Yarn Stash Log & Project Cost Worksheet

Your stash is money you already spent

Every knitter and crocheter has a stash, and every stash eventually becomes a mystery — yarn you forgot you owned, a single skein with no match, three balls that are almost enough for something. A current stash log turns the pile into a resource: it tells you what you can actually make today, stops you re-buying yarn you already have, and keeps the dye lots findable. Write down the brand, the weight, the colourway and dye lot, the skeins, and the yards per skein, and you can shop your stash first.

The dye lot is the detail to never skip. Yarn is dyed in batches, and two balls of the identical colour from different lots can be visibly different in a finished piece — so the colour you can't match later is exactly the one you'll need a row from the bind-off.

The yarn is the cheap part

Here is the truth that quietly bankrupts handmade businesses: the yarn is the small part. The real cost of a hand-knit or crocheted piece is the hours, and the hours are the part that's easiest to leave out. The project cost worksheet puts them back: materials are (skeins × cost) + notions; true cost is materials + (your honest hours × a fair rate). Keystone doubling is for material-heavy products — on hand-knits, where labour is the cost, you add a margin to a fully-costed piece instead of doubling it.

When the honest cost comes out higher than the market price — as it often does for labour-heavy hand-made work — that is the worksheet doing its job. It's told you the truth so you can respond on purpose: make faster or higher-value items, sell direct, and price for fit and story, instead of working for free without knowing it.

A maker's reference, not financial advice

This is a record-keeping tool, not a substitute for your pattern or your own judgement. Gauge, yardage, needle sizes, and yarn weights are typical starting points — your own blocked gauge swatch and your yarn's ball band always win, because the real gauge and yardage depend on the exact yarn and the way you work it. The costing examples are illustrative, to show the method; run your own numbers and set your own prices.

Is this really free?

Yes — the starter is a free PDF download with no email required. It is the lite cut of the paid Knitter's & Crocheter's Workbook, which adds four live calculators (yarn quantity, gauge & sizing, project cost, and per-piece price), a full yarn-weight reference, a project log, a yarn stash inventory, and PDF guides.

Is this for knitting or crochet?

Both. The yarn-weight quick reference gives knit and crochet gauge, the worksheets and stash log work for either craft, and the cost worksheet doesn't care which hook or needle you hold.

What exactly is in the free starter?

A print-and-use yarn stash log, a project cost worksheet that counts your hours, a yarn-weight quick reference (lace to jumbo, with knit and crochet gauge and needle/hook sizes), and the skein math for buying enough yarn for any project.

Will the gauge and yardage numbers match my yarn?

They are typical starting points to guide a choice — your own blocked gauge swatch and your yarn's ball band always win. The real gauge and yardage depend on the exact yarn and the way you knit or crochet it, so always swatch.

Does it expire or is it tied to a year?

It never expires. It is evergreen — yarn weights, gauge math, and the pricing method do not change, and the logs use a date column you fill in yourself.