realizations
In a moment of weakness yesterday, I ordered some yarn. I know how big my stash is, I know how much I do not need to buy anything, but I finally got paid for a couple of accompanying jobs over the weekend, I'm itching to do a couple of projects in big fat yarn (this and this, if you must know), WEBS had a great 3-day deal on Northampton Bulky (it's over now, sorry), I'd had a crappy craptastic week with most of us sick (Anya still slowly on the mend)...and, well...you know how it goes.
So this afternoon after school I plunked the kids down in front of the TV for a little bit (please don't judge me, sometimes it's how I remain on this side of sanity) and went through my stash to make room for what's coming. I came to a few realizations in the process:
1) Holy shit, I have a lot of yarn. Actually, this isn't a realization. Nor is it a confession, actually. I've read enough forums of people (almost exclusively women, because we're supposed to feel guilty) obsessing over how much yarn they have and how best to use it all up before buying more and you know what? It's stupid. We knit because we love to, we have yarn because we love to knit, and all this hand-wringing about stash size and guilt about it taking up valuable knitting time. (So is blogging, one could argue. But whatever. I like blogging, too.)
2) I'm okay with having a lot of yarn...as long as I like all of it. It's a worthwhile exercise to go through it every once and a while and pull out everything that isn't fabulous and find a better home for it.
3) For example, the bubble-gum pink wool blend I bought once because I'd been browsing a particular shop (no longer in business) for more than a hour and I felt like I had to buy something and Anya said she liked the pink and would I make her a sweater and, yeah, we both hate it now.
4) I'll never show all my stash here. I may not be ashamed of it, but I'm not ready to show it to the world or anything.
5) Some colors I'll just never wear well. This is a tough one. I found some beautiful dusty lavender angora yarn, enough for a sweater for me (which is probably what I bought it for originally), but it just isn't right for me. Too gray, maybe. I'm not sure. It survived the destash, though, because it's a beautiful color for Anya and maybe someday I'll make a sweater for her out of it. I found another bag of gray-brown yarn that feels divine but makes me look like a zombie, so out it goes.
6) In fact, gray is just not a good color on me. It's too bad, because I'm wearing my gray Mint Julep right now and I love it to pieces. Plus I have a couple (or 4) bunches of gray yarn meant for sweaters that, if I'm honest with myself, will do nothing for me but make me look older.
7) I certainly gravitate toward certain colors. I have I-won't-tell-you-how-many-sweaters'-worth of yarn in varying shades of white and natural white. I'm a sucker for neutrals, in fact, even though I don't wear all of them well. White/natural and dark browns I can do well, but grays and beiges...ew. Zombie-town. I also have a lot of red yarn, in various shades, and a not insignificant quantity of wool in greens, teals and dark blues.
8) I stash for Anya. Her favorite color is yellow, and you should see the different yellow yarns I have collected to make things for her. I just finished a sweater for her in yellow and blue yarn she picked out (which I'll blog if she ever agrees to wear it for photos). There are at least half a dozen projects' worth of yellow yarns in one particular tub, just waiting to be things for her. I don't know if I'll ever have time to make all of them for her. Maybe when she learns to knit (and she's trying already, believe it or not) she can use it up herself.
9) I don't have much stashed for Daniel. Not that he should feel deprived, seeing as he just got an awesome messenger bag and all. But he just doesn't wear hand-knit stuff right now, other than socks and hats. I guess he takes after his dad that way. I'm okay with that.
10) I stash for sweater-knitting. This is rather unfortunate, because other than blankets, sweaters take the most yarn. Therefore, sweater quantities of yarn take the most money and space. Not that I don't have enough sock yarn and other stuff in hat/mitten/scarf quantities to keep me busy until the kids go to college, but it's looking at sweater patterns and shopping for sweater yarn that really gets me going.
11) Additionally, the vast majority of my yarn is wool or animal fibers. There's a smattering of cotton, linen, hemp and some silk and nylon mixed into the summer and sock yarns. I'm lucky we've never had moths. And I hope we never move to Florida.
So this afternoon after school I plunked the kids down in front of the TV for a little bit (please don't judge me, sometimes it's how I remain on this side of sanity) and went through my stash to make room for what's coming. I came to a few realizations in the process:
1) Holy shit, I have a lot of yarn. Actually, this isn't a realization. Nor is it a confession, actually. I've read enough forums of people (almost exclusively women, because we're supposed to feel guilty) obsessing over how much yarn they have and how best to use it all up before buying more and you know what? It's stupid. We knit because we love to, we have yarn because we love to knit, and all this hand-wringing about stash size and guilt about it taking up valuable knitting time. (So is blogging, one could argue. But whatever. I like blogging, too.)
2) I'm okay with having a lot of yarn...as long as I like all of it. It's a worthwhile exercise to go through it every once and a while and pull out everything that isn't fabulous and find a better home for it.
3) For example, the bubble-gum pink wool blend I bought once because I'd been browsing a particular shop (no longer in business) for more than a hour and I felt like I had to buy something and Anya said she liked the pink and would I make her a sweater and, yeah, we both hate it now.
4) I'll never show all my stash here. I may not be ashamed of it, but I'm not ready to show it to the world or anything.
5) Some colors I'll just never wear well. This is a tough one. I found some beautiful dusty lavender angora yarn, enough for a sweater for me (which is probably what I bought it for originally), but it just isn't right for me. Too gray, maybe. I'm not sure. It survived the destash, though, because it's a beautiful color for Anya and maybe someday I'll make a sweater for her out of it. I found another bag of gray-brown yarn that feels divine but makes me look like a zombie, so out it goes.
6) In fact, gray is just not a good color on me. It's too bad, because I'm wearing my gray Mint Julep right now and I love it to pieces. Plus I have a couple (or 4) bunches of gray yarn meant for sweaters that, if I'm honest with myself, will do nothing for me but make me look older.
7) I certainly gravitate toward certain colors. I have I-won't-tell-you-how-many-sweaters'-worth of yarn in varying shades of white and natural white. I'm a sucker for neutrals, in fact, even though I don't wear all of them well. White/natural and dark browns I can do well, but grays and beiges...ew. Zombie-town. I also have a lot of red yarn, in various shades, and a not insignificant quantity of wool in greens, teals and dark blues.
8) I stash for Anya. Her favorite color is yellow, and you should see the different yellow yarns I have collected to make things for her. I just finished a sweater for her in yellow and blue yarn she picked out (which I'll blog if she ever agrees to wear it for photos). There are at least half a dozen projects' worth of yellow yarns in one particular tub, just waiting to be things for her. I don't know if I'll ever have time to make all of them for her. Maybe when she learns to knit (and she's trying already, believe it or not) she can use it up herself.
9) I don't have much stashed for Daniel. Not that he should feel deprived, seeing as he just got an awesome messenger bag and all. But he just doesn't wear hand-knit stuff right now, other than socks and hats. I guess he takes after his dad that way. I'm okay with that.
10) I stash for sweater-knitting. This is rather unfortunate, because other than blankets, sweaters take the most yarn. Therefore, sweater quantities of yarn take the most money and space. Not that I don't have enough sock yarn and other stuff in hat/mitten/scarf quantities to keep me busy until the kids go to college, but it's looking at sweater patterns and shopping for sweater yarn that really gets me going.
11) Additionally, the vast majority of my yarn is wool or animal fibers. There's a smattering of cotton, linen, hemp and some silk and nylon mixed into the summer and sock yarns. I'm lucky we've never had moths. And I hope we never move to Florida.
Comments
The new projects look fun! Knitting with bulky yarn can be quickly rewarding.
Dee Anna