698 To Go!

Or thereabouts.

Someone asked me how many skeins I have left in my stash after removing 220.  I'm using Ravelry, and don't actually mark off yarn that I've used on an unfinished project, so their spreadsheet shows 705 skeins left in my stash, but I know that at least 7 of those have been used up, so I'm under 700 skeins.  If I use them up at the 2008 speed, I'd be totally without yarn in about 6 years--in the strictly hypothetical sense, of course, because if I ever got down to having enough yarn to fit in ONE tub, I'd be buying up yarn so quickly that my credit card numbers would probably melt completely off my little card.  So getting down to no yarn is just completely out of the question.  BUT, if I continue Cold Sheeping until the end of 2011, I could be down to under 600 skeins, which sounds like a nice number.  Maybe that will be my stopping point?  I admit, 500 is a nice number as well--heck, I have nothing against 100 to be honest--I just don't think I can get there......

Comments

RobinH said…
500 might work, but I think before you hit 100 you'd be finding that you didn't have the yarn you wanted to knit the particular project you had in mind.

At the risk of asking an awkward question, I notice that a few times you've started something and mentioned that the yarn you were using hadn't made it onto Ravelry. Any idea how much fits into that category, or have you mostly got it all in by now.
July 15, 2010 at 5:42 AM
Gaidig said…
I think that when you stop should depend on some other factors as well.

For example, how has cold sheeping impacted the way you approach buying yarn? If you think you will be more measured in the future, then you can stop earlier than if you think buying any yarn will open the flood gates.

Another thing you may contemplate is figuring out how many balls of each weight of yarn you have and allow yourself to start buying in a particular category when you have less than a certain amount. That is to say, for example, you would be allowed to buy more lace weight when you had less than ten balls of lace weight in your stash.

Another way to approach gradually going back to buying yarn would be to set a ratio of stash used to yarn bought. For example, you could buy one project's worth of yarn for every 5 projects you completed from stash.

It is my understanding that you want to be able to buy yarn for some things, but still work down the size of your stash. I think there are a number of approaches you could use to accomplish that.
July 15, 2010 at 11:31 AM
Janet said…
I think Gaidig has something, purchase a certain amount for a special project you wish to do, after you have finished a certain number of projects! Sounds like it might work. Although, myself, since I always order a full bag of 10 skeins for sweaters/vests, etc... because I never know just how much I really am going to need for the project.
July 16, 2010 at 1:13 PM
Anonymous said…
I wouldn't even dare add up my stash but I find great comfort in knowing it's not as far as yours. ;-) But really, can one ever have too much yarn? After all, I do want to leave something for my children to inherit. (hahaha!)
July 17, 2010 at 11:26 AM
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