The Ghost(s) of Projects Past

Meet the ghosts that can lurk in your stash and nibble away at your MoJo

These were things you planned to make that never quite happened. Maybe you saw a lovely pattern and in a rush of enthusiasm you bought it and the yarn to make it.

Then something happened that stopped you in your tracks. Perhaps it was a bad time to cast on or there was something you needed to finish first or you didn’t have the right size needles. Maybe the pattern seemed to hard once you started to read through it. You thought you’d leave it till you had more time to concentrate.

Whatever it was the yarn and the pattern got put away, probably not together.

This leaves you with Ghost Yarn in your stash and a problem.

You see Ghost Yarn comes in a specific quantity. You bought the right amount for a pattern, maybe you added an extra ball just in case. Time passes and the yarn continues to sit there. Occasionally you catch sight of it and think you might use it for something else but you never do that. Just in case.

If it is a largish quantity, maybe enough for a sweater, it seems wrong to split it and use part of it for another project. If you do that you’ll be left with an even odder amount in your stash.

But The Ghost of Projects Past doesn’t just quietly sit in your stash.

Oh no, not this one! It moans!

It niggles at you. Usually it is a larger quantity and because of that it can haunt you when you think of buying new yarn for a big project. It undermines your confidence and trust in yourself, even when you don’t consciously remember it. It can be the thing that keeps you making smaller items, rather than risk buying yarn for a full size garment.

Maybe your desire to start new things is strong enough to ignore this 👻 and you go ahead and get new yarn. He’s not finished with you yet.

This is where he gets even more cunning because ghost projects breed! Catching sight or remembering that previous project can be enough for you to feel your motivation slip away and your new yarn gets put aside for a ‘later’ that might never come.

The more the ghosts build up the worse your stash makes you feel.

👻 👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻👻

What to Do

Tackle The Ghosts of Projects Past one at a time.

Don’t feel you have to sort them out all at once if they’d been multiplying in your stash for several years.

Just making progress with one will start to unlock the others.

First of all, the big question:

Do you still like this yarn?

If not, say goodbye to it, then sell, gift or donate it.

Now! Today! Phew 😅

So you have looked at the yarn and you still love it?

Fantastic!

Let’s get it sorted into a project straight away:

1. Find out how much you have. With luck the yarn will still have a ball band or label. This will make it possible to work out exactly how much meterage or yardage you have.

2. Look through your pattern collection for things that use this amount of yarn. Don’t forget to check your Ravelry queue and library if you use it or ever used it!

3. Decide if any of the suitable candidates still make you happy.

4. If not have a look in Ravelry Pattern Search using the amount and weight of yarn to see if you are inspired. (A small amount left over is not a problem. We’ll talk about what to do with those another time)

Optional Step 5 - but very worthwhile, put the yarn and the pattern together in a project bag.

So now you have yarn you love and a pattern you are excited to start.

What are you waiting for?

Get out your needles, cast on a swatch and get going!

Next time we will look at those UFOs and PhDs!