Earlier this week we began the process of organizing our yarn stash by first going through it and pulling out the yarn we no longer want. Most of your unwanted yarn probably ended up in the giveaway pile, rather than the trash. Here’s a list of ideas of how and where to get rid of destashed yarn.

Sell It

• One reason it might be hard to get of yarn we know we’ll never use is because we might have paid a lot of money for it. It’s easier to get rid of this kind of yarn if you can sell it and get some of that money back (to buy more yarn of course!). Try selling your yarn online at places like ebay, yarnfind.com, Ravelry, and Etsy.
• To keep things simple, you can also sell it in a garage or yard sale, though you probably won’t be able to get as much money for it.

Trade It

• One of my favorite ways to get rid of yarn is by having a yarn swap with some fiber friends. It’s a lot of fun going through other people’s unwanted yarn finding your next treasure. Later this month, some of the WEBS employees will be getting together for an evening of yarn-swapping fun.
• In addition to being able to sell your yarn on Ravelry, you can trade your yarn with someone else on Ravelry too.

Give It Away

• If you’re tired of your unwanted yarn taking up space or need to get rid of it fast for fear of it creeping back into your stash, drop it off at a nearby thrift store like Goodwill, post it on Freecycle, or leave it in a box at the end of your driveway with a FREE sign on the box.
• Donate your yarn to a worthy cause or charity. There are a ton of knitting and crochet charities out there that accept yarn donations.
• Give the yarn to someone you know who wants to learn to knit or crochet. Bonus points if you help teach them!
• Give it to another knitter or crocheter. Bring the yarn to your next knitting group. Or ask a friend or family member if they want first dibs on the yarn you’re getting rid of.
• Find somewhere locally that could use your yarn like a school, art department, knitting club, or nursing home.

Keep It

• Yes, that’s right. I just told you to keep yarn I told you to get rid of. I like to keep a little yarn in a basket to use for testing new stitch patterns and trying out new techniques. I also use this same yarn when someone comes over and wants me to teach them how to knit.
• If you were getting rid of yarn just because you hate the color, consider over-dyeing it. You can make an ugly duckling into something you love. If you’ve never dyed yarn before it’s a lot of fun. Check out Gail Callahan’s Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece book.

When you need to find a new home for yarn, what do you do with it? Do you have a favorite person or charity you like to give yarn to?

- Dena

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Guest: Kathy and our Berroco Rep., Andra Asars, discuss the New Spring yarns from Berroco.

Fuji -  worsted silk/cotton blend, almost a tweed or marled effect due to the fibers taking the dye differently

Maya(Andra’s current yarn crush!) – a chainette construction pima cotton/baby alpaca blend  soft and machine washable with beautiful drape

Karma – bulky cotton in a fish net construction, like the ruffle yarns, but meant to be knit as a classic yarn.

Two additions to existing yarn lines: Captiva Metallic and Weekend DK. All the new, spring yarns are machine washable

 The cover sweater, Niche, from Norah Gaughan Collection Vol. 12 is knit in Maya.

There are 56 new designs for Spring!
Pattern Booklets: 332 – Floret, 331 – Maya, 330 – Karma, 329 – Lago, Seduce & Captiva Metallic, 328 – Weekend Stripes, 327 –  Fuji

Additional patterns are published throughout the season and can be found in Knitbits.

Steve’s Yarn Picks

• Art Yarns Silk Essence
• Cascade Cash Vero Closeout
• Cash Vero DK Closeout
• Cascade 220 Quatro Closeout
• Stylecraft Life Dk Closeout
• Stylecraft Life Chunky Closeout
• SMC Highland Alpaca Fino Closeout
• SMC Alpaka Closeout

This week, the staff at WEBS is giving us some great ideas of what we can do with our leftover yarn!

(Left) I like to use leftover yarn as decoration at the bottom of a vase or mason jar. I filled this one with little pom poms made from scrap yarn and use it to keep my crochet hooks on display. > Mary K.

(Right) Adrian at Hello Yarn just published a beautiful mitten pattern that is BEYOND perfect for using up scraps of worsted weight yarns – which I happen to have tons of! The Hickory Mittens are gorgeous in just about any color combination you can think of and I’m already done with one, I’ll have a pair by the weekend and it is ALL STASH YARN! Cascade 220 and Northampton. > Sara D.

(Left) I have a basket full of random single skeins of yarn, and I want to get in the habit of doing a little creative knitting every day. So, every day this year, I’m knitting a small rectangle from my scrap basket and piecing them together on random weekends. By the end of the year, I’ll have a blanket! I’m taking a picture of the square I’ve knit each day and posting it to http://annualblanket.tumblr.com/ if you want to follow along. > Kirsten H.

(Right) I use some of my leftover yarn from bigger projects to give these crocheted hemp (or linen) bowls a decorative splash of color at the top. > Amy S.

(Left) Leftovers are perfect to use for tiny projects like toys and even for the stuffing inside them! > Grace H.

(Right) Yarn dolls use very little leftover yarn and are a perfect project to do with the kids. > Kristin L.

(Left) I love making felted slippers with my leftover feltable yarn like Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride and Valley Yarns Northampton. Since you hold together two strands of yarn for the Fiber Trends Clogs, you can get some fun results. > Dena C.

(Right) These furniture feet are a great way to protect your floors and add some design to a room. They use very little yarn but have a big impact. > Grace H.

Sorry to have missed posting an organizing task yesterday. Between digging myself out of what looked like a yarn stash explosion (I was right, it does look worse before it gets better) and dealing with a persnickety computer glitch, the hours slipped away from me.

Now that we’re done weeding out the yarn we no longer want, today’s task is to update our yarn database and notes about our stash. But maybe you don’t have anything set up to keep track of your yarn. Here are a few things to help you decide if tracking your yarn stash is something you want to do.

WHY TRACK YOUR STASH? – A lot of us have some sort of record of what is in our stash, but if you don’t, why is it useful to keep track of your stash?

• After your stash has grown beyond a certain amount, you might not be able to remember what you have. Write it down and you don’t have try to keep it in your brain anymore. There’s no way I can remember every color of Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool that I have. It’s so much easier to look a my list than it is pulling it off the shelf and checking all the labels.
• Especially if you keep an electronic database of your stash, it’s easier to sort and search through your yarns to find out what you have. See below how I can easily sort by color on Ravelry.
• Check your list while you’re shopping and you’re more likely to buy what you need and not find out later that you already have something similar.

If you do use electronic tracking of your stash, I would recommend occasionally backing up this information somewhere. Last year I lost 3 years of my exercise log because of a couple of poorly-timed electrical storms. It was really time consuming to recreate. If you use Ravelry, it takes just a moment to download an Excel spreadsheet of your stash. Click on the little green Excel icon in the top right of your stash page. Bam, you’ve got a backup copy now.

Do you keep track of your stash? What keeps you from not tracking your stash or from keeping your tracking up to date?

Today is Day 8 in the 31 Days to Get Organized series, and we have a great tip for you! On Day 2, you went through your WIPs to see which projects were worth keeping, and which needed to be frogged.

Once you decide which projects to frog, you have to get that yarn back into shape so you can work with it again. A lot of my WIPs have been sitting for months and even years. After I frog a project, the yarn is left crimped and crinkled from being knit up for so long.

To get your yarn back into shape, you first need to get the yarn back into a hank. You can wind the yarn straight from your project onto your swift. You can make a hank by using the back of a chair or a niddy noddy too. Tie off segments of your hank to keep it all together using a bow or a loose knot so you can get it untied easily later.

Next you want to give your yarn a good soak. Make sure it’s fully saturated and the water reaches all the nooks and crannies. Get all the excess water out by rolling it gently up in a towel, then just hang your yarn to dry! It will drip, so keeping it set up in the bathroom or outside is your best bet.

Once the yarn is dry, you can put it back on the swift, wind it into a ball and you’re good to go!

Before storing, if you know the identity of the yarn, label it with some essential info like fiber content, weight, and yardage. If you know it’s a partial skein, weigh it on your kitchen scale and write down the weight so you know later how many yards you have left.

It’s so satisfying to bring old yarn back to life. Do you have an old WIP knit or crocheted in a yarn you would love to make into something else?

Thanks for sharing the photos of your piles of yarn yesterday. I hope if you didn’t post it publicly, you still took a photo of your stash. This is Day 7 (one full week!) of 31 Days to Get Organized. Today we’re yarn destashing. A yarn purge. Yarn decluttering, whatever you want to call it. Essentially, we’re trying to get rid of the yarn we don’t love or won’t use.

Getting rid of yarn can be a hard task for many, especially if you paid good money for the yarn, or if someone you care about gave the yarn to you as a gift. But our time is too short and our spaces are too precious to have them filled with yarn and things that aren’t useful to us. So grab some containers for your big sort. With my recent move, I’ve already tossed anything that is useless to most. I’ve also given away a lot of yarn too. Whenever I get rid of yarn, I pause and think “Am I going to miss it?” 99% of the time, I never think about the yarn again. And all the recipients of the the “free” yarn totally make up for the 1% I kind of wish I had back.

So back to the piles you’re going to make.

Keep It! – If you like the yarn, if you plan to use the yarn, even if it just brings back a happy memory, sort the yarn into your keep pile. Most of the yarn in my stash I intend to knit, crochet, or weave someday. (I’ll be around until I’m 97, so I have some time.) But I have yarn in my stash I have no intensions of ever using. It’s keepsake yarn for one reason or another. I’m ok with this. I keep this yarn out in the open in a bowl, on top of the shelf of my craft books. I look at the yarn frequently. This makes me happy, so I’m keeping it.

Find A Better Home – Then there’s the yarn we don’t like anymore, or don’t have any use for. There are SO many other places where this yarn could be used. On Wednesday, I’ll be posting lots of ideas for new homes for wayward yarns, places to sell yarns, and places to give them away. Stay tuned.

Just Throw It Away – Sometimes there’s just no hope for a yarn. Maybe you tried making something; it became hideous; and the yarn fused to itself. You really can’t rip it out now. NOBODY is going to want it. So just chuck it in the garbage. Have a few yards left from a project? Toss it too. On Friday, we’ll post some ideas of what you can do with your leftover yarn. But sometimes, it’s best if it just goes in the trash can. You make the call. Some of you can’t bear to throw out a scrap. Who knows, maybe someday you could use it for a knitted toy or some crochet amigurumi. But if you don’t have the patience for saving bits of yarn, toss it.

A yarn destashing can take a little bit of time. There’s a lot of decisions to be made. Have you ever noticed that it’s not the organizing that takes so much time, but all of the decisions you have to make?

Tomorrow we’ll have a tutorial on how to recycle yarn from a project you’ve ripped out so you can add it back to your yarn stash. This gives you an extra day to possibly spend on destashing. Take the time you need. The rest of the organizing posts will be waiting for you when you’re ready.

Happy destashing!

- Dena

Today is Day 6 in the 31 Days to Get Organized series. As you can see, we’re going to dive into our yarn stashes. I know a lot of you have been looking forward to tackling your yarn stash. Today’s task is a simple one. I want you to collect all of your yarn and take a quick picture. There’s a few reasons why we’re starting with this task.

It’s hard to organize what you can’t see – It’s going to be much easier to come up with a way to sort your yarn if you can actually see what you have.

Finding the hidden yarn – Once you start pulling out your yarn in the open, the act of gathering it may jog your memory of other places you’ve been hiding storing yarn.

A picture is worth a thousand words – Seeing your entire stash in front of you may make you look at it in a different way. You might be thinking you’d like to start trying some new colors beyond your usual. Or you may have more or less yarn than you actually do.

A yarn time capsule – I photograph my entire stash every so often. It’s fun to have a snapshot frozen in time and to look back at what my yarn stash used to look like.

Yarn as inspiration – As you pull out the yarn, seeing it and feeling it may inspire you to start working on a project you forgot about. Or if you’ve been in a knitting and crocheting funk lately, you might get the urge to start playing with your yarn again.

As you create your wonderful pile of yarn, pay attention to what yarns you get excited about seeing again and what yarns you’re less than thrilled about having around still. If you do not already have a way of sorting your yarn that’s been working for you, start thinking about how you may want to organized your stash (by color, weight, fiber, project).

I would suggest piling your stash somewhere you can leave it for a couple of days. We’ll be working on purging, sorting, and storing our yarn stashes this week. And yes, pulling everything out into the open, it’s going to look worse before it gets better.

Feel free to post your photo of your stash in the comments, on our Facebook wall, or our Ravelry page. It’s fun to see everyone joining along.

- Dena

This week, the staff at WEBS is buzzing about doggie sweaters, Halloween treats and more!

Little Penny Sweater from Doggie Knits by Corinne Niessner; modeled by Juke the Miniature Pinscher – Let me just say up front that I am not the most experienced knitter here at WEBS but this was a quick knit even for me. Super easy pattern to follow and the ribbing even stretches over Juke’s harness to keep him warm on walks. The pattern called for worsted weight yarn but as Juke has little fur and gets cold easily, I wanted a bulky sweater and this pattern adapted beautifully. Just knit a sample swatch ahead of time! I wanted something machine washable so I went with Berroco Comfort Chunky due to the ease in care. I had a bit of difficulty with the yarn splitting due to so many plies. And knitting in the dark was out of the question since I had to keep an eye on what I was doing. It was also my first time working with yarn that I could not spit splice, so weaving in the ends was a bit of a challenge, but they are all on the inside now and he won’t care. I plan on knitting it again in Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Worsted next time to keep him warm through the New England winter. > Malea R.

(Left) Here at WEBS I work packing orders for shipment. When I saw this pattern come across my desk, I had to have it! I made the bag (with lots of help from one of the lovely ladies at the store) for my son to go trick or treating. It is a simple stockinette stitch that I made in Cascade 220 in Burnt Orange and Black. You can find the pattern here. > Jenny D.
(Right) I have a thing about felted bowls.  Every season I seem to come up with some reason to need a bowl.  It’s really just an excuse to try new things with knitting and felting.  These bowls were inspired by Autumn.  After a plain bowl is felted, it’s like a blank canvas.   On the pumpkin bowl with the lid, I used the “mistake” of pulling the embroidery thread too tight to my advantage.  It puckers the felt and makes it look more natural.  All the bowls were made with a closeout yarn that is long gone but could easily be made with Cascade 220 or Valley yarns Northampton held double. > Amy S.

I made this shawl to wear on my wedding day in mid-October - to keep my shoulders warm, as the ceremony was outdoors on a Berkshire hillside. The pattern is Purity by Sharon Miller and I used two skeins of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Cream.  As written, the pattern has a “frill” on both ends, but I omitted the second one because I wanted a simpler look.  Knitting with Kidsilk Haze requires a bit more attentiveness, as the stitches can blend together - I was off on stitch count a couple of times in the lace section, but the lace section is so forgiving that I can’t tell where the mistakes are. I love this shawl, it’s so light & airy but still very warm! > Andrea V.

(Left) When I decided to knit my sister a blanket, she and I briefly argued about fiber content and yarn weight before we compromised on Spud & Chloe Sweater.  The yarn is so soft and has such great stitch definition that I want to use it for everything.  And it’s machine washable so I know I don’t have to worry about the finished project getting ruined. I didn’t use a pattern; instead I just cast on 180 stitches and knit feather & fan until it was as big as I wanted it! > Jackie V.
(Right) The first time I saw the Fibranatura Cobblestone was when I was putting it on the shelves for Stitches East.  I knew it would be perfect for children and babies.  The colors are great and it’s 100% superwash merino.  I grabbed a skein and quickly knit up the Ear Cozies hat for a friends’ two year old.  I had enough left over to knit a matching one for her baby that’s due in March.  I think I’m going to grab some more for “last-minute, I need a baby present” projects. > Amy S.

This week, the staff at WEBS is buzzing about…

Jeff’s mother, Lise, made him yet another fantastic hat for winter. Windschief by Stephen West was knit out of Jade Sapphire Brigadoon to create this hat. Jeff says it’s so soft, “It feels like my head is surrounded by puppy ears!”

I was looking for a fun and colorful scarf to brighten up my winter. This pattern (Mister Hannah from the CEY Color By Kristin Book 2) was easy to follow and the colors really zing! I used the “Color by Kristin” yarns called for; Raspberry, Spring Green, Geranium, Turquoise Sea and Aubergine. The contrast stitching and tassels really make it work! > Suzette J.

I love seasonal accessories. Luckily, I work at Webs. I have access to the best raw materials and after I’m done, I can wear my crazy knitwear around people who will appreciate it. These arm warmers and boot toppers were inspired by my favorite seasonal candy, Candy Corn. I started to see all sorts of knitted things based on Candy Corn all over the internet. I thought I would make my own. These were made with some yarn off our bargain shelf, but could easily be made with Cascade 220 fingering in Burnt Orange, Goldenrod, and White. They were quick to knit up and have already been stolen by my 13 year old! > Amy S.

The Spring Ribbed Cardi by Hannah Fettig was a lot of fun to knit! While being fairly easy to knit I love the free and easy look of the finished cardigan. I used a discontinued yarn to knit mine, but some great substitutes would be Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, Madelinetosh Sport, or (if you want something really luxurious) Madelinetosh Pashmina. > Greta S.

With a birthday coming faster than I realized and loving the challenge of a new pattern I decided that would take one of my workhorse yarns, Berroco Comfort on a recent trip with my husband. I heard for years about The Wonderful Wallaby pattern yet had not taken the time to research and make it. It was such a wonderful knit and I loved the process so much that not only did I make Luke his for his first birthday but also one for Hannah for her first day of preschool. > Lise G.

This week, the staff at WEBS is excited about Heidi’s Catkin shawl! We have two buzzes for it this week, along with other stunning projects and yarn.

The pattern I knit is called Catkin by Carina Spencer, and it’s available on Ravelry. The pattern may seem intimidating, but it is just very thorough. Madeline Tosh Merino Light and Madeline Tosh Sock are recommended. If you use Tosh Merino Light, you only need one skein of each  color. I used Tosh Sock in Ginger and Byzantine for this catkin, which required one skein of Color A and two skeins of Color B.  This project is so much fun! > Heidi R.

Heidi passed by me in the store last week wearing this beautiful shawl she knit to wear to her friend’s wedding and I immediately stopped her to see if I could take her picture. It’s the Catkin Shawl by Carina Spencer. I love the colors, the way the stripes swirl about her shoulders, and that awesome pattern on the bottom. She used two colors of Madelinetosh Sock, Ginger and Byzantine. > Lindsey T.

I knit this store sample out of Jade Sapphire’s new yarn, Brigadoon – washable cashmere? Yes, that’s what I asked. I washed it in the machine on gentle cycle with Eucalan. Dried flat. It washed well and is so soft. We all can’t stop holding it. The pattern is the Getting  Purly with it Brigadoon Neckwarmer. > Marion W.

When Juniper Moon Farm’s Marlowe yarn crossed my desk, I was immediately hooked by the variegated colors, which are so sheeny, they seem to glow. Marlowe is 50% Merino, 50% silk, so this single ply beauty is really a luxury item–it’s perfect for special accessories. Stephanie swatched Marlowe and she reports that it knits easily and isn’t at all splitty. She used a Barbara Walker Indian Cross Stitch pattern (from Volume 1, p. 112) to show how a bigger, stockinette-based pattern makes the most of Marlowe’s busy variegation. The swatch is fantastic – Marlowe knits up into a substantial fabric with nice drape. I can’t wait to make one of Marie Grace Smith’s cowls from the Marlowe pattern book, maybe the honeycomb patterned Terra Cowl. It’ll keep me cozy and stylish all winter! > Kendra C. and Stephanie G.

I recently knit the Cloudy Day beret from Never Not Knitting. It was a great pattern that ended up being a fairly quick knit. I knit it in Lorna’s Laces Sportmate. This is one of Lorna’s Laces yarns that contain Outlast – a fiber designed to help regulate body temperature. I thought that this would be a great option for a hat and I’m excited to wear it more often once the weather starts to really cool off. > Mary K.

I took an end of the summer trip to the beach last weekend and I wanted a quick and easy project to knit. The Chrysanthemum Hat knit in Valley Yarns Buckland seemed just right. I decided to add striping with the golden rod and charcoal colors, and I really liked the outcome. Buckland is one of the newest valley yarns we have in the store. It’s super easy to knit with and leaves you with a garment that’s really special. This pattern is free and looks great on both men and women. Check out the video below for a closer look at Buckland! > Lindsey T.