How to Manage Your Stash - Buy Sell or Trade?
Every Knitter or Crocheter potentially runs into the following scenario. Too much yarn and too little space or interest to keep it. Or lost a relative who left behind a collection to non-crafters. Or sometimes you want to build your stash and find that speical fiber to finish a project that is stuck because you ran out of yarn. It’s really frustrating to realize at the end of the project that you don’t relish the idea of ripping out panels to alter that pattern.
So as an expert of all things fiber love, here are some ideas about how to address your or your loved one’s need to pare down your stash. Hopefully when this is done you might consider new yarn from Mrs. Knits Yarn Shop. Knitting and Crochet and especially the beautiful Noro Magazine Collection for new inspirations and patterns for your scraps and special finds.
Obvious Donations - anything that is in decent condition but doesn’t inspire joy. Goodwill thread cycling. Also you can connect with other knitters for a swap. See #3 for Guilds or other ideas. If you don’t have one nearby I have heard of some meeting on Zoom.
Ebay - wide exposure to buyers however it takes some finesse and arguably a lot of work. You need to think about sales price vs fees and if it’s worth it to you to take the time and effort to post/field questions and ship.
Trade and Swaps - If you are blessed with a local knitting guild that is a great place to organize an event where we can trade yarn without too much effort.
Ravelry (Pro) Essentially a cross between an Ebay auction vs Trade + Swap. In that app you can setup your page with projects/libraries and stash information. The pro is that there are no selling fees and wider exposure. It’s also nice that folks can look up a specific yarn, including hard to find or vintage offering to find someone to trade with. It’s very cool how you can notate if the stash yarn is in use, for sale/trade or is used up.
It’s always a nice index to find that one obscure vintage yarn from the 1990’s which finishes your favorite projec.
Ravelry (Con) is that exporsue is low and frequently members “ghost” each other. Not trying to point fingers. Just a question of hopefully being civil enough to communicate and set expectations accordingly,
Mrs. Knits (Bonnie) has been knitting since 1984. She has done quite a bit of destashing and helping others do the same. She was on Ebay for over 20 years and got her start by buying unwanted stash yarns and selling them on Ebay. Since 2009 she transitioned into her current website. Mrs. Knits likes to “Curate Collections for Sophisticated Knitters.
She lives in Bremerton, Washington with her husband and awesome business logistics manager Philip (Mr. Knits). We are blessed with our rescue fearsome white beard as we affectionately call our little Terrier Mix who rounds out our team as the Chief Morale Officer. Your yarn is safe - he has no interest.
Happy Holiday Knitting from Mr. and Mrs. Knits!
