Monday 30 August 2010

My yarn stash.

Encouraged by Beck's post of her own stash here I thought I'd take some photos of mine.  Rather suprised to discover I have more yarn than I realised... but then I need a storage solution that doesn't take up a lot of room and will let me see the range of colours and yarns I have:

So here's the jumble on my bookshelves, where the yarn is presently stored:
The wool on the top shelf with the cones is the gorgeous 100% wool I sent to Sarah over at Carried Family to dye for me.  Beautiful colours and I can't wait to make a start on various projects I have in mind - pjs for Rye, a shawl, hats, maybe some mits :-)  Very exciting.
A better view of the cones; the purple is 100% lambs wool, one of the first yarns I bought when I started crocheting again 2 or 3 years ago.  The rest of the cones, minus the green lace cotton and the cream, I found in charity shops.  The yarn is very very fine and not overly strong, so I've not done anything with these yet.
The box of jumbled up yarns - most of these have come from charity shops too.
Some of my more colourful stash.  The reddybrown yarn to the right is from a charity shop, the caramel colour from a carboot sale.  The other yarns were picked up in sales.  The soya cotton (the pinky red and oranges at the back) is sublime, crochets up really nice - a bit splitty on the hook, but the stitche definition is good.  Really love these cottons; in fact I'm starting to favour cotton over wool.
Bought from a mishmash of places:  the blue skeins are cotton and picked up for pennies from a charity shop - I believe the liacs in the bag are cotton too and again pennies.  The large ball at the back is Stylecraft blend of acrylic and wool.  It's a nice soft yarn that crochets up pretty well.  I have a ball in green from which a project I named "Gawd knows!!" is being worked from.   The project started off as a headhugger with "dreads" but I realised it didn't really work but I was loathe to frog so I kept going.  It's now a very decorative piece of work - and is becoming very poncho like.  I imagine I will probably frog the piece once it's finished as it's become my "try out new stitches", presently I'm playing with the bullion stitch, which I like a lot.
Organic Sublime 100% aran yarn.  Beautiful.  Picked this up from a sale at Get Knitted, I think there's still yarn on sale there.  I'm resolutely keeping away otherwise I'll end up buying more- probably not this, because while I like the shades - just a tad too girly.. but the price was just too good not to buy some.  I wouldn't mind more of the soya cotton though.
Gosh, I love these balls so much.  This is the yarn Sarah dyed for me.  Isn't it gorgeous.  I love, love the rainbow and purple and orange.  The greens I'll use to make pjs for Rye.  The purples I have plans for a shawl - although we'll see, I am also thinking this lovely, soft, and thick wool will make gorgeous slippers.

And then there's my project bag:
The bright red project at the top is a gnome hat.  A friend asked me to crochet 3 adult sized ones.  She is a youth worker and the kids she works with are putting on a play; an adaption of something like West Side Story but told from a Gnome's point of view.  Hehehehe.  Doesn't it sound fabulous!
And the contents of the bag.  A ringlet that is going to be a flower circlet for my mindee's birthday.  The "Gawd Knows!" project at the back.  Flowers for the circlet and a larger (blue and white) flower - I have a blue gypsy skirt that I've had years, which I love.  It is now in a very sorry state; stained, ripped; the lining all but gone... so I'm having a go at using the remaining fabric as the lining for a new skirt made from crocheting flowers, leaves etc.  I was inspired by a lady on Ravellry who produces the most beautiful dresses and skirts using lace crochet and irish lace crochet techniques.

And there in red.. the first gnome hat.

So there you go, my yarn stash.  I do desperately need a storage solution.  I do have a large seagrass ottoman, which presently, is used to store Rye's clothes.  Maybe I'll have a look around for chest of drawers for him and then I can procur the ottoman :-)

9 comments:

arwen_tiw said...

Looovely! And I'm so proud of the dying, I love to see all the bright skeins and balls lined up in such pretty colours. I suppose this means I'd better take pictures of my stash now lol - eek, not sure I dare admit to it all (though really it is comparatively small I DOUBT hubby will see it that way)!!

Becks said...

Hey, fantastic stash. And love that you have "sentimental" yarns too. Can I ask how, or even if, it's possible to crochet with those furry type yarns? I have a few balls of eyelash type yarns which I've had for a few years but no idea what to do with it. And knitted furry scarves are not my thing ;-)

Pippa said...

What gorgeous colours and textures!

Joxy34 said...

With great difficulty, Becks.

I find the easiest way is to use a mesh stitch pattern as you're then crocheting into the spaces of the mesh rather than trying to find stitches, and even then it still needs to be done by touch, as it's impossible to see the actual stitches.

The bumpy blue and purple yarn I inititally bought for some cushion covers but alas, I'd almost finished one side when it started to unravel half way through because I'd not caught the bottom stitches properly, which was frustrating to say the least - especially as such yarns are not easy to frog at all.

I think such yarns are only any good for mesh projects, or for using small amounts decoratively - these days I'll use them for flower centres or to give the illusion of feathers on little crochet birds, that type of thing.

Hehe, I have some more yarn coming, Sarah, but that is part of someone else's stash, she's had a clear out and has a lot for me, acyrlic mostly I think - but it will be handy for playfood and the like.

Eoforhild said...

Such beautiful colours.

Laura Slowe said...

I still have that box here for you, sorry it's all acrylic though...I hate not having a car or you'd have it by now :( Lovely stash though, i am quite jealous :D

nocton4 said...

lovely, wow what a stash .. mmm not sure I'm brave enough to photo mine lol
great colours from Sarah .. look forward to seeinf what you make with it x

Joxy34 said...

Ohhh, no need to apologise, acrylic yarns are very useful and great for crocheting playfood etc, and also blankets that will need washing frequently!

Have to see what Lou is working; with any luck I'll be able to make the moot this month, maybe be able to pick it up then :-)

If not, while I'm on leave, I can pop over with the shopping trolley :-) I've been meaning to come over anyway to check out the yarn shops ;-)

And I do want to take Rye to the museum.

Dawn said...

Oh, no not another one photographing their stash! Lovely xx