What I can make with what I have

The other day, my boyfriend looked at me and said "How many sweaters do you suppose you could make with all this yarn?"

He suggested I assign a project to every quantity of yarn I have and package them up into little kits. For someone who's never knit in his life, he really does understand it pretty well.

I want to knit down a significant section of my stash this year. I've almost never bought yarn without a specific project plan, but in my first year knitting, I got into a frenzy of yarn-buying and casting on, and I've found myself with an alarming amount of intended projects.

At a quick count, I have the yarn to make 11 short sleeve or sleeveless tops, 11 long-sleeve sweaters, and 5 or 6 shrugs. This is not even getting into sock yarn, lace weight, or accessories stuff.

I looked at the projects I was intending to make, and I realized I was actually dreading some of them. Huh?! Dreading knitting??? I finally had the moment of clarity I needed, and I was able to start thinking about what I really wanted to knit.

I started a little game of swap-a-roo. Anything I wasn't positively thrilled about knitting, I scrapped from my plans, and I reassigned the yarn to new projects.

• For some lovely Simply Soft in light country peach, I had been planning a Valpuri top.
  
  
  
  Beautiful, but ugh, those cables didn't really look fun.
  
  
  
  So now I'm using the yarn for Bella Paquita, also conveniently the object of the current Sexy Knitters Club challenge.


• Dark sage Simply Soft, intended for a Bristow Cardigan (eventually).
  
  
  
  Again, the cables, and piecing, and I don't know that it would be flattering.
  
  
  
  Gathered Pullover? Much more my speed.


• Cream One Pound, meant for a Cable Down Raglan.
  
  
  
  It produced fabric like chainmail, and I just couldn't picture the sweater looking good. I still want to knit this pattern in a different yarn, but in the meantime I have this cream.
  
  
  
  So now how about a Holly Jacket? Wheee!


• Lastly, I have a bunch of white Simply Soft, that I was intending for a solid-colored Bad Penny.
  
  
  
  Meh. In a solid color, it's way too much like something I could buy in a store. What I really wanted was a cute white sweater to wear over dresses and springy tops.
  
  
  
  Hello, Hexacomb Cardigan! Where have you been all my life?

These are just a few of the ideas I had. I'm totally psyched for new projects, and I'm looking forward to this plan.

If you are so inclined, you can check out my Ravelry queue, which is now somewhat updated with the actual projects I'm planning to knit. (This is more than I can say for my sidebar).