November was an interesting month, stashwise. I actually made solid progress on stashbusting.
My accomplishments
- I finished several gift projects made from stash, including two projects for my friend’s new baby, two holiday gifts for my dad’s siblings, and a gift for my dad’s partner. I also made two little crochet sweater ornaments that will eventually become gifts, but I’m not sure who will be the recipients yet.
- I made a wool-eating scarf for charity.
- I returned an unwound skein of yarn I bought on a whim in October.
All told, this amounted to a destash of 2,382 yards of yarn, or the equivalent of 6.5 skeins of Red Heart Super Saver.
On the other hand…
Now, let’s pause for philosophical musings
I spent much of November working on projects for publication where I received yarn support (the yarn that a yarn company or publisher sends you for free when you are commissioned to design a pattern for them). I don’t consider yarn support to be part of “my stash” since I can’t use it freely for whatever I want, or give it away. Some times, the leftovers are even supposed to be returned to the company. If I considered it part of my stash, then I would have used up another 816 yards, but I also received more than 30 skeins of yarn support this month… Hopefully, you’ll agree with my theories on yarn support (because otherwise my stash is dangerously out of control!).
While you ponder this, feel free to download the two free patterns from yarn support projects I finished in November. (Click the photo to link to the pattern download.)
The Verdict
Assuming you agree with me, I used 1,962 yards more than I bought in this month, so I consider myself victorious over the stash.
December goals
During December, I don’t expect to get much done in terms of stashbusting since most of my crafting time will be focused on designs for future publication. But I would like to come up with stash goals for 2013, since I want to continue to reduce my stash.
How are your stashbusting efforts going?
For more Surmount the Stash updates, visit the Ravelry group here.