The stash is out of hand
First of all, I would like to thank everyone who left comments, emailed me, or posted to the AK list about my simple summer sweater. The response has been overwhelming, and I am truly touched. I am now planning to write up the pattern in a range of sizes (to fit a 38″ bust through a 62″ bust) and post it on the site as a free pattern. I am hoping to get this accomplished in the next couple of weeks. This will be my first foray into pattern-writing for others, and I’m pretty excited about that. A chance to stretch my wings a little and learn something new.
In the meantime, the stash, which has become an almost living entity, must be dealt with somehow.
Â
Â
Â
Â
Let me just say that my stash, while large, was not so alarmingly large until I became a spinner. Those of you who are thinking of learning to spin, take note. When you are a spinner, somehow large bags of fiber take up residence. It’s such a good deal, you see–you can get pounds and pounds of raw fleece for stunningly small sums of money. (Remember the raw mohair? Enough said.) In fact, sometimes people are willing to give you raw fiber for free. Well! I can’t turn down free fiber!
And then, of course, I didn’t just stop buying yarn, either. Those boxes in the corners up there? Yarn. The clear bins? Yarn. Sacks on the floor? Yarn.
In any case, what it boils down to is that something must be done. Now, if you’re thinking that what must be done is to give some of these riches away, you’re obviously still an amateur. No, no, no. What must be done is to organize. I have a plan which involves large Ziploc bags and hours of happy time spent with my fiber. And I still have several weeks of summer left in which to accomplish said plan. I’ll keep you posted.
And now, something tidy to end with today. My current socks in progress:
Â
These are a cabled pattern from Sensational Knitted Socks, by Charlene Schurch, which was given to me by my own dear sister and is a great sock book and definitely worth owning. (Or giving to a knitting friend or relative, as the case may be.)
Â
July 10th, 2006 at 2:37 pm
Whoa! It definitely looks like the stash situation has gotten more desperate since my last visit a few months back.
You might recall, though, that you got a little de-stashing relief by giving me four pounds of your handspun. I’m just sayin’, is all.
The socks look great and I too love that book!
July 10th, 2006 at 3:12 pm
Well, it looks worse when you take pictures. The camera adds pounds, you know.
And it was more like three pounds of handspun. Are you angling for more?!
July 11th, 2006 at 7:33 am
Speaking of working for yarn, I could come help you organize your stash and you could pay me for my time with….yup, yarn. (Actually, just being around all that yarn would probably make me so happy that no “payment” would be needed.)
July 11th, 2006 at 8:53 am
Sarah, contact Ida immediately! She is your new best friend!
Oh, and yes, I am always angling for more handspun…
July 12th, 2006 at 1:07 am
As your very wise sister once said, “Will work for yarn.” Just tell me which ziploc bag to put which yarn in, and I’m there. Love the socks. Must buy that book, stat.
July 12th, 2006 at 9:51 am
What I said about Ida? Goes for Lorinda, too…
July 12th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
You know, as I told Ida, I actually do *give yarn away* on somewhat of a regular basis. Somehow, this never seems to help the stash shrink as much as one might think…
July 15th, 2006 at 4:09 pm
Wow, that’s a lot of yarn!
July 16th, 2006 at 6:02 pm
I’m big on organization too. Looks like you just need more plastic boxes! Anything looks organized in plastic boxes. And if you number the boxes and keep a list so that you can actually find the stuff inside (out of all the hundreds of thousands of boxes), so much the better!
It always makes me feel better when I see photos of other people’s stashes.
July 19th, 2006 at 4:43 am
Hey Sarah – I have to get dh in here pronto to look at your stash. He, clueless as men can be, thinks I’m the only one with plastic boxes piled to the ceiling. He thinks I’m the only one, that while having all this stash, still “needs’ to make a run to the LYS.
I can remember when a girlfriend hid her overabundant stash in their 4th bathroom. DH never went in there 🙂
And so….we knit.
September 7th, 2006 at 11:34 am
[…] I’m really savoring every minute I have with this Alchemy Haiku, both because I love it and because I’ve decided that there will be no more yarn buying for a while. So the yarn I have (which is admittedly not what you’d call a meager collection, except when compared to my sister’s stash…) must be enjoyed to the fullest. […]
September 14th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
[…] I worked on another little project this week. Remember the stash? Well, Rob moved a cabinet out of the garage last weekend and into my studio space. I cleaned it out, moved it into the corner, and filled it with goodies. […]