Stash Wars!

Every true knitter has a stash issue. There are two main contributing factors: the buying of a little too much yarn for a project, leaving you with an often useless amount of yarn, and the fact that yarn is so very pretty that you can find yourself buying it even when you don't really need it, and then can't find a project to fit. It's the first one that's a challenge for me. Here is my main stash:

See what I mean? A real problem. And that's not even all of it, after taking the picture I realised I'd not put in some of the smaller balls I've got. I can remember where most of the balls came from. The two bigger black ones are from when I knitted myself a tank top about two years ago, the smaller black one was given to me by a friend who'd bought to just use a bit for a Sunday School game (along with the red, cream and one of the browns). The other brown and the pale pink were bought for making knitted cupcakes. The yellow ball is left over from a tea cosy I made for hubby's Grandparents. The white one I saw in a charity shop and bought with nothing to use it for, it's been used for cupcakes and a matinee jacket I made to send to Moldova. The pale blue was bought from Poundstretcher when I first started knitting because it was cheap and has been used for cupcakes, a baby cardigan (also went to Moldova) and a headscarf that I don't wear because it makes me look like someone from 'Little House on the Prairie'. The denim blue wool was for a crocheted shrug.  And the bright pink is left over from my Mum's shawl. Oh and the weird brown thing on the edge is Millie's tail, she wouldn't move.

In addition I have the yarn I 'thrifted' (a horrible word but fitting) from a jumper that had seen better days:

All in all I've got a lot of yarn. So I've decided not to buy any more (unless it's for a special gift) until I've reduced this little lot to oddments at the most. I'm using the jumper yarn to make a cardigan, the bright pink for a skinny scarf, the yellow will make some baby boottees and maybe a hat for a friend who's expecting, I'm thinking of making a beret out of the bigger black ones and I also need to make a tea cosy for my mum out of a combination. As for the rest, any suggestions would be good, otherwise it'll be cupcake mania!!

I'll keep posting the results as I go along!