Yarn Explosion!
I don't update this blog very often anymore, do I? I have other interests to take up my time: school (which is now over!), looking for a job (which I'm currently not doing so great at), reading fanfiction (which I refuse to be ashamed of, but have a different account for...), and, of the most importance today: working with fiber. I knit, crochet, and spin, and have been doing it for a while now (6 years crocheting, 4 years knitting, 1 year spinning). I'm currently treading water, well, making veerry sllooow progress on a circular afghan. Here, have a picture:
It's all wrinkly at the top because it's bigger around than my needles (I'm using two 30-inch-long circulars to contain this thing) and I really, really don't want to take it off the needles just to photograph it. It's currently 368 stitches around using a super bulky yarn (this is the technical term, not an epithet, although one could use it that way...). So, very big. Very slow. A bit disheartening, you could say.
On top of this, as always seems to happen in the summer, I have startitis. I want to make a bunch of projects, and I want to start them all right now. I actually did start two other knitting projects: socks and a hat. I have excuses for both: travel (the afghan is not travel-friendly in the least) and my sister's pregnancy (very new, very unexpected, but it is a great excuse to make stuff).
However, there are lots of projects that I want to make but have no excuse for: like this sweater, this shawl, or these dolls. Those dolls, are, in fact, the reason I'm writing today. I simply must tell the world what I've been up to, but feel a little weird constantly talking about crafting on my fandom blog. So, to put it plainly, I've just cataloged all my yarn.
This doesn't sound like a big deal, you say? I own three respectably-sized boxes of yarn. Think about the usual size of a skein of yarn (two handfuls, maybe), and then about how many you can fit into a 6x24x18-inch space. Yeah. My stash is respectable. Not overwhelming, but a nice and varied collection that I've been trying to work down for about two years now. Oddly, despite almost never buying anything, it keeps growing.
I wrote all the information down instead of putting it into the computer, which is inefficient, but habitual. I may have grown up with computers, but the internet wasn't easily accessible until I was thirteen or fourteen, and then it was a one-computer, dial-up, shared-by-the-entire-family connection. I'll probably put my little list up on Ravelry (God, I love their system) then add pictures later.
The result of this rather time-consuming effort? I have seven college-spaced notebook pages on every single skein of my yarn. It probably would be more like six if I filled every empty space, but organization trumps over efficient use of wood pulp. It's all categorized by fiber type (acrylic, cotton, wool, silk, bamboo, etc.), strand size (thread, fingering, dk, worsted, bulky, super bulky), with notes on how much I have of each color (grams/yards). Unsurprisingly, I have a lot of worsted weight, or a medium strand size, acrylic, cotton, and wool that's the majority of my collection. There's also a good half-page of sock yarn, which is thinner, and a lovely mish-mash of fibers, because I have discovered the joys of sock-making (I really want to crochet some, actually).
Then there's the crochet thread my grandma gave me. Y'know, the kind that grandmas use to make doilies? That filled up its own page, to my slight surprise. I finished going through it this morning, and I'm pleased to say I'm much more familiar with its version of strand sizing (crochet thread has its own system, because under the typical yarn sizes, it's all just thread), how much I have of each type and color, and how much I need to use it up! There were other surprises, like how many one-offs of interesting fibers I own (camel, milk, alpaca, silk, bamboo), and novelty yarn (Fuzzy, non-natural fibers that don't look good anywhere. How did this happen? I know I had bad judgement early on in my crochet/knitting career but, really?)
Overall, I'm very happy to know exactly what I now have, as well as a handy reference so I don't have to go digging through my containers every time I want to make something. And that was the point. The dolls I want to make are for a fandom friend. I want to make a Sherlock BBC doll, so I need a bunch of colors: black for the legs, hair, and coat, beige for the skin, blue for the scarf, dark purple for the shirt, and I don't want to buy anything new if I can help it, so knowing exactly how much of each color I have in each fiber type and strand size is really helpful. I don't want to be constantly changing needle sizes just to get the same gauge (stitches per inch or cm). And acrylic fibers rub off on cotton, which looks horrible. Wool does the same thing, although I've never tried acrylic and wool...plus there's bamboo and silk, possibly.
So, now I know everything I need to to start a doll, can I hold out until the end of the afghan? It seems unlikely. The hardest part is deciding which fiber to use... I kind of want to start with acrylic, so that I can get all the mistakes out of the way on cheap yarn, but I have all the colors in worsted wool, and most in dk weight cotton and bamboo. It's a puzzle, but it's one I'm more than happy to consider. :)