stockPINing ! keePINg track

updated : Mar 8, 2017

Irrespective of the size of our stockpile, do we ever stop pining for more ?!!! As our stock grows larger & more diverse, greater the risk of messes, misses, & mix-ups … of losing track. I finally heeded the clarion call of my thread stock as part of our monthly Pinterest Challenge – my stockPINing !  

" One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is 

constantly making exciting discoveries"

- AA. Milne

Yes, I so did !!! A few of my discoveries as I waded through my stash, organizing & cataloguing the threads….The pics don’t show the number or size of containers or the stuffed stuff inside ;-p

 Discovering new shades & the ease of choice !

i) Embroidery Threads

It all started last month, with my cross stitch bookmarks. With all skeins cramped into one box, & the patterns needing many colours, I found myself spreading out the skeins on the bed – not a good sight at all !

First sorted skeins according to colours. Then simply tied a knot at tip of each strand, cut off a very short length & glued it to the page, along with details. Slow-going, but with immediate results. Not only did it help in choosing colours for bookmarks, but for the Floral Fantasy Doily ! 2 shades of light green were Very similar (2nd coloumn); but I could locate the exact shade I wanted because of the catalogue. 

 Discovering the mystery of the zero !

ii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 20)

For the last 30 years, I have used only Anchor MCC (from Madura Coats), bought at various shops & now online stores. As my stash grew, it always perplexed me that some threads seemed thicker than others, despite the size number being same. Also the shade numbers – some had a single 0 before them, some had two zeroes, while many of my vintage balls didn’t have any 0 before the shade number.

I put it down to different stores, different years/decades, & so on. In fact that is how I entered in the catalogue. TILL the shade column & the tatting alongside threw up this interesting fact : the 0 digit represents the thickness within that size !!!!! Now I know which balls can be used together in same project.

Also noticed that the shape of ball with single 0 is different from the one with 00 (which is squatter with thicker thread) !

Discovering doodads & forgotten ideas !

iii) Mercerized Crochet Cotton (Size 40)

Buried deep under the balls of crochet cotton threads, I found tatted scraps - possible design ideas, little doodads/doodles, first trials, etc. It was quite amusing. (forgot to take pics)

I tatted little 5-petalled flowers to glue for reference. And devised this to speed things up (instead of cataloguing each colour individually) – pull out a short length of thread from ball & finger-tat the ring with thread still attached to ball. When all were tatted, I simply had to snip off the flower from each ball & glue to page, adding details.

Discovering amazing threads !

iv) Silk & Metallic Threads

I had totally forgotten about spools of metallic threads including gold & silver ! These are unmarked, so I have no idea of the brand.

But even more amazing & nostalgic were my Mom’s machine embroidery silk threads in wooden spools. They date back to at least the late 1940s, early 50s !!! It was mesmerizing watching her skillfully maneuver the embroidery hoop with her left hand at a hand crank sewing machine ! I can’t do with 2 hands on my electric pedal machine with it’s multiple decorative stitch options !

Strands of these threads were difficult to glue down, hence practiced some Hanging Cluny Leaves to display the colours better. A few got stuck while pulling, thus disfiguring their shape.

Discovering forgotten/misplaced balls !

v) Crochet & Knitting Cottons (Size 10 & above)

 

These are big balls taking up much space. Hence, I used to store them in the closet, in bags, not in transparent boxes. After I’d completed the table cloth edging, I was under the impression that the size 10 variegated blue ball was all over. So imagine my delight when I discovered 1 entire, unused ball ! Now even the balls are stored in different places, a quick reference to the catalogue will tell me that I do have more ! How useful a clue is that ?!

Discovering quality beads !

vi) Beads & Findings

For the first time last year, I had ordered in some gold & silver beads & jewelry findings to use in my tatting (and they worked beautifully). All the rest of my bead stash (mostly pearls, transparent plastic, & some wooden beads) & some rhinestones, sequins, etc. were stuff I took off discarded decorations, mementos, dress materials, etc. Couldn’t bring myself to throw out the colourful embellishments. But while some of these were good, some were irregular in shape & hole size, making them difficult to use … which was fine since I didn’t tat much with beads.

Last month I finally ordered some other beads & pearls from an online craft supplies chain. Amazing ! The seed beads have proper sized holes which can be strung through even size 20 thread. And here I was struggling with stringing, thus limiting my choices ! You might see many more beaded projects now ;-P

Seen in the pic is a snipping of the invoice with relevant details of my latest bead acquisition and a sampling of my stash…. I still have to prepare a proper page with new & old bead samples taped & buy a larger bead container.

vii) Sewing Threads

 

These are old pics (top view with open drawer & side view of entire organizer) of segregated sewing threads, organized for many years now. They are in an A4 size file cabinet with 4 transparent pull-out drawers from Staples. The lowermost was the perfect height for sewing thread spools ! All not-in-use reels are stored there in broad colour-groups, and can be picked out easily. The 3 upper drawers are used for other sewing-related supplies.

viii) Wool Yarn

Remember these quick yarn shade samplers I made, inspired by crochet bloggers ? They did come in handy for the colourful stashbuster Memory Afghan, but how pathetic are they ?! 

Come winter, I will sit down to prepare a proper one-page catalogue for my wool stash too.

UPDATE : My wool stash is now organized (Dec, 2016)!

Now if only I can catalogue my book collection. Believe me, I’ve tried many times, but new books kept getting added before I could sort them out. I have also tried to take pics on my cell phone but not every shelf is well lit.
And of course my fabric stash - that is indeed a major task.

Despite all the sniggering at my spread-out stock, it was ‘his’ idea to place each sheet within a transparent sleeve ;-p Love the idea – makes them so durable despite all the handling & referring !!!

These took time & patience to put together. But the advantages are so worth it, and already showing. Besides, some old threads also brought back memories of embroidery, card-making, crochet, tatting projects done before my marriage. Long time !
It also brought home the fact that the quality of Anchor (Coats) threads has decreased over time - they were finer, silkier, brighter in colour before !

As usual, my pinterest challenge is merely utilitarian & boring. For a glimpse into some amazingly creative challenges, click on the names of my fellow pin chicks … they are always so delightfully inspiring !

Suzanne

Margaret

Carollyn

Imoshen 

Margaret (2)

have a great time :-)