In search of inspiration (or "why use silk when you have cotton?")

I seem to have built up quite a collection of cotton yarns...  Two in particular are taking my attention at the moment, where I've got a few balls to work with but just don't know what to make from them.

First, there is the yarn from an unsuccessful lace cardigan I was making myself a couple of years ago:

I got the decreases wrong for the sleeve and couldn't work out how to fix without starting over, so now I have 6 balls of green cotton dk yarn without a project.

And then there are the 6 balls of cotton 4-ply which I bought for a song from a local shop's bargain bin:

I'm using some to make a stretchy market bag, but I'm stumped for how to use the rest.

Neither yarn has a friend to go with them, and I don't want to waste the larger amounts I've got... so I'm in search of some inventive ideas for my cotton stash.

2013: the year of the de-stash

We've been living in our house for 10 years now, and last year was something of a turning point for beginning to declutter our home.  Over Christmas we emptied the kitchen cupboards and the dresser with the aim of only putting half of the contents back in.  It sounds fairly trivial, but it was significant for us.  We've slowly made progress in other parts of the house (we can almost fit our books onto the shelves, and we're working on the CDs - no mean feat!) and now I need to think about my yarn stash.

I was hopping around some links from the FO Friday gathering and came across a StashBuster Challenge 2013 link.  It looks like a great idea, so I'm joining in...

Step one feels a bit like going to an AA meeting:  "Hi, my name's Lorna and I'm a yarnaholic.  It's been 2 months since my last yarn purchase"

Step two is to take some pictures of my stash.  Most of it is tucked away in the wardrobe in our spare room.  Some of it is even in proper boxes:

So... here's some of the detail:

I'm calling this the "what was I thinking?" box.  Most of these yarns were bought when I started knitting and before I'd got some idea about what I like knitting with.  I guess we have to learn somehow.  I think I'll try to find people who like novelty yarns to take much of this.  Although you never know - I might get over my dislike of knitting toys and make a fluffy teddybear.

 This box was originally sock yarns (the bottom half in the picture) left over from knitting baby blankets, but some chunky yarns seem to have snuck in.  The 3 skeins at the top right are of Artesano Embrace, which I received as a gift for taking out a magazine subscription.  I wasn't too keen on the pattern they came with, but haven't worked out what I'd rather do with them.

Lots of small balls of dk acrylic yarn.  Again, I bought most of these in the early days, without much of a clue what I'd do with them.  There are more scattered around the house from when they've come in handy as oddments.

This box started as baby yarns, but I can see a couple of chunky yarns which have snuck in there too...

And this was originally cotton yarns (mainly dk) or yarns with a similar feel.  I quite like these, and perhaps I'll do a couple of face/dishcloths as quick knits to use them up a little.  I can see a couple of balls of sock yarn which have found their way in here; perhaps they're hiding from the rampant chunky yarns!

Back in the early days I started a granny square in some acrylic dk yarns from a local shop.  I kind of fell out with it, but perhaps I can find a way to like it again.

And finally, this is an example of the non-boxed yarns.  Hiding in here are some forgotten balls of Rowan 4-ply wool and some lovely soft sock yarn (3 skeins) which I bought to make a light blanket with.  I've decided that probably won't work, but I haven't decided what to do instead - maybe I need to buy some more in a different colourway to get a nice combination (no!  mustn't buy anything more!)

There's more than this (including a number of giveaways from magazines), but these are the main culprits for now...

I have a couple of more special yarns to think about though: 4 skeins of Debbie Bliss Paloma, and 2 of Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend.   I don't want to waste these, but I do want to use them so I'm looking for some good ideas for these first.

Stash-busting

We've been thinking about moving house this year, and we're likely to end up in a smaller place than we have now ...which means I need to reduce my yarn stash.

So I've been planning my next makes around what I need to use up.

First, I've been using left-over cotton dk yarn for a baby toy.  I made a brightly coloured Bliss baby blanket for our friends' first son a couple of years ago.  This Snuggly Bunny is a great use for the remainders.  The shape is a bit weird before the head is stuffed, but my first was so cute once I'd completed it.  I've done all but the eyes and nose since taking a photo earlier this evening:

Second, I thought I'd do another BSJ (my third) to use up some Fab dk which has been hanging around for a while.  It will look very different to my earlier one which were a bit more stripy, but I think it should still work.  The yarn's soft enough, and it's washable so I hope it'll be practical for the new parents.

Which gets me on to a couple of yarns I've been waiting for the "right" project to use...

I've got some Debbie Bliss Paloma in a deep (but not dark) purple,  some Zitron Trekking sock yarn in another purple mix, and some Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend dk in a lovely green/blue/silver mix which I picked up at Woolfest last year.

I'm looking for something for myself from these, but not sure what yet.  They're all yarns I don't want to fritter away or waste, but I do want to use them so I need to get my thinking cap on!