I don't have stash problem the way I generally think of people having a stash problem. I never, for instance, go into a yarn shop and come out with a sweater's worth of yarn I wasn't planning to buy and don't have clear plans for. I do sometimes go into a yarn shop and come out with one ball of something fascinating and on sale or something I couldn't pass up but have no idea what I'd do with and therefore didn't feel like I could buy more than one expensive little ball. But that's rare. Most of my "stash", therefore, is really leftovers. A ball or two of this or that left over from a project that I overestimated. (Overestimating is a lot better than underestimating. Once, though, I made a blue ribbed sweater for a brother-in-law and ended up with 6 extra balls. That's a bit dramatic.)
The point is, when I feel like I want to cut down my stash, which I kind of do right now, there's not tons of choice and there's not tons of yardage to work with. Last week, I pulled out three partial balls of Galway worsted (which is my go-to everyday sweater yarn these days, ever since I made a sweater for my son from it and realized it barely pills!). I thought there might be enough yarn for a sweater vest for my three-year-old and I thought the colors would be fun.
It wasn't until I had some stripes going that I realized I was knitting for a tiny Wicked WItch of the West.
I do kind of like the colors together, but I couldn't get Halloween out of my mind. When did purple and green become Halloween, anyway? Whatever, the vest got ripped back to the ribbing and started again with blue and grey. I don't know exactly how I feel about it yet, but I'm hopeful. Stay tuned. :)