Conquering the Yarn Mountain Summit

Dear community,
since the yarn stash reduction doesn’t work in the long run—you always end up buying more anyway—I thought we’d change our approach and conquer the yarn mountain / fabric mountain and plant a flag on the summit. 

How much yarn stash / fabric stash do you currently have? Do you want to reduce it, or do you need to stock up?
You’re welcome to upload your own photos here in the thread. 
Have fun.

Dear Josefa, 

I don’t have a “wool mountain” anymore, since I’ve switched over to fabrics. But fabrics can pile up without you even noticing, too. A little bit of fabric here, a little bit there—you can’t just throw it away. Lately, people have been giving me cast-off clothes because you can sew something new out of them.
Everything is still stowed away somehow, but I’m not entirely satisfied. It’s easier to organize and store yarn than fabric. In any case, I’d like to get things in order there in the new year. After all, you discover treasures when you’re tidying up... 

Best regards, Ina

Well, yeah… So I’ve sorted the yarn from the Advent calendar, and together with the leftover scraps I already had, it’s turned into a medium-sized yarn pile. I’ll try to work through it over the course of the year—we’ll see how that goes.

When it comes to yarn, I only ever have little mounds :-) ;-) With fabric, it’s a bit different :-) But I keep working through it, and the more scraps I use up, the more end up in the box ;-) :-)) Somehow it keeps multiplying there.

Best, Inge

It might be about 40–50 kilos—hard to estimate… but MOST of it is in individual skeins…
which is why I’ve been making mostly smaller items lately.
 

Even after I’ve done a thorough sort-through, there’s still an astonishing amount left 🙈. So here’s the plan (since there’s still plenty of that, too): Finish up UFOs and WIPs and thereby reduce the mountain. After all, I managed to finish quite a few things last year, so I’ll just keep going with that. For example, turning leftover yarn from a blanket into a slipover. 

What are you knitting with all those scraps?

I’ve already made little shopping cart token socks out of sock scraps. And there are really simple mini bears you can make out of any material. The little bears are perfect as gifts for the “Christmas in a Shoebox” campaign, for example. My friend once crocheted two large blankets for the kids using lots of leftover skeins of yarn in multiple colors—totally colorful and with a very thick hook. However, I don’t have many very small scraps. You can also make mini scarves like these from just two balls of yarn. I’ve made some for myself in several colors, though I used cotton blends because I don’t really like pure wool against my neck. 

I really don’t like knitting small items—I prefer to collect yarn first. And once I’ve gathered enough, I always do a “best of leftovers” project.

With different yarn weights, you can easily knit with two strands; somehow it always works out. 

For example, I’m doing something like this
 

Oh yes, my mountain is also made up of fabric that ended up at my place after my sister cleared things out. They’re such beautiful fabrics, and there are also quite a few smaller scraps.

Since I can’t bring myself to throw things like that away, I’ve been sewing for cancer patients here and there over the past year.
In the end, I made 24 hats, 15 port cushions (pads for the seatbelt), 11 heart-shaped cushions for pressure relief after breast surgery, and 9 small drainage bags.
Just before Christmas, I had a big box full and sent it on its way.




I had to buy new stuffing and soft jersey for the hat linings, so unfortunately the mountain of fabric hasn’t shrunk as much as I’d hoped.

I also made a few small gifts here and there... the pigs are stuffed with fabric scraps, too.



But projects like these hardly use any material, and the closets are still way too full.

I’ve got my yarn stash well under control right now.

@ Lotta-Nici: For some reason, I just can’t muster the patience for these little fiddly projects :-)

At our knitting group, one of the ladies makes these cute little animals—I admire her talent, but unfortunately I don’t have it myself...

These are actually just knitted tubes that get their texture from different yarns. Finally, I use short seams with just a few stitches to mark the legs, arms, and, if needed, the ears. If by “little animals” you mean amigurumi—which are usually crocheted—I only make those when, for example, a specific part is needed for a bookmark. I think amigurumi are cute, but way too time-consuming.