Operation: Yarn Organization

Today I decided it was time to organize my stash. It was not terrible, but it was not great either. Basically, most of the yarn was in various Ziploc bags and well protected, and that was about it.

So, I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to get some organizing cubes and went to work. Here is what I started with:

And here is what I ended up with:

I still have some work to do. I just threw all of the yarn in random cubes, except for the sock yarn. Sock yarn is all in the upper right-hand corner. Mom's feet had better watch out!

On my to-do list for Operation: Yarn Organization is to sort the rest of the yarn in the bins in some fashion. I just haven't decided if I will sort by weight, or fiber, or color, or what. We'll see what strikes me.

Another task is to get a binder to sort my patterns that are not in books. I have only a very few knitting books, but I print patterns from the internet all the time and they are in no particular order.

While doing this project today, I did do one very good thing. I started an Excel spreadsheet for my stash. All pertinent details of my yarn stash are listed. This will really help me when I am trying to decide what I want to do, and also if I decide to sell some of my stash at some point. Eventually I want to add my needle info here as well, but I ran out of time and energy. One interesting fact though...I have the equivalent of over 13 miles worth of yarn. Eek! That's a lot of yarn. Spreadsheets are both a blessing and a curse sometimes...

Now, on to the FO report. Here is a picture of DH's completed Uniscarfity:

I am very happy with how it turned out, though I do think it should have been a little longer. But DH thinks it is just fabulous. I hope to finish his second glove this week, but no promises!

As for the WIP list, here is the update. Aside from a few items that will be tough to frog, I frogged several WIPs that were not working for me or that had been in "time out" for quite some time. I now only have WIPs that I actually intend to finish, and I will frog the remaining things when I have a free evening and when my brain isn't fried from all the yarn play. Here is my current list of WIPs:

• Shapely Tank - a little over half complete
• Short pink socks - 75% complete
• Cardigan for Arwen - Less that 5% complete, and very possibly going to be frogged to work on it in a different manner (different hem line)
• Mystery Stole 3 - About 40% complete. I need to get busy if I want this for Grandma's b-day! Probably not going to happen, if I am honest about it.
• DH's Fingerless Gloves - About 75% complete, should be done soon.

The good thing here is that I put each of the WIPs in it's own Ziploc and they are fairly ready to grab-n-go. I need to print a few patterns to put in the Ziplocs though, since a few of these have been worked on while looking at the patterns on the computer.

In addition to a nice and neat list of WIPs, now I have the materials and the organization to plot out my future projects. For example, the jacket for Bugs that was a WIP wasn't working. The yarn was not thick enough and the jacket (though nearly complete) was too small for her. I greatly underestimated her size. She is long and skinny, and the arms alone were at least an inch too short. Now I have the same yarn neatly wound into center-pull skeins and ready to use doubled up, or I may use some pink yarn that she will like even more I think.

Well, I feel like I make progress. My yarn is neat, my major chores and errands got done today, and I am ready to relax. You didn't think I just did yarn stuff today, did you??? Heck no! I also did the following:

• Mervyn's - Returned some slacks that I didn't love (Mom is probably so proud to read this. I am notorious for buying, not liking, and never returning. See, I'm growing up!)
• Bath & Body Works - Hand soap and lotion. They had a sale, and we needed soap. DH likes the foaming hand soap at the sink, and I like when he uses that as opposed to dish soap to wash his hands. The lotion was free with a coupon.
• Ulta - Shampoo, hair spray, mousse, makeup, face wash. All on the list. But they were out of hair color, like always, and I was irritated, like always.
• JoAnn Fabrics - Tiny crochet hook that turns out not to be small enough to use for adding beads to the Mystery Stole. I will either have to deal with my current method or order one.
• Grocery Store - Needed some food

I can't believe it's already Sunday night... I am really not ready to work tomorrow. Oh well. At least I have things to look forward to. In less that 2 weeks, mom and I go to the fair and the water park like we do each year and I'm totally excited. Fried food on a stick, here we come!