spring break!! WOOOO!!

Yeah, I was a little sarcastic in that post title there. I may not be having a spring break like Kitty Sanchez but for now everyone is mostly healthy, so I'll take what I can get. 

Understandably, I've decided just to lay low this week while the kids are out of school for break. No play dates, few outings, and quiet indoor activities while we recover from a long month of snow and illness. Spring thaw has finally begun, which means it's moderately cold and very muddy, which makes outdoor activities rather awkward and messy, though at least you don't need to bundle up (as much) to go outside. We've been reading and playing games and cleaning the house in preparation for guests coming later this week, and - get ready for it - knitting! I'm happy to say I have two little knitters in the house, neither of whom is capable of posing for a picture, even the crappy phone kind, without making a funny face:

Anya thinks she's making socks. Really, it's a patch of garter stitch that gets wider every few rows because she keeps wrapping the yarn around her working needle extra times, but her stitches are worked quite evenly and she doesn't need much help. She has an impressive attention span for it, too.

Daniel is really getting good. He's working on pieces for a blanket, which was all his idea. He started with some blue bulky yarn I had leftover from an A4A sweater, and I even ordered him a few more colors as motivation. This is how it works: he picks a color from the basket, I cast on 15 stitches for him, he knits until he's tired of it, I bind off for him. So he'll have strips and squares in various lengths and colors that will eventually be sewed up into a sort of modern patchwork blanket. It's going to be very cool. 

My own bulky garter stitch blanket is coming along, but there's nothing new to show you. It's just a bigger blue blob than a few days ago.

I have, however, been doing a lot of cleaning in the basement because Stuart's parents are coming to visit for several days. This means that once again I'm having a "come-to-Jesus" moment with The Stash. Lordy, there's a lot, enough to keep me knitting happily for a good long while. I wrestle with my feelings about The Stash (which does deserve capitalization at this point). The part of me that feels guilty about it regrets the excess, regrets the space it occupies in our small house, regrets the lack of rational thinking on my part that I would be able to make all the projects I intended to in a certain amount of time, regrets the selfish notion that any one person really does need four dozen sweaters. The part of me that is okay with The Stash knows that I don't spend money irresponsibly and that many people collect things and isn't it nice that I collect something I can use? Also, knitting is cheaper than therapy, and after the last few weeks I could use plenty of one or the other.

I love nearly all my yarn. I've sold or given away a lot in the last couple years, and it has felt good to see yarn I won't use go to a better home. I have a few things here and there that I may put up on craigslist or even do another giveaway here. But mostly, I'm okay with The Stash. All of it had a purpose at some point and will be used eventually.

You know what's most disappointing, though? Is that when something really great comes along, like the new yarn owl from Quince and Co., which I'm dying to try, I have to pass it up because I have so much already that it makes me...uncomfortable, for lack of a better word. It's an annoying problem because I truly believe knitting should be an activity I enjoy and feel good about, not something I do out of obligation to use up yarn. If I just go round and round in cycles of guilt, then what's the point?