Stash Bust with Handwoven January/February 2022

As I mentioned in my editor’s letter for the January/February 2022 issue, pre-COVID, we planned what we called the “Deep Stash” issue, not thinking specifically about stash-busting, but rather stashes in general. Then the project and article proposals started rolling in, and we realized our theme wasn’t holding steady. Instead, our readers had designed the issue they were interested in, stash-busting. We changed gears, and now, looking at the issue, I believe our readers were correct.

Even without purchasing souvenir skeins or factory specials because they are too good to pass up, it is hard for a weaver not to have a stash of some sort. Here are a few reasons and related projects from the January/February 2022 issue that illustrate how our project designers acquired stashes and then cleverly stash-busted when designing and weaving their projects.

1) Rarely does the put up of the yarn bought for a project closely match the amount needed. And if it is close, you might feel compelled to buy another put up, anyhow, just in case.

Susan J. Foulkes’s Leftover Dish Towels from Handwoven January/February 2022

Susan J. Foulkes wove her Leftover Dish Towels using the remnants from more than 40 spools of cottolin that she had accumulated. She also pulled out her unused warping paddle to make the winding go quicker as she wound her multicolored stripes six ends at a time. Rather than worry that she had run out of a color in a stripe, she simply chose another similar color from her stash and kept winding.

2) People give you yarn. It’s a thing. Non-weavers assume that because you are a weaver, you love all yarn in all colors.

Cynthia Davies’s Rogue Stash Blanket from Handwoven January/February 2022

Cynthia Davies wrote about how she acquired large bags of yarn when she was an elementary school art teacher from well-meaning people who left the bags in the main office. She determined she was going to use as much of it as she could and designed and wove her Rogue Stash Blanket. To create the harmonious warp, she developed her own warp-winding technique that is great for lots of other stash-busting projects.

3) Project priorities change. You purchase yarn for a project, and then another idea catches your attention. The first project drops down in your to-do list while the new top project needs yet another set of yarns.

Malynda Allen’s Majestic Beauty Placemats from Handwoven January/February 2022

Malynda Allen used cones of yarn she had purchased with the idea of weaving a color gamp for her Majestic Beauty Placemats. She wove the placemats and matching runner in overshot-patterned doubleweave, and she used different colors of weft for each one.

These are just a few examples of the eleven beautiful projects in the issue, and just a few of the eleventy billion reasons our stashes keep growing.

Weave well,

Susan