Going through the stash

I finally decided that it was time. It was time to go through and do a bit of organizing. Time to really see what I had.

It didn't take long!

I don't have the huge stash that a lot of people have. My stash fits into two small clear storage boxes that we bought from Home Depot to put our dishes into when we moved. Part of my problem is that most of the skeins were just kind of dumped placed in the boxes without any kind of thought or method. I had a lot of brown bags from the LYS with yarn inside, though I had no way of identifying the yarn without digging out the bag and then I had to try to remember what I bought that yarn for.

So last week I bought some Hefty Ziploc bags in the gallon size and took a pen and pad of paper into the craft closet with me. I have a lot of 1-3 skeiners, so the gallon bags were perfect. I began taking out yarn, bagging it, writing a short description of what was inside (including total yardage) and then if it was purchased for a specific project I wrote what it was and where I could find the pattern. I then had a moment of pure genius and made one clear box for yarn with a pattern in mind and the other for yarn that was free to be whatever it wanted to be.

I feel really good about my stash now. I now have a good grip on what I have and I think the best thing is that I know how much of each bundle of yarn I have. Easy calculating, hello! I culled quite a few skeins from the stash, which I'll be putting on eBay after I post this. Stuff left over from projects, yarn that I purchased without thinking and now know that I'll NEVER use. (Have any of that sitting around?)

Now, to show off my first pair of socks! These are Bryan's Valentine Socks and the best part is that they were actually finished before he got home on Feb 14th.
Details:
Yarn: KnitPicks Dancing
Needles: Size 3 US Clover dpns
Pattern: Come To Silver's Beginning Sock Class, online

The online tutorial was incredible, complete with multiple pictures at every stage. I don't know that I'd use this yarn again. It was difficult to work with because of the spandex content... Though I still have 2 more skeins of it and I have visions of the 3 of us with matching socks.

I made Bryan's Valentine's card this year, and I received 2 in return.
The middle card is Bryan's card from me. The card on the right is from my great friend in CA, Heather. We have kids born within a month of eachother so we are on the phone with eachother a lot! And the card on the left is from my Secret Pal! It actually arrived on Valentine's Day, talk about great planning!

I leave you with a picture. We had our first big snow here. 4 inches fell on Friday night and it has stuck with us! I took this on Saturday night as we were coming home from dinner. I love living where not everything is concrete and freeways.