Fabric Stash

Since I had such success with my wool stash busting I thought it might be a good idea to have a look at my fabric stash too.  I pulled everything off the shelves the other day to check out.

I have not got anywhere near the fabric stash that some people in blogland do.  I have never been one to just buy fabric without a project in mind.  I am always to scared I won't buy enough so I just don't bother.

Pulling all the fabric out made me realise that I mostly have a lot of pinks and neutrals.  It has made me realise I need to branch out a bit with my colour choosing.  There are other colours I like but for some reason when I pick fabric for projects I am always drawn to pinks or neutrals.

So if you add to these piles of fabric some red spotted fabric that I am working with at the moment and some red plaid fabric that is sitting on my desk waiting to be sewn up I have 26 pieces of fabric that need to be made into something.

I already have a project planned for the white and red cherry fabric.  It is actually sitting on my table with the pattern pieces waiting to be cut out.  I also have the red dot fabric I mentioned earlier already part way sewn into a dress and I have a top cut out of plaid fabric waiting to be sewn up as well.

So I think I will aim to sew up a quarter of the fabric like I did with the wool.  That means I need to use 7 pieces of fabric before I buy anymore.  A quarter worked well for the wool and I managed to do it quite quickly too.  Hopefully I will be able to say the same for my fabric stash shortly.  I am still working on my wool stash too.  Now I am allowing myself to alternate between doing a project with new wool and doing a project with stash wool.  Hopefully I will start to get rid of some of the old wool that is in my stash and some of the old fabric now too.

Beary Cute Beanie

Now that I am allowing myself to buy yarn again for new projects I wanted to make sure I was still using up some of my stash yarn as well.  So, I have decided that every time I make a project from new yarn I have to make a project from stash yarn as well.  This is what I made after making my wedding bolero.

Pattern: Osito Infant Bear Hat
Yarn: mystery 8 ply from my stash
Hook: 4mm (G)
Start/End Date: 28th September/2nd October

This was the quickest beanie to crochet and it turned out super cute.  I crocheted the beanie in one sitting then left it hanging about for a few days before I did the ears.  If I did it all in one hit it probably only would have taken a few hours.  All the babies in the family are probably going to be too big to wear this when winter rolls around again so it has found its way into the gift box.  Hopefully someone has a little baby around winter that I can gift it to.  I was thinking if someone has a girl I can add a little bow near one of the ears to make it into a girl bear.

Cheshire Cat Blanket

A little more stash busting has been taking place at my house this week.  I have managed to use up a few more balls of wool on this darling little hooded blanket.

Pattern: Hoodie Baby Blanket by The Thrifty Knitter

Yarn: Marvel 8 ply

Needle: 5mm straights

Start/End Date: September 4th/September 15th

I love the stripes! They remind me of the cheshire cat hence the name. Can't you just imagine how cute it would look with a newborn all swaddled up inside.  But apparently Corey's family can only birth boys.  Out of 13 kids in Corey's family there are only 4 girls.   Those are not good odds!  So into the gift box this blanket will go until someone has a little girl that it can be gifted to.

I blocked the crap out of this blanket but for some reason the hood still rolls.  I didn't do any edging cause I ran out of yarn and I didn't want to buy anymore.  That would just defeat the purpose of stash busting!  So I have decided to let it go and embrace the imperfection.  I think it's cute with or without the rolling!  This was a bit of a mindless knit being basically a stockinette square so I think I might need to make something a little bit more interesting for my next project.  Stockinette is a bit boring after a while!

Yarn Mountain

Last night I thought it would be a good idea to pull out my yarn stash so I could work out exactly what yarns I had and what I could use them for. I have so many bits and pieces for yarn leftover from projects that need little projects to use them up but I always forget what I have so I sat down a wrote a list.

Here is a quick picture I took this morning. Most of the yarn is buried under the other yarns so here is a quick rundown of what I have:

Super Bulky Yarns:

• 1 x Moda Vera Shiver - grey
• 4 1 x Moda Vera Shiver - purple
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Shiver - cream

Bulky Yarns:

• 1 x Patons Soft Haze - pink
• 1x Patons Soft Haze - light grey
• 1 x Cleckheaton Country Wide - mustard (used here)
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Mousse - cream
• 1/2 x Moda Vera Mousse - grey

8ply Yarns:

• 7 4 3 x Holiday 8 ply - navy blue (3 used here, 1 used here)
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - grey
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - blue grey
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - light pink used here
• 1 x Marvel Wool 8 ply - russet
• 1/2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - cream
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - yellow Used here
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - orange
• 2 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - dark pink used here
• 1 x Marvel Basics 8 ply - light blue
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - green
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - black
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - brown used here
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - cream
• 1 x mystery 8 ply - yellow
• 1.5 1 x Carnival Soft 8 8ly - coral (used here)
• 1 x Carnival Soft 8 ply - grey

5ply Yarns:

• 1.5 x Spotlight Basics Merino Wool - red

4ply Yarns:

• 2 x Knit n Save 4 ply - light blue
• 1 x Knit n Save 4 ply - white
• 1 x Knit n Save 4 ply - yellow
• 1 x Bella Baby 4 ply - cream

Random Yarn:

• 1 x metallic gold yarn

Now that is a lot of yarn! So what I need now are some projects to use up the yarn. I am working on a project at the moment with the Holiday 8 ply but it is probably only going to use up 2 more balls which still leaves me with 3. I think it's time to do some searching through Ravelry! If you have any ideas for how I can use up this stash yarn please feel free to share!!!