Hello and welcome. I’m your host, I’m 52 and British. I’ve been knitting since I learned at primary school, in the 1970s. I’ve been knitting on and off all my life. I think I’ve made about 100 items in total, ranging across child and adult clothing, toys and homewares.

I don’t knit all the time, over my lifetime it has gone in cycles. The most recent bout of intensive knitting took place between 2005 and 2014. This resulted in a large stash and many, many incomplete projects because I am a process knitter and I hate finishing and sewing.

I’m about ready for another burst of knitting, after a five year break. I think I have about 20 incomplete projects lying around my house and the yarn and patterns for at least twice that many. I’m conscious that I’m not getting any younger and that I now probably have Stash Beyond Life Expectancy. So this is it, the final Stash Knitdown. I will never need to buy any more yarn (probably, this is what we are aiming for). I need to free up space in my flat and in my head so this new blog marks a new period of what I hope will be about 10 years of knitting. The challenge is to finish all the incomplete projects and make all the best projects that I haven’t started yet that I bought yarn for.

The picture below is a close-up of a Colinette Perugino throw. It was a fiddly but mesmerising project. I gave the finished object to my friend for a wedding present because I love to give finished items away. Some years later I made a second Perugino in forest greens. That was given to a friend as well. In my stash, I have a third Perugino kit, the result of which will be for me. It it is in pinks and pale greens and I hope all the mohair is still usable and has not welded itself into the shape of a goat or yak.