Ooooooh, It's Magic!

Aha – I have discovered magic loop – but by complete accident!! I’ve always been a bit scared of magic loop – I knew how it worked (in theory at least) but I’ve never tried it. To tell the truth it always seemed a bit – well – messy, really. As I understood it, there was a fair amount of pushing and sliding and fiddling about – give me DPNs any day!

But the other day I was attempting to knit a small tube on 2 circs (also something I’ve never tried before) and suddenly I realised that one of the circs was flapping helplessly, only held in place by a single wrap of yarn twisted around it while I – I was knitting round and around on one needle with a bit of it held either side of the working stitches and half the working stitches on each side of the loop – and you know what? It was easy! It wasn’t scary at all!!

And yes, there is some fiddling. And yes, there is some pulling and settling of stitches. And yes, I may not be doing it by the book (which I own but have never *blush* read), But it looked close as dammit to my understanding of magic loop – on an old style 80cm circ with the fairly inflexible cord but a smooth join! So I’m sailing on with my swap knitting, on magic loop. It’s much easier than knitting with 2 circs!

On a different note, some people have suggested that perhaps I have a, ahem, “little problem” with yarn. Well, you have to rely on your friends to tell you the truth! I just decided to organise the ancillary stash. This is the stash which lives in 6 plastic 55litre tubs in the junk room. This is not the stash which has taken over the walk in linen cupboard (making it un-walk-in-able). Nor is it the stash which lives in project bags, ready to go, in the back porch area. It is not even the stash which dwells in the downstairs cupboard (which is mainly – but not exclusively – sock yarn. To my certain knowledge there are - umm - around 4 jumpers worth of other yarns down there).

No, the ancillary stash is the more recently acquired, out-of-Accountant’s-sight stash. This is the stash which won’t fit where the other stashes live. This is also the stash which I hope the Accountant won’t necessarily notice as he virtually never goes into the junk room. (Mind you, I hoped that about the linen cupboard – it is not an area he is wont to frequent – unfortunately he had to make an emergency visit during the great gastric upset last winter – so he finally noticed what had been hiding in there. There’s much more these days).

So, I thought I could organise the tubs by yarn weight. That way, if I was suddenly struck by a bout of startitis, I could just grab the next favourite pattern and head for the appropriate tub.

I emptied out all the tubs, gasped at the amount of yarn, sorted it into piles (4ply, 8 ply/DK, Aran/Worsted, bulky, bits) and decided to count jumpers worth as I packed it up. This is adult jumpers, so we’re dealing with between 600 and 1600 grammes – or between around 1100 – 2000 (or in one case 2400) metres per lot.

I have enough yarn in the overflow stash for 47 adult jumpers.

I’ll just repeat that – 47 jumpers.

Now, I know that I also own around 8 or 9 jumpers worth (or jackets or cardigans – large items of clothing) which lives downstairs and is ready for me to cast on.

I also know that at least 25 jumper’s worth lives upatairs.

In addition, I have well over 100 skeins of sock yarn, patiently waiting for my attention.

In and around this, there are odd balls and skeins, in varying weights and sizes, bits and pieces, and a sizeable stash of lace weight.

So over the next few weeks, I am going to make a real effort to organise the stash. As I organise it, I am likely to find a proportion of yarn I have fallen out of love with. I am hoping to de-stash this yarn. Some will go to charity. Some will be presents. Some will be set aside for consideration. Some will be seeking new homes.

I don’t necessarily want less. I just want yarn I love.


NB – Quick note to Zephyrama. I entirely understand that by the Rules of Stash, I actually have only a little Bendigo wool, which was not purchased on sale, residing in my stash. I have referred to my – yarn collection – as stash, only for the purposes of illustration, not to suggest in any way, shape or form, that it is possible not only to have ‘stash’ – but ever to have ‘too much stash’. Thank you.