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Stash busting efforts and giving away some of it...

I've been trying (unsuccessfully at that..) to bust some of my stash but the yarn at Jo Ann's calls to me so badly... I've recently discovered the joys of Moda Dea Washable Wool.... sadly it's out of budget for me to make anything huge (like a sweater) so I've been buying a couple balls here, couple balls there for hats, scarves and whatnot, just so I can use it for things that I can... use LOL

I just got done doing a 'first sweep' through my stash to pick out yarn to send to my g/f in Indiana. She's yarn deprived and I have plenty so... So far, I'm trying to give her a lot of colorful yarn that will add to her limited color range that she has now. She told me that she has blue, green and tan so I'm trying to give her reds, purples (a lot of purple as it's her favorite color...), in addition to some nice variegateds.

While I was at Jo Ann's yesterday, I did get her a couple of Caron One Pounders in light and dark purple, just for her in addition to some Tesoro that was on clearance for $1.50!!! Ordinarily, that's $7 a skein. They only had 3 skeins of lavender but I grabbed them. I won't give her any out of the Tesoro that I already have but I might go back up there tonight and grab the rest... it's light yellow but she might still be able to use it. I discovered that Tesoro, even though it's 100% wool, it doesn't felt so... she would be able to use it without fear of it shrinking significantly.

I'm probably also going to give her a lot of my big skeins of cotton yarn too. I want to keep the ecru and most of the blue as I have ongoing projects with those. I also played with the idea of buying her some Wool Ease or giving her some of what's in my shrinking stash of that. I was going to make an afghan from it but... I might pass that on to her, started afghan and all because I already have too much going on.

I know that I'm not much into expensive/fancy yarns but for once in my life, I'd really like to make something with yarn that doesn't come from a regular craft store. Sadly, most yarns that come from places other than Walmart, Michael's and Jo Ann's aren't machine washable and sorry, I'm not a hand wash girl. I do have some yarn that's not machine washable... big mistake on my part buying those and I really don't know what to do with them outside of possibly combining all of them in a bag or some thing and felt it.

I really, really, REALLY love self striping yarn. I had good experiences with SWS with the exception that it made my hands tingle in a not-so-pleasant way while working with it. Even though I don't want to send Becky any yarn that's not MW (machine washable), she might get a kick out of working with stuff that's not acrylic. So.... I have about 5 skeins of SWS of varying colorways. I started an entrelac scarf that I'll probably never finish so....

I don't want to feel like I'm dumping my 'unwanted' yarn on her though. I cherish all the yarn that I have... I'm kind of an addict in that respect. It's kind of a comfort thing for me, if that makes any sense. All the times in my life that I've been going through hard times, I've always had yarn around me. Back when I didn't know how to knit and crocheted all the time, I always had a lapful of squares destined to be an afghan, or a scarf, or a hat, or something like that.

Now that I knit too, it's escalated. Reading Craftster has broadened my horizons hugely when it comes to yarncraft, different kinds and types of yarn, different methods of achieving different things... I've really gone wild when it comes to buying yarn and it has gotten away from me... just a bit.

When I first discovered that the Jo Ann's near me sold yarn (I had always thought that they stuck to fabric and sewing notions...), the first time I went there, I spent over $60 one Caron One Pounders (more bang for my buck). I had an afghan planned for that yarn so I felt justified in spending that much.

Now... I go there when I have an idea for something to look for yarn that will work with it. And since Caron brought out their Simply Soft 'heathered' line, I've been buying that up like crazy. Partially, it's kind of because I'm looking to move into an area that doesn't have any kind of real craft stores and the Walmarts in that area have a really sad yarn selection. I guess I want to get as much yarn that it's available there as I can, while I can. The nearest Jo Ann's to where I'm going to be moving to is about 100 miles away. Overall, a yarn addict's worst nightmare.

I know that I'll probably, at some point, have to order yarn on line if I don't have it in my stash but.... I really don't like buying like that. I'd rather be able to see it and feel it before buying it.

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