The BIG Stashbusting Project. . .

Six years of going to yarn festivals in the UK has resulted in quite a large stash.  Too large.  So large it's now really bothering me every time I pass by the tower of plastic bins in my spare room, or trip over another jute bag filled with overflowing skeins. It especially bothers me when I know I have a specific skein stored somewhere. . .  and I have to search through piles of yarn to find it. 

Time to get serious.

I have picked up a project I started months ago and am crocheting a rug for the living room. I started with some balls of rough wool that I picked up for 50p each at Woolfest a couple of years ago. I had intended them for weaving as they are far too coarse to wear against the skin, and these are proving perfect for this rug.  I then pulled out lots of skeins bought during various sales and now languishing because I don't really want to knit anything with them. Some of these yarns are akin to roving and I know they will pill if I knit them as is, but paired with a strand of the rustic yarn, they are crocheting up into a study fabric with just a touch of softness. Perfect!

I am not attempting anything fancy; I am just doing rows of double crochet. If I run out of a colour mid-row, I'm just adding another one.  As this thing got bigger, I've been spacing out the more colourful rows between neutral brown/grey/cream ones.  It is crocheting up fast - each row is at least an inch high and I can usually get two or three rows done each night while watching telly.  I'm aiming for a 7 x 8 foot rug and I'm about halfway there.  It also feels great underfoot. 

Best of all, I reckon there's about thirty balls/skeins of stash in just what I've done so far.  So liberating!