). I have 73 grams left of this yarn in a blue colour. It has taken me a while to decide what to do with it. I have finally decided to try my hand at a bralette pattern. I think that this yarn will not be itchy directly on the skin and I will hopefully have just enough to make a bralette.
I have chosen The Everyday Bra by nakedknit. Even though the pattern is for a 2 ply yarn, I have looked into some other projects on Ravelry and I can see that others have been able to adjust the gauge to different yarn weights. I am planning to do a provisional cast on just below the split for the cups so that I can get as much length as possible out of the yarn that I have. If the bralette doesn’t end up working out for this yarn, I am considering making a hot water bottle cover, or some mittens from it.
Heirloom (Australia) Merino Fleck 8 ply
At the beginning of 2024, I decided that I wanted to make a mittens, headband, and cowl “set”. I chose the Expo 67 pattern by Espace Tricot and purchased Heirloom Australia’s Merino 8 ply yarn for the project. I made the mittens and I really liked them, but I decided that I didn’t necessarily want a matching cowl and headband. I used some of the leftover grey yarn from that project to make a second pair of mittens, however, I still have 36 grams left of the grey and 250g left of the black.
With the small amount of grey yarn, I’m going to make the Beans the Cat by Linda Dawkins for a friend. I’ll probably make it a bit bigger than the pattern to use up as much yarn as possible.
I’m planning to use about half of the left over dark yarn for the Ryegate Hat by Claire Borchardt. I haven’t entirely decided what to do with the rest of the dark yarn. Depending on my initial attempt with the Cleckheaton, I may make a second Everyday Bra with this yarn, or I may consider making a small headband or a second beanie.
Birch Creative Acrylic 8 ply
I purchased this cheap acrylic yarn with the specific intention to use it for the Ravelry: Hunter's Urban Dog Sweater pattern by Lisa M. Barnes. I completed the dog sweater, but I only used about one and a half of the five balls that I have. I am planning to make a modified version of this sweater with additional panels on the side. With any further leftover yarn, I plan to make the Dog Bowtie & Collar Cover by Emma Bermudez, and donate the rest.
Caron Cakes 10 ply
I received two 3-cake packets of Caron Cakes from a friend. It is an 80% acrylic, 20% wool blend and I received two different colourways. Initially, I had absolutely no idea what to do with this yarn, but then I had an idea. To get the most out of it, I decided to wind it up into the distinct colours so that I could see what projects I would like to make with it. I discovered that some of the colours of the two colourways work quite well together. Based on the amount of yarn I have, and the fact that I have different amounts of different colours, I have decided to use a colour-blocking approach.
I am going to make a basic drop-shoulder cardigan. I will have enough yarn left over to make the Soho Top by Caidree in either block colours or stripes. While I know that this yarn is not necessarily ideal for a summer top, I think it will actually work as a vest or a top for transitional weather. I am now very excited to use this yarn on these two projects!
Schachenmayr Catania Flammé
I purchased the Schachenmayr Catania Flamme 5 ply cotton yarn to make the Lumme socks for my partner. These socks were my second ever knitting project and I therefore didn’t know anything about yarn choices or the amount of yarn required. I purchased 200g of this yarn at the time. After making my partner’s socks, I realised how much yarn I had left and immediately cast on a pair for myself. However, it quickly became apparent that cotton is not ideal for sock yarn and I subsequently frogged the socks I had cast on for myself. I wasn’t sure what to do with 100g of cotton yarn, so it sat in my cupboard for a long time.
I have decided to make the Simple Stripe Washcloth by Purl Soho to use up this yarn. I won’t include a stripe, but I like the minimal style of this pattern and I will definitely get use out of it.
Recycled Australian Merino 3 ply
I have had a store-bought 100% merino cardigan in my closet for several years. When I purchased it, it was a nice cut, however, the style aged quite a lot and I was no longer wearing it. I couldn’t bare to part with 100% merino so I decided to reclaim the yarn. It took a long time to frog it all and I did lose some yarn in the process. I am still steaming and skeining up all of the reclaimed yarn, so I’m not entirely sure exactly how much I have.
I’ve decided to make the Naked Tee by nakedknit. I plan to make the sleeves as long as I can with the amount of yarn that I end up with. I am intending to take this as a travel project when I go abroad in August because of the amount of time it will take to knit such a small weight of yarn. It also gives me a deadline to steam and skein it all up, otherwise it may sit in my cupboard for another year or two.
Various 4 ply sock yarns
In addition to the yarns I have listed above, I also have quite a lot of 4 ply sock yarns, some full skeins, some leftovers from other projects. I am intending to make my own sock designs with these yarns, including quite a lot of colourwork and cables. I am collecting sock yarn to have the freedom to experiment, so I don’t feel the need to exactly decide what to do with each of these at the moment.
While there are still a couple of scrap pieces of yarn in my stash, I have outlined the majority of it above. There are some scrap yarns that I keep purely for mending purposes, and there are others that I just can’t decide what to do with quite yet. By going through my stash, I am now excited to make the projects that I have planned and I feel less of a pull to purchase more yarn. I want to make it clear that I’m not advocating for anyone else to do something like this. My personal low-consumption, low-stash philosophy has meant that planning my next projects in great depth really works for me and my enjoyment of my hobby. I would love to hear in the comments how you deal with stash, whether you get stash anxiety, and if there are any yarns in your stash that you just don’t know what to do with.
As always, thank you so much for joining me today.
Until next time,
Jane
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