Yarn Sorting and other Stories

OK, I've signed up for Secret Pal 14 and that means I've got to post at least once per week here. Thus, a sort of "constitutional" needs to be planned, a sort of regular exercise of the blogging muscles in which I at least mention knitting. Or yarn. Or something like that. God knows I can usually find something to talk about, but does that make it interesting or even readable?

I pulled in the bins of yarn that have collecting throughout my home -- three big ones in the junk room, four reasonably sized ones in the garage, and several odd containers in the living room. All of the UFOs are now sorted into one container, a large one. All of the superwash wool is in its own reasonably-sized container. One of the larger ones is holding all of the sock yarn. Still another larger one plus 2 reasonably-sized ones are holding hand-wash-only wool. A reasonably-sized container is overflowing with cotton and linen types of yarn, and another box contains the silk and lace weight stuff. It's embarrassing.

I talked with a gal at my LYS and I think I'll donate a lot of the hand-wash-only wool for a felted bag contest. It will be on the order of the quilt challenges I've seen in the catalogs. Everyone will pay a small fee (like $5) and get some wool along with a non-felting novelty yarn. From there they can add on as many other yarns or colors as they like. I'm not sure what we'll have for judging criteria, but I've proposed that I along with two other local designers be the judges. In the past the winners have been on the order of popularity contests in which people have told non-knitter (and non-crocheting) friends and family to stop in and vote for their item.

So, this will be getting rid of my stuff as well as doing something useful for my LYS. I really can't donate this yarn. Most places want washable yarns. Nobody seems to want *gasp!* real wool because they don't want the fuss of caring for it. Of course, if you're knitting it for the homeless or another charity, that makes sense. But, for heavens sake, I couldn't even sell it for $1 per skein at a garage sale!

I'm dyeing superwash sock yarn this weekend and taking over a lot of my regular wool yarn to my LYS. Then I'm coming up with the marketing for this contest.

Tomorrow is pool day. I need it now.