The Next Batch

 The next batch of yarn to leave the house is all Sugar and Crème yarn that I used for fundraising efforts for Eric’s day program.  I got the yarn whenever it was on sale at least 50% off the regular retail price. I did this because I used to give the day program 100% of the sale price.  So stocking up on yarn at really low prices made sense. After Eric died we as a family decided that it was time for the parents of current participates to take over the fundraising efforts.  It was also time for me to explore the next chapter in my life. 

The yarn is going to a Tucson knitting group who make hand knit and crocheted washcloths and other items to sell to raise funds for The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona. The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona is a cause that our family has supported since so last century.  So I feel very good about where all the Sugar and Crème yarn is going. A little over 100 quarts of yarn. My ultimate goal is to get my yarn stash into counting it by skeins instead of quarts and gallons.  Wish me luck on that one. 

I am also going to put a Google link at the bottom of this post if you would like to help out The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.  Of course at this time of country wide need because of  the current climate in Washington D.C. all our food banks across the country need help. So I am asking all of my readers to be a blessing in their areas to support your fellow community members. Whether it is your local food bank, Meals on Wheels, religious organizations that house and feed people, helping out with school supplies and clothing, everything helps. 

As a bonus for the group members I am also going through my knitting and crochet magazines to give them all the ones that I no longer want.  

I never knew that getting rid of extra yarn and the things like books that I have already read would make me physically feel a lot lighter.  Not to mention give me more space.  I might be nearing the end of this deep cleaning cycle but rest assured there will be more on the way.  

Did Someone Say UFO

 The down side to doing a massive knitting room clean up is finding all the UFO’s that I had hidden away.  Below you can see a picture of my fireplace. This is only about 80% of my current UFO’s. Each bag holds a between 1 and 6 UFO’s.  Two of the bags hold my charity knitting projects, the are always being refilled with yarn because I like to make as many hats and scarfs for the Flowing Wells School District Clothing Bank as possible. I have a few different projects going for the Navajo Knitting Project, I make very large scarves for the older kids and I am currently working on 3 for next year. 

On the far right side of the picture are 12 kits set up for weaving scarfs mostly for different charities.  I believe that I have enough scarfs for myself and family at this point. 

The rest include patterns that I wanted to try. Patterns that I was designing and did not meet the mark or have things that need to be changed before it can become a viable pattern.  Even classes that I have taken and not finished the project  

There are at least 20 bags on the fireplace. I also have other bags and baskets of spinning, weaving and knitting projects scattered throughout the house. 

My goal for the rest of the year is to complete as many of these UFO’s as possible without starting too many new projects.  That is really going to be the hard part.  Wish me luck on this one.  

330 Gallons of Yarn

 This stage of my latest yarn de stash is complete.  I know that you have heard this countless times before. It has not been my biggest de stash of yarn. There was still an epic number of gallons of yarn that left my yarn stash over the past few days. So far it is 11 bags with a total of 330 gallons of yarn leaving the house. I also have an empty 32 quart bin going into the garage. 

If you are interested in acquiring any of this yarn please follow The Old Pueblo Knitting Guild to find out when the yarn sale will be.  Be sure to arrive earlier rather than later for the best selection of yarn.  I know people who drive from out of state just to go to this yarn sale.  Go to Old Pueblo Knitting Guild.org.  There you will find information on what we do as a knitting guild. The charities we support. Find out how you can join. You can even make a donation to help cover the cost of some of our charity work.

In this latest donation for the yarn sale, I have included Aspirational Yarn with projects that I wasn’t sure what I was gonna make with the yarn someday. Only that I loved the yarn. I have also included a lot of size 1,2 and 3 weight yarns because I can no longer work with smaller knitting needles.  It absolutely broke my heart to have to remove from my stash, some beautiful yarns, including silks and silk blends. It is the time of my life to become more pragmatic about what I keep and what I get rid of. I hope the Yarn that is leaving the house finds a really good Knitter or Crocheter to make beautiful projects.

With that being said, my knitting and spinning room is more organized. More useful to me because I know where everything is. And I even put together a few projects with some of my hand spun yarn which are destined to go to another funding raising project for another organization. And I know you will believe that I found a few more UFOs. I have also found projects to tink and make something much better or fix major construction problems. 

Now it is time to work on my current knitting project.  

6 Bags Full

 Off to check my entire stash for mislabeled yarn.  I guess that I need to bring a wraps per inch tool to big shows in the future.  While doing a de stashed on Wednesday morning I found over $200 in yarn mislabeled as fingering weight yarn. I relied on the seller at a large yarn show would actually know the weights of the yarn she was dying and selling.  On closer inspection the yarn had over 500 yards for 4 ounce skein and required a U.S. knitting needle size from 1 to 3. Not fingering weight any way I look at it.  More like lace weight or super fine. Should have been labeled at a Zero or One.  It turns out it was only one Indy dyer had the issue. I have decided not to call her out publicly: however; I have not ordered from her since the pandemic began. So if I have ordered from you since then you are doing a fantastic job. 

Because of too many hand surgeries and arthritis I can’t use any knitting needle smaller than a U.S. 5.  Off to check out 23 shelves of yarn plus all my bins.  I might as well get it done sooner rather than later.  If I can’t use the yarn it does not belong in my stash. This way someone who can use it will be able to add it to their stash.  This might just take the rest of the week.

I am also glad that I did not order more bags to organize my projects earlier this week. It turns out that I have a few extra yarn bags right now.

I think I will pull in another chair and pull the yarn from each shelf off to that chair.  That way I can sit while working.  I am also taking Thursday off.  It is a well deserved break since I cleared 6 grocery bags of yarn that I pulled from my stash today.  I still have the bins to go through.  

Since I have gone through my stash multiple times in the past years, I urge you to go through your own stash’s.  If you are now no longer a beginner, your yarn tastes have changed.  Feel free to sell them or give them away.  I find it’s best to keep my stash to my current likes and abilities.  

I Lied

This morning I said I was only going to de stashing one carrier bag of yarn. Well I exceeded my goal by also adding a shopping bag.  It will all leave the house this week. If you would like a chance to buy some of my de stashed yarn please watch for the time and date of the next Old Pueblo Knitting Guild Annual Yarn Sale. It happens in January every year. The Yarn Sale helps us support our on going charity projects.  For more on the Old Pueblo Knitting Guild just click this link. 

I also had a major oops. I told John that I did not have any more of his 3D printed Yarn Butler's, that I desperately needed him to print me another one.  Well,

I found the original prototype for the yarn butler, it has a purple base, a red spindle and a white yarn guide. Also the bolts on the bottom are not covered. This was definitely the proof of concept and not ready for prime time yarn butler. It still works very nicely.

Now I am off to wind yarn, finish 2 projects on the spinning wheel, get a few more yarn magazines out of the house. I will be dropping them off at the Oro Valley Library, Friends of the Library section.  They sell for 25 cents and help buy new books and other things that all libraries need.  Check them out if you are in the area. I will also be starting a new charity project. It’s going to be a busy day around here. 

Getting Out

 I had to get out of the house today.  I was feeling blah for a few days and needed to rest.  So I was bored. I needed something different to do. I really wanted to start a new project today. Specifically a new pair of fingerless mittens for sleeping. However; between knitting, Tunisian crochet, and spinning I have at least 20 projects in different stages of progress. It also seems that when I organize my knitting room, I also find one or two projects that need to be completed or tinked. So the I have a never ending pile of UFO’s. Not to mention the couple of projects I am donating to a charity auction. The summer t shirts and unfinished class work.

My solution was to go to the grocery store. I was very nice and did leave a few pieces of fruit for the other shoppers. Even in season fresh figs.  Also on the plus side Sprouts does not carry any yarn or fiber supplies. 

Now I will go try to make some forward progress on a project or two. 

More Searching Through My Yarn Stash

 Over the weekend I was asked to knit a couple of shawls for a fundraiser by a friend.  So this morning I went through 4 out of 5ish shelves filled with yarn kitted up for shawls. I know I should really go through the rest of the shelves.  In my defense I have already filled a weekender bag full of shawl kits.  

I am also really afraid that I will find more than my 2 newly found UFO’s for me.  I was really thinking that I had whittled down my current batch of UFO’s to less then 10.  I really do not want to find more.  I swear UFO’s hide everywhere not wanting to be found. I wonder if the yarn just does not want to be seen in public.

I will start with some of the bulkier yarn as those shawls will go relatively quickly. Then I will work my way down to the lighter weight yarns. If I happen to make more than two for the fundraiser, so be it.

Now I have to go bring my squirrel cage back to the knitting room so I can skein up the first shawl.  

Below are the kits I pulled out for charity knitting projects.