I had the change to get to explore parts of Seattle this past weekend and wow, summer is everywhere. It was fun to check out Pike Place market because as a local it is not a “go to” spot especially when the cruise boats are in docked in Elliot Bay.
I hope I get out more often to enjoy the scenes and really absorb all the wonderful things about summer… it is also a reminder that my favorite season is just around the corner.
Normally we buy bins to have to contain the excess stash…. Or enclose the items that we have “added to cart” so it is noteworthy when things go the other way and space is being made in the bins.
In the last 2 weeks I have pulled 16 ounces(4 bags) from my plastic bins to spin up, its is not a ton of fiber but it is making space. A tiny fact I didn’t consider when I started spinning was how much more space fiber takes than yarn. I I can’t emphasis how much more cubic space it takes. There are challenges that people have called “Spin the bin” which measures the project by freeing up space. I myself have not participated in any of these challenges but this month for Tour de Fleece I am going to attempt to make a big dent in the fiber stash. To be b=honest I am not sure I can keep ups this pace but I need to try…. The ugly truth is that since I belong to a fiber club that I have 8 ounces of fiber coming in to my house every month so if I don’t spin more than that and I am buying my stash is accumulating at a steady rate.
So I have done some math I figure if I get 28 ounces of fiber spun up that will 12 bags of fiber which is a little more than a bin of space that I will get back and buy myself about 3 months of stash reduction, or at least delude myself for 3 months thinking that I don’t need to buy a bin.
On the topic of “stash management” it is not going great, but its not going horrible either…
I am reaching the home stretch on the sweater and it looks like I will be under by a little more than one skein…. I finished the 1st sleeve… while I am happy with it but want to waive in the ends and fix some part of the sweater before I move on to the next part. I think most people would want to finish the knitting portion, but I know myself and if I go straight to the knitting, I will procrastinate forever.. so since I am no longer in a race to the finish ( I missed the KAL deadline) I can take my time….. although this approach will slow down the effort to “stash bust” if I leave this as a work in progress.
So here goes nothing. There will be a major effort to make a dent in my stash courtesy of Tour De Fleece the annual spinning event that takes place along the Tour de France. I am five days in and I have to say things are really moving:
I plied a little more than 2.5 ounces SW merino.
I spun up the remaining 2 ounces of the Merino Cashmere Nylon.
I have spun up 6 ounces of SW merino
I don’t really have a goal other to get as much of it out of the bins as possible. So It will be interesting to see what happens.