2013 Annual DeStash-Along

[Kookaloo_Starr]

A little more yarn used. My oldest son saw the green hat I made and decided he needed a new hat too 
Here it is. Just a basic beanie using dc/tc/hdc in a gorgeous charcoal grey merino/alpaca yarn. It feels lovely 

[ehinders]

I, too, have been adding to my stash the last two weeks. My finds weren't quite as great as fabric for $0.75/yd, but everything I've bought has been with a specific project in mind. Still.... Should probably quit going into the thrift stores every week, but it's so hard!  I've decided I am going to be posting pics of my horrid out of control stash in the basement in hopes of convincing myself to at least organize. 

[craftylittlemonkey]

*needs to make self a beard* lol!

I sent a box of supplies to another crafter a bit too soon, discovered another whole whack of stuff I should have included. Le sigh, it never ends.
Destashed the rest of the house though, 4 big boxes and 2 big bags of stuff ready to be donated to the thrift store and another couple of bags full of random books, supplies, kitchen stuff, etc that friends have claimed. My son's room is next, he's got SO MANY TOYS! Ugh.

I moved all the crafting supplies into a spare room and am bound and determined to get cracking on making it all into stuff. But here I am in town at the computer place so, ha, not doing so well with that so far. I'll head home this afternoon and get at it, I swear .

[silk81]

nisforneville, I love those dolls!

[cursive_queen]

I added a lot of fabric this month - but most of it is earmarked for something and in the process of being used.  I thought was was going to have extra of one - turns out, I didn't have enough.

This month has been crazy, but I'm hoping midway through February - can take a weekend to re-organize.

[ehinders]

Okay. In an effort to motivate myself, I am doing the unthinkable and posting pics of (some) of the stash in the location it is supposed to be all organized (eventually) the basement. Luckily, my basement already had wall to wall shelving on two sides and a peg board in the back, so I should be able to organize this. Here goes:







I wish I could say that's most of the stash, but sadly that's maybe half of it. The rest is spread throughout the house.

On the plus side, the pictures already motivated me to spend 15 minutes over lunch sorting and I already cleared one corner. Hooray! I plan to try and do this at least once a day for the same amount of time and see how far it gets me. Part of my problem in de-stashing is not even knowing what I have, so organizing this mess is top priority!

[dulcet]

ehinders--your photos remind me of the room all my craft stuff is in!  I've also got built-in shelves around a tiny basement window, and pegboard was already on the opposite wall.  Even lighting is similar--one flourescent office-type light and one exposed bulb!  Except it looks like yours isn't quite as dark.  And mine feels like a narrow hallway.  And what with my room also being the laundry and general storage, all my fabric and yarns are crammed into one side.  But it's better than nothing!  Good luck with the organizing!

[dulcet]

Here are a couple of the WIPs I have finished.

First is an amigurumi lion from one of Ana Paula Rimoli's books.  His name is Fredrick Douglas--the kids suggested it, and now I need to review my US history.  He'd been sitting in a bag without appendages for half a year.  He's happy to get out.



Next is a denim blanket.  I had accumulated a lot of cast-off jeans.  (Don't we all?)  I'd cut all of them up into 6" panels and 3" strips a couple months ago.  I'd assembled two blankets in Dec, and this one was sitting around waiting to be attached to it's backing (which happens to be double-knit fabric).





Now I only have enough of the 6" panels left for one more blanket.  But I really am not sure what to do with all the 3" strips.  The one thing that surprised me about these denim blankets is that they are NOT WARM!  The kids love them, but they're chilly when you first get under one.  Think of pulling on jeans first thing on a winter morning.  It takes a while for you body heat to warm them up.  So I don't really want to make another blanket.  And I have a ton of strips.  They're about as long as a pant-leg, or half one if there were worn knees in the jeans I ripped them from.  Any suggestions?  That aren't too time intensive and fiddley?

[trinalocakary]

Any suggestions?  That aren't too time intensive and fiddley?

First off if you want them warmer you could try sewing them to an inexpensive fleece blanket or even use pieces of fleece fabric to quilt a back panel, the fleece gives a sense of warmth while the denim gives the weight fleece misses

As for the strips of denim what about making some purses by cutting the strips into 3x8" and sewing them together and embroidering random patches?

that would also work for a floor pillow, make 2 quilt squares that are say 2.5' x 2.5' out of  random lengths of the 3" denim with a few randomly embroidered bits and sew them into pillows and stuff them (I use old bed pillows, pull them apart and stuff pillows, this gives me an excuse to have a nice new pillow on the bed which I love) they are great for lounging on the floor and the denim would be sturdy.

[Kookaloo_Starr]

Destashing some white mohair type yarn into this scarf for my sister birthday.
http://www.garnstudio.com/lang/us/pattern.php?id=3455&lang=us

Destashed 3/4 a skein into the bin as I went wrong somewhere and couldn't frog it  I'm left with just over two full skeins that I don't fancy using now and sis still hasn't got a b'day gift.