I love that one of the reasons Gail Callahan gives for becoming a dyer in her wonderful book Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece is that it's a way for us to fix regrettable yarn purchases. I actually thought about that unfortunate lime green yarn I was talking about yesterday as I was reading this book, though I think it's cotton and this book focuses only on protein fibers (meaning wool, silk and the like).

Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan. Storey Publishing.

This book does a great job of making it seem like anyone can dye their own yarn, and it starts with super-tiny baby steps (food coloring on paper!) to get you comfortable playing with color.

I may not need that one, but I do love the yarn "color wheel" made with different concentrations of regular old food coloring. There are several projects you can complete with food coloring and equipment you already have in your house, but once you get the point of using the acid dyes that are used for most of the projects in the book, you'll need to invest in some supplies. Callahan tells you exactly what you need and where you can get it cheap (hello, garage sales!).

Not only does this book give you lessons in just about every technique you can think of for dyeing yarn or fleece (including tie-dyeing and injecting dye into the center of a yarn ball), it also has knitting patterns you can use to try out your newly dyed goodies.

Of course this book is about much more than that, but because we're talking stash this week I want to know if any of you have overdyed a purchased yarn to make it more usable? How did it turn out?

As knitters we naturally think of knitting as the main way to use our yarn stash, but there are plenty of other options.

Pompons are a great way to use up a lot of yarn, fast, without knitting. © Sarah E. White.

If you're serious about paring down your stash by actually using it, you might want to consider taking up crochet or weaving (admittedly a dangerous proposition that could lead to more yarn purchases!) or make a yarn craft or two.

I've been sorely tempted to make my stash of remnant yarn balls into a bunch of pompons to make a garland or just for the girl to play with.

Do you have non-knitting ways to use up yarn? I'd love to hear about them!

A group of British knitters have been busy knitting up a really long scarf, with one knitter in particular knitting her bit and more. As part of the Knit One, Help One campaign knitters are aiming to knit a scarf about two miles long, that will reach from a local pub to the Winsley hospice in an effort to raise funds for the center. So far about 50 people have contributed to the scarf, which is now about 75 meters long, or about half as long as they want it to be. One knitter, Joyce Taylor, has knit a piece "about the size of a large car tyre," which I can only assume means rolled up it's as big as a tire. The group has raised £300 for the hospice so far.

A knitter and yarn shop owner in Leyland (also in the UK) has covered a statue and a local pub with knitting to raise awareness of a project she's planning for a festival in July. Linda Simmons wants knitters of all ages to help her cover a large truck with knitting to raise awareness of the craft.

As part of the festivities for the innovation conference Big Omaha, local artist and knitting entrepreneur Courtney Zurcher installed knit graffiti that's really graffiti. The piece, called "Look Up," is a knit vision of a night sky over the ocean, only attached to trees and other structures inside and out. The pieces, which were all hand knit, were also spray-painted for custom color, and attendees were invited to take pieces of the installation with them if they wanted.

Crafters in New York have knit, crocheted and sewn baby garments and blankets so that expecting mamas in Herkimer County can pick out some handmade goodies for their little ones to be. And a hospice nurse in Scotland has knit accessories for teddy bears in the hundreds and helped raise thousands of pounds in the process.

Finally, I don't know as I'd normally mention this, but as it relates to this week's theme of destashing I couldn't resist: if you live anywhere near Somerville, Mass., you might want to check out an event this Saturday in which people will be swapping craft supplies. The Community Yarn Swap will cover other craft supplies as well, and though the event is free it's a benefit for the local food pantry, so take along some canned goods or toiletries to donate. Sounds like fun.

If you have more stash than you're ever going to knit with (probably including some stuff you'd never want to knit with -- why, exactly, did I go through a lime green yarn buying frenzy a couple of years ago?) it can be a really good thing to get rid of some of it. Once you've sorted and evaluated what you want to keep and what you'd like to get rid of, you have a lot of options for how to destash your yarn and other knitting supplies.

You might think eBay, but did you know you can also sell yarn on Ravelry? Or you might want to donate the lot to Goodwill, but maybe you could find a local knitting charity or a school knitting club that could put it to use right away. Or you could give it to your friends in the form of a "yarn swap" that you only provide materials for and don't actually take anything in return.

Some of these ideas will take more time than just selling it all for a buck a skein at your next garage sale, but I'll bet you'll get a much better feeling knowing that your yarn is going into good hands that really want and need it.

If you've destashed before, how did you get rid of your yarn? I'd love to hear your ideas.