Yarn Stash Challenge

Last year I did a fabric stash challenge. This gear I didn’t do much quilting, but I did a lot of knitting, so a yarn stash challenge.

I set a goal to not buy any yarn in 2023, and I did not. I did, however, get some yarn as a birthday present.

+26.46 oz (3 skeins eco plus)
+ 21.16 oz (3 skeins whirligig)
+ 3.5 oz (2 skeins laceweight)

Total yarn in: 51.12 ounces.

-0.75 oz Baby booties
– 1.01 oz Baby booties
– 2 oz Sock repair
-2.5 oz Temperature washcloth
-15.7 oz Red sweater
-14.5 oz Purple crochet sweater
-1.45 oz Shawl
-23.51 oz purple bulky sweater
-3.35 oz purple lightweight sweater
-4.35 oz Baby sweater
-2.87 oz crochet hearts
– 2.9 oz socks
-0.07 oz ornament

Total yarn out: 74.96 ounces.

Net yarn usage: -23.84!

Pretty good if I do say so myself. I also made 3 projects using handspun yarn. I didn’t count those because then I’d have to count how much yarn I spun as yarn in and I didn’t want to do that. I may so a separate post detailing how much fiber in, fiber out (spun) and fiber really out (knitted from handspun).

Yarn Storage

How do you store your yarn? I have a large tote, a big cardboard box, and 2 little cardboard boxes. I keep my yarn in ziplock bags in those boxes, but it’s all just thrown in there together.

Recently I decided to organize it better. Anything that was a full skein or more got separated. Partial skeins I sorted by fiber content and/or weight. I also set aside all my handspun into one of the little cardboard boxes.

It was better organized, but I know myself. And I know that the next time I finish a project, I wouldn’t want to remove the little boxes, take off the lid to the tote, dig around until I find the right plastic bag, and put the leftover yarn in the tight place.

So I took some vases out from my closet and washed them, and put the small partial balls of leftover yarn in them. With that out of the way, I was able to put nearly all of the full balls of yarn in the tote, and the bigger partial balls in the big cardboard box. The handspun is in one of the small cardboard boxes, and the other small box has some wool for needle felting and a bag of waste yarn.

I think I’ll be better apt to keep my yarn organized this way, plus it looks nice in the vases.

Basket Case

Almost 2 years ago I went to King’s Mountain National Park with my parents. And they secretly picked out a basket making kit from the gift shop as a birthday present. I finally got around to making it.

It was fun, but I don’t know if I would classify it as beginner friendly. For starters, it was unclear which pieces were which in the instructions. I found a YouTube video for a similar basket that explained which piece was which so that helped. I pretty much followed the video instructions instead of the paper directions.

My first attempt was too loose so I started over but I think I may have gotten it a bit too tight. The top of the basket caved in a bit at the top. I don’t mind how it looks but it made it a bit tricky to finish the final parts of the basket.

I’d like to make another basket someday (hint hint). Perhaps another small one, then a big one.

This size basket is perfect for hanging on my coat rack and holding my shawl pin. I lined it with some scrap felted sweater leftover from the monster blanket so that the shawl pin stick does not fall out the bottom.

Baby Surprise Jacket

For the 5th baby shower of the year (I told you it was the year of babies) I made a baby surprise jacket using leftovers from my granny square sweater. I alternated balls of yarn so it would be striped instead of colorblock which I don’t know if that would look good on this sweater. It would look like you ran out and switched colors halfway through.

Felted Sweater Snowman Ornament

When I made the monster blanket, I had a lot of scraps leftover so I tucked them away until I had a use for them and that time is now.

I wanted to make a gingerbread man ornament, but I had some white scraps and decided to make a snowman too.

My attempts at making a gingerbread man didn’t work, because I can’t draw very well. My first template was too fat and my second was too skinny. I decided to wait until I could borrow a cookie cutter to use as a template.

But even I can’t mess up circles so I went ahead and made the snowman.

Cut out 3 circles from white felt (real felt or felted sweater scraps. You could even use foam if you want, although if you use foam you might want to use hot glue instead of sewing), each a little smaller than the last. Also cut out a top hat shape from black felt.

Slightly overlap your pieces and see where you want the eyes to be. Sew buttons there using thread that matches the buttons. See where you want the buttons for the chest to be and sew them in place.

Cut out a teeny orange triangle and sew it to the face using orange thread.

Sew the top hat to the head using black thread.

Sew the circles together using white/cream thread.

You’ll also need something to hang it on the tree with. I may just stab the top hat with an ornament hook but sewing matching ribbon to the hat would work too.