Destash for Charity

I’ve decided that this month I’m going to “destash for charity”. Ok, so the month is half over, but my yarn stash is nowhere near as big as it once was. So my March destash plans are entirely achievable. (No, that’s not my stash in the picture below – I’m not that austere!)

In the past my yarn stash contained a lot of hastily purchased sale yarn which I’d never had a real plan for. With the exception of two bags of chartreuse Cleckheaton Totem that I love, my impulse buys have not ended well.

I got rid of my bad purchases just over a year ago when we moved to Gordon. This was much easier than expected because I’d already accepted that I wasn’t going to use the yarn. So it went off to the op-shop. From there it may have gone to live in someone else’s stash – such is the circle of (yarn) life.

This month’s destash is different. I’m focusing on deliberately purchased yarn that didn’t quite work out for what I’d planned. A good example of this is my beautiful skein of Madeline Tosh yarn in a black and purple mix. I really don’t like purple, but I wanted to make a hat for someone who did and I thought it would be perfect.

It wasn’t perfect – the black colour pooled in a very unattractive way and I found a different yarn to use for the hat. I was left with a skein of perfectly good yarn that just didn’t work for the project I bought it for -and wasn’t in a colour I’d want to wear myself.

I’ve got quite a few skeins like this – perfectly nice yarn that didn’t work for the project I planned – and now they just sit in my stash feeling unloved.

The first stage of “destash for charity” is to identify these skeins and put them aside. Also, while I’m at it, I’ll look for any more impulse buys that could do with a trip to the op-shop.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you the plans for this yarn – and no, it doesn’t involve sticking it in a bag and sending it to Salvos. I does involve some very satisfying knitting projects though.

If you want to destash with me, dive into your stash and see what you can find. Look for “yuk, I’m never using that” yarn to send to the op-shop, and “you’re a lovely little skein but I’ll never use you” yarn as well.

Tomorrow I’ll tell you what I have planned.