Help!

I've Fallen Into The Stash, And I Can't Get Out...

After several recent attempts to find something specific in my yarn stash, I decided that it was time to clean house. I set up a database of all my yarn a long time ago, but it was a Microsoft Access file, and when I switched to Mac last year, I just sort of quit using it. Microsoft doesn't make Access for Mac (what the hell is up with that anyway?), and the file just didn't convert nicely to an Excel file. So I had these bags and bags of yarn everywhere, and there have been additions and subtractions all over the place in the stash. It was time to reorganize. It finally dawned on me that I still have my old laptop, as I use it from time to time when we travel, and that I could still use the old file. It just needed some serious updating.

So that's what I've been doing all week. Box by box, I dumped it all out, sorting, counting, tallying, drooling. It was a little like a college reunion, where you meet all your old friends that you haven't seen in years, and you remember why you loved them. There were a few skeins that made me think "what the frack did I see in them anyway?" (Just like that old college boyfriend, the one that got a pitcher of beer dumped on his head for being a jackass.) I have almost all of it back into boxes, and added all the new yarn purchases over the last 8 or 9 months to the database. No, I have no idea how many yards total I have. I am so not going there. Even if I were to add up those skeins to get that number, I would not under any circumstance publish it to a blog that my husband occasionally reads.

Here's a little taste. First, a small sampling of the sock stash, out for inspection:

And back in the box:

Just to give you a hint of how much yarn I have, I've numbered the boxes.

And don't ask. Yes, that's a "9", implying that there are "8" boxes of yarn before this one. I am just not saying how many there may or may not be after this one.

Ok, Ok, here's a bit from one of the other boxes. I'm not saying what number this one was. It was the "mostly lace" box.

That's all. I am not giving out any more information. I'm just thinking that after tallying all this up, I might consider printing out a list, putting a monetary value on all of it, and getting a separate insurance company rider for it. Don't laugh, it's actually not such a dumb idea.

Next time: Perhaps a Finished Object. I'm close, so close.