I had no idea

So this weekend was spent cleaning desperately. Recently, my room has just been a depository for stuff and sleeping. That is it. Clean clothes were everywhere. The fiber/yarn corner kind of took over the room. The desk was completely covered with papers which were stacked precariously. The chairs were covered in laundry and general stuff. Basically it looked like someone set off a bomb of yarn and clothes in the middle of the room. It is still in the disaster stage of cleaning but it is a better disaster than it was before. The next major project is to switch out the winter and the summer clothes. This requires lifting the mattresses off my bed because there is storage under it. That, of course, couldn't be done before because there was no room for the mattress to be put anywhere.

One huge advantage of this cleaning is that I've now taken pictures of my yarn and fiber stash and added most of it to Ravelry. I've also finally taken out that crap yarn that you buy when you are a beginner and don't know any better. (Red Heart?! What was I thinking?) The plan is to donate 3 grocery bags stuffed full to the local thrift shop or Goodwill. It's freed up a little more space so that is definitely a good thing.

I didn't think I had that much yarn until I started taking pictures of it. Now I realized that was just denial. So far, with all but 6 skeins of yarn (2 50g balls of sock yarn and 4 small skeins of dishcloth cotton so it really isn't that much) entered into Ravelry, I've found out that I have 24,345.5 yards (approximately) of yarn. A few of those yards are being used in a project right now so the figure isn't entirely accurate but then again, I don't quite have everything entered. I guess it balances out. Before this massive cleaning and picture taking, I only had 15,000 yards worth entered. A 9,000 yard increase is slightly astounding. Then this morning I found another skein of sock yarn when I was putting something away in the closet. What they say is true, the stash breeds and produces little skeins!

This stash counting has definitely made me want to knit it down a little (read: a LOT). On the Stash 'n Burn Ravelry group, there is contest with the goal of knitting up (or getting rid of) at least 1,000 yards in the month of May. I haven't really signed up yet but I think it is a good personal goal for me. There are some really great yarns in the stash (I wouldn't have bought them if they weren't (don't judge me by the Red Heart)) and now I want to use them again. It's fun to dream up the projects you could make. I'm thinking some shawls/stoles with some of the sock yarn. I have one skein of Cidermoon that I LOVE and am not willing to make it into socks that no one else will see. I also am thinking of knitting up the DK yarn I bought in England last July for Basic Black.

Another advantage of all the cleaning is getting my knitting and spinning books all in one place. Within the last couple of months, I suddenly have a ton more of both of these types of books. Strange how that happens. I wonder if they are breeding too. . . .