448 Gallons: A Contest
I organized my stash this weekend. About 5 months ago I went to Target (that's Tar-zhay) and bought 4 big plastic bins to hold my stash. I took most of the bags and boxes and neatly placed them in the bins. I even had room left in a couple of them.
I knew I had more yarn but I was procrastinating pulling it all together. Bags were piled in a corner in the living room (somewhat out of sight) and on the sunporch and in the huge coffee table that comes chock full of stash hiding opportunities storage.
I've been meaning to get around to it, and when I wrote that post on Thursday I had this organization project on my mind. After getting the WONDERFUL comments from you all I knew I could take a few days off and get my stash in order once and for all.
Stella came over Friday night. As she knit I pulled out ALL MY STASH.
I catalogued everything in Excel and I now know everything I have. I feel freer. Lighter in fact. Hmm...sorta.
I now know that I have 448 Gallons of yarn. That's EIGHT bins of yarn. EIGHT. I cannot believe I have amassed this much yarn. I truly had no idea.
So this is where the contest comes in. Guess how many balls/skeins/hanks/cones of yarn I have in those bins. The person who most closely guesses the number without going over will win something wonderful from the stash. I'm not sure what yet, but really there's nothing bad in there.
Added Later
I've gotten several questions asking what might be in store for the winner. While I still don't know for sure, here are some ideas: a few skeins of Silk Garden, some Koigu, a felting kit in a variety of colors, sportweight Baby Alpaca, a couple hanks of Hand-dyed 4spi wool or some sock yarn. Whatever it might be it will be lovely and be all/predominately a natural fiber.
A couple of hints:
- Two of the bins have some room left in them
- I have one bin dedicated to sock and laceweight yarn
- I have one bin dedicated to cones
- I've counted each pound of yarn on the cone as 1 ball. So, if I have a 2.5 pound cone of yarn, it counts as 2.5 balls.
- Excluding the sock yarn, most of my yarn is 4.5-5.5 spi. I do have some bulky, but it doesn't even fill half of a bin.
Email your guess to savannahchik AT yahoo by Thursday afternoon. I will announce the winner by Sunday. Remember -- you need to be the closest one without going over.
I have no idea how much yarn that could possibly be, but it definitely looks like more yarn than my entire LYS carries. I am having stash envy.
W. :)
1. That is a LOT of yarn. (Approximately four times as much as I have...)
2. For the swatch for Natalya, it's 5 st/in in stockinette, right? Or is it in the rib & cable pattern?
that is a lot of yarn!
I guess 420!!!
:)
I have one "overnight" bag full of yarn as my stash and am clearly a stash amateur!!
Jackie.
I bought very similar bins at the same store. They have a very nice selection of bins and it's a great way to keep everything together.
You call THAT a stash? :-)
I'm glad I'm not the only one who made a yarnventory spreadsheet . . . the Hub thought I was insane, but I find that I really like having a "database" of my stash.
325? I'm scared to count my stash :)
Holy cow! My family thinks I'm obsessive about yarn with two under-the-bed containers full. I gather I'd probably have half as much as you if I had the space and was without this family, though :)
Your yarn stash reminds me of my bead stash only a bit smaller. I could probably fill 2 tubs that size then again maybe more.
I started with a spread sheet but moved to a yarn database easier finding out what in my stash has the yardage and spi I need for a project.
I'm gonna take some time to figure this one out based on my stash (which I thought was a lot until I saw yours!) Anyway, I'm planning on mailing you the seat cover tomorrow or Friday. Either way, you should have it very soon!
Your. Stash. Is. Incredible.
I'm almost scared to guess! 369?
My guess is 280. It must be nice to start a project whenever you want with your stashed yarn. I think I'm a little jealous. ;)
Wow. I'm impressed.
ummm I guess 348 balls
Love the idea of your contest, but do I "really" need to win any yarn???????
At least your containers are clear and look nice. I bought mine at the same store as you did, but I bought the "after Halloween" two bucks a pop containers....needless to say, they are all orange with black tops!
Very, very proud of you and your organizing! Hope it rubs off on me. :->
Tootles~
I too have about 8 bins of yarn -- I am guessing 388 balls.
Wow, and my boyfriend thinks i have a lot of yarn! I'm gong to guess that you have 400 balls of yarn.
Okay, being musical I am going to say 440 balls of yarn. Now I don't feel so bad about my stash! It's got to be close to yours in size.
I am going home and showing my husband your site - he can't say a thing about my stash anymore ... can I admit that I am a little bit jealous though? I am going to guess 502.
Never too many :D Let's say 375.
Wow, if my calculations (estimates/totally far flung guesses) are right, you have 640 balls of yarn!
Okay, I have no concept of time, space, measurement or money but I'll bite.......422??
When we were dating, all so long ago, my husband lived near a tarzhay, but I lived near targhetto :)
Li
I feel much better now. Sending an email.
Thats a great stash, I guess 476.
I'm amazed! I'm going to guess on the low end at 189.
I'm going to go over the top and guess that you have about 650 balls of yarn. Unless you have very large skeins mixed in there. I did my inventory of yarn a month ago and I have 350 balls of yarn. And to eyeball it, looks like almost double the amount that I have. Hope I aguess it right!
678?
...went from counting
sts to needles to carry bags to projects to stitch patterns to skeins to money invested and back to the beginning...
I decided I'd rather knit than blog after many false starts. I sure enjoy reading your posts and viewing your pics. The red lacey scarf is fantastic! Happy Valentine's Day
i already see my initial guesses listed above. i'll go with 376. feeling a little like the price is right?
I think everyone is guessing low--I'm going to go with 625!
Hmmmm
Those bins are huge..
Frankly I would say 498 balls !!!
513. You could open your own little LYS:)
i think 611, because of silk and of the bin for socks (lot of started balls).
marie-odile
Not that I need more yarn but I'll venture a guess anyways...LOL 8 bins x ~35 skeins per bin = 280 skeins?? I thought I had a lot of stash until I saw yours....thanks for sharing!
Heh! I'm doing the same thing today. My calculations have me guessing, hmmmm.......549. Now how many contests will it take to destash all of that?
Just took a random count of my (very much) smaller bins. I am amazed at how much yarn one can fit into a small space...based on this and the alignment of the stars (and my auto's front end) I'd guess randomly at about 716.
In any event, congrats on stash organization. Do you give lessons?
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