454
That's the magic number. And even though there were over 100 entries, no one guessed that exact number.
The most popular guesses (at 3 each) were 189, 198, 243 and 437 (pretty close!) .
In the end, the person who got the closest without going over was Stacey. Pretty fitting since her blog's subtitle is "from my stash to yours". Stacey gets 3 skeins of Silk Garden color 74.
The closest guess (albeit over) was from Nolee at 455. So Nolee, you've won second prize! It's 300 yards of handdyed worsted weight (4spi) wool in purples.
And for third prize, I decided to pick a number at random just so everyone had a chance of winning. I picked number 7 which was Jackie! Her guess was 420. I'll be sending Jackie a hank of burgandy Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb and a skein of gold Lamb's Pride. The colors go well together and the yarn would make up nicely into a felted bag.
Congrats, Ladies!
Now, many of you left comments saying how lucky I was and how great it was to have such a stash. I've really put some thought into how I feel about it. And here's where I've ended up. I'm grateful to be able to go out and buy yarn on a whim when a new project strikes my fancy, but it really doesn't do much past that initial instant gratification. I've learned that all too often when an idea strikes I want to buy yarn for it RIGHT NOW and I end up making purchases that are less than ideal for the project. So, I've gotta stop that.
Also, I just love shopping for yarn when I'm in the planning stages of a project, and with a big stash I now feel guilty doing that.
So, here's what I'm doing about it. I'll be faithfully tracking all my stash yarn in my spreadsheet that I setup last week. This way I can make sure that I'm continuing the utilize stash yarn. This will let me know that I'm making progress even when it's not very obvious. I'm also going to try my darndest not to buy any more yarn until Maryland Sheep & Wool. And I will probably have more contests here on the blog. I think it's a great way to share the extra skein or two leftover at the end of a project with someone who might have just the right inspiration for it. Plus it gives me a way to say thanks to all my readers out there who so generously give me advice and encouragement whenever I need it!
I would love to start a spreadsheet to get a handle on my stash - can you offer any pointers (I don't even know how I would go about organizing it).
I TOTALLY hear you about the instant gratification of stach enhancement. I don't even want to count my skeins or make a spread sheet because I think I would be too em.bare.assed. So, my goal is to try to utilize a much of my stash as possible. If I see a project I want to make, I "shop" my stash instead of my LYS. Then, if I still reeeely need the project, I'll buy yarn. It's working....a little bit. :)
Thanks again! I still can't get over the fact that I won, LOL! I was thinking about my own stash management and I've decided that I will start putting all the yarn for a project in a bag together and put a photocopy of at least the first page of the pattern in the bag. I'm hoping this will keep me on track and help me to remember which projects I bought which yarn for. I really, really need to stop buying so much yarn!
-Stacey :)
I'd be interested in seeing your spreadsheet (even wiped of data and just containing labels/headers). I tried organizing my stash a few years back in a database in my Palm, but it got out of hand. I need to do it again, and I'd love to see the approach you took if you don't mind sharing.
I would love to see how you organize a spreadsheet as well. I am not by nature a very organized person when it comes to actually having to record and keep track of things in that way. Excel scares or bores the you know what out of me. It sounds so neat to be able to have that information at your fingertips.
ya know...your a bright gal making money and I say more power to ya and buy however much yarn you want to...it's yarn, it's not booze, etc etc
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