The yarn has been boxed and put back into the closet. Despite my initial reaction, it was a straightforward task. I had a pretty good idea of what I owned and (bar one or two balls) the stash was pretty much how I remembered it - apart from the hideous amount of laceweight yarn, of course.
I have really enjoyed taking a look at my sweater amounts, actually. Some really gorgeous stuff. As a result I have been spending a lot of time on the Ravelry pattern database trying to match up yarns and projects. I still have yarns for which I have no specific project in mind but - as someone said to me a few days ago - some yarns need to marinate in the stash for years before the right project shows up. It's a slippery slope, absolutely, but also occasionally true. I have twelve balls of a beautiful teal tweed yarn, for instance, and the right project hasn't shown up yet. I'm not going to knit the yarn into something just for the sake of removing it from the stash.
I've also been reassured by this entire process. I keep reading entries on Ravelry by people whose tastes have changed and how they no longer like what they own. I'm a consistent sort of person and thankfully I really like what I see in my stash (with one notable exception). I have yarns that my fingers are itching to use and yarns that really make my head spin with ideas.
And just on cue: my Lumley cardigan has entered the final stages! I cast off the second sleeve yesterday whilst enjoying The Men Who Stare At Goats - far funnier than I thought it would be and almost Cohen Brothers-esque. Today I unzipped the first of my provisional cast-ons to knit the cuff (this is a great little video showing you a crochet provisional cast-on and how to unzip it). I should finish the first cuff tonight and the second cuff tomorrow, so it looks as though this long-term project is finally getting finished. I still think this is one of the cleverest designs I have ever knitted and hopefully it is going to look nice too.
I have only really done two mods: one was to add an extra button and the second was to lengthen the sleeves. The cardigan is written with 3/4-length sleeves, but I was unsure how they would look on my long arms. It turns out that because I have lengthened the sleeve, I also need to modify the cuffs. They are originally meant to wrap around my arm just below the elbows, but now they will wrap around my wrist. I quickly realised this meant a very slack cuff when I started knitting it this morning, so to counteract the slackness I am now knitting the cuff as written for the smallest size. This could get interesting..
What is your favourite finishing tip?