Stash!

Let's talk stash. Specifically yarn stash.

Maybe you are one of those ultra disciplined people who only buy enough for one project at a time. You finish that project and then head down to the store to buy just enough for your next project.

I admire you. I used to be like you.

But then for some of us, the collection bug hit. We go into a store and see a yarn we love, we go to a sale, we buy a magazine and find several projects we want to do, and before we know it, we have...

STASH.

We're not talking about a couple of lonely balls of yarn, we're talking...

STASH.

I'll bet that no one has as much as this lady.

The World's Biggest Stash?

That's her private stash. Not store stash. She did an interview later.

The World's Biggest Stash Update and Interview

I'm sure you're all feeling better about your stash, unless you want the Guinness World Record.

Although we call it all stash there's different types of yarn stash.

Leftovers: This is the stash that is unavoidable. It's the leftovers from those projects you made. It may be half a skein. Too much to throw out, but not enough to do something with. If you have a skein or more left over you can make a matching hat, or mitts, or a cowl. But it's the bits and pieces that make up this pile. One day, you will make a crazy scarf out of it all, or an afghan. Or something!

Staples: You know that it's designated for socks but you haven't picked out the pattern. You love lace shawls so you collect beautiful lace and fingering yarns, you just need to pick the pattern. You have a ton of dish cloth cotton and you know you'll make those dishcloths one day. Those skeins of yarn are for scarves. These ones over here are your basic worsted weight that you go back to again and again, and that pile over there is your baby yarn because there's always a new baby on the way. You know where it's going, you just haven't decided on the project. But you are ready for the pattern when you find it.

Ingredients: You know specifically what you're doing with this yarn. You have the pattern, you have the needles, you may have even put it in a special spot. You just haven't got around to making it yet. But you will. You will.

Gourmet: You were in a yarn shop and fell in love with an exquisite skein of cashmere and silk that was way too much money but you bought one ball anyway. You went to a sale that was so fantastic that you walked away with an entire bag of gorgeous alpaca. You have five skeins of that really lovely Debbie Bliss but you don't know what to do with it. One day you will find a use for this yarn but right now, it just sits quietly in your yarn pantry waiting for you. It calls out to you sometimes, and you gaze at it, and you may even go looking for a pattern for it, but the perfect pattern hasn't appeared yet.

Expired: And then there's the stash that you just don't know what to do with. Someone handed you their bag of leftovers. Or you thought at one point that the color was nice but now you don't. You bought up the big box store yarn in your early days of knitting but now you don't want to touch it. There's that skein of yarn that was all the rage but now it's dated. And then there's the project of shame. The yarn that you tried out on a pattern but found out you hated it. Either the yarn or the pattern or both. There's really nothing wrong with any of the yarn. It hasn't gone bad. It's just taking up space. But you spent money on it so it's hard to give away.

But if you give away stash you are perfectly justified to buy new stash!

It's okay. We all do this - well except for those one project at a time people.


One piece of advice. Never show anyone your stash. They will either think you're crazy and want to send you to therapy, or they'll want it. They will bug you about it. They will ask for it. They will pout if you don't share.

I even heard of a woman who would sneak into her mother-in-law's basement where her stash was kept and take what she wanted without asking, because it was in the basement. We do not approve. We think people should have their own stash collections.

Whatever your stash situation, we understand. At the beginning of the year I thought I would go on a yarn diet. No more new yarn until I made a dent in the yarn I already have.

I work in a yarn shop. Do you know how crazy that resolution is? My boss brings in a beautiful line of tonal alpaca and common sense goes the way of the dodo. She has a 50% off sale and the yarn I've been eyeing for months is now in my studio. Kaffe Fassett does a knit along, and I want to knit along. I found a wonderful pattern and none of my yarn works for it.

So it would help if everyone came down to the store and bought yarn so it would quit yelling at me to take it home.

Book Review: Things I Learned From Knitting...whether I wanted to or not - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee

I want this woman's job.

This is another short, stick in your purse, read on your lunch break when you're not knitting type of books. Each entry is a page or three. She numbers them and titles them. "The 4th Thing: Everything is funny as long as it's happening to someone else", "The 12th thing: Three men can keep it secret if two of them are dead" "The 10th thing: babies grow".

One of my favorites is "The 23rd thing: There's no accounting for taste" where she tells the story of knitting in a store on a beautiful cabled sweater while one woman loudly says to her friend that cables are ugly. I won't ruin the story, but let's say that we are all guilty.

Stephanie talks about the generosity of knitters - unless there's a half off sale of yarn. What you can do on a plane if they won't let you knit. And that your yarn stash, as big as it is, is really okay. Another favorite is her very firm letter to her yarn stash.

So if you're like me and love to read about knitting almost as much as knitting, this is a nice little book to stick in your knitting bag or purse (especially if you're on a plane where they won't let you knit.)

Adventures of the Noro Scarf Part 1

The following first appeared on The Crafty Lady blog. I can copy it here because I wrote it.

******

There is some gorgeous Noro lace weight yarn that's been sitting on our shelves feeling neglected. It's been (drop my voice to a whisper so it doesn't hear) discontinued.

Noro Knittng Magazine Premier Issue

Kirameki is a rayon, nylon, wool and cashmere blend that comes in beautiful colors. Noro is famous for its long colorations and unusual pairings.

My scarf and the Kirameki that's giving
birth to it. Color # 164.

 I decided to make a scarf so everyone can see what this yarn looks like. By everyone, I mean the millions who come into the store and read this blog.

 You can't tell by looking at the skeins. The skeins in the same color all look different. If you look at this picture with the scarf and ball of yarn they don't look like they match at all. It's like fraternal twins who have different hair, eye and skin colors and different body builds. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito. That's right. Darny Schwarzenvito.

Scarf at turning point where we stop knitting drunk and
start knitting straight.

At one point after working this gorgeous purple the rust started taking over. Now I'm not a huge fan of rust and I'm thinking rust and purple? That just doesn't work! That's so wrong! As I knit this rust color I kept arguing with my scarf. "You can't turn rust, you're a gorgeous purple. It's wrong! Wrong! Wrong...oh wait." Hot Pink came along and suddenly Purple and Rusty were best buddies.

Diagonal Eyelet Scarf from
Noro Knitting Magazine Issue #

  It's like 1 and 1 equal 67. It doesn't make
  sense.



 This is the diagonal scarf. I picked a Noro  pattern from  the premier magazine of Noro.  Because I was using  Noro yarn. See,  we've got a theme going on  here.


 We have several copies of this particular magazine and several copies of the one that followed.

 The original pattern calls for Shiraito, a cashmere, angora and wool blend. The magazine says it's a fingering weight yarn, but it seems heavier than that. Like a generously sized woman who claims she weighs only 110 and wears a size 2. Shiraito, it's okay to be who you are. We like heavier yarns too. Embrace your ampleness. Artists love fuller bodies.

We do have Shiraito in stock. She's just hanging around waiting for someone to pick her up.

However I chose the lace weight. It's a scarf. You can use any yarn you want with a scarf pattern.

You can use any yarn you want with a
scarf pattern. Well almost. 

I also discovered that I wasn't crazy about the increase on the ends in this pattern, so I ripped it out - it takes me about three false starts to actually get going anyway - like a ten month pregnant woman getting off the couch.  Instead I used a slipped stitch and then an increase. Much nicer ends now!

I plan on keeping you all updated on this scarf. I know you will all be waiting breathlessly for the next installment.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who makes lace weight scarves for the store because somebody has to).

Book Review: At Knit's End: Meditations for Women Who Knit Too Much - Stephanie Pearl-McPhee (The Yarn Harlot)

I wish I had thought of this. I'm a writer. I'm a knitter. I'm funny.

Okay, sometimes I'm funny.

Okay, I'm not very funny but I try.

This is a short little book that reads like peanuts or popcorn. Brief thoughts about knitting stash - there's no such thing as too much, knitting relatives - yes they do come in crazy and understanding non-knitters and their hopelessly void world.

She begins each page with a  quote from a famous person (usually a non-knitter), and then relates it briefly to knitting, and then has a conclusion that helps her do better at whatever she wants to do better at.

For the most part it's funny with some wisdom thrown in.

Excerpt example:

 ****

Ordinarily he was insane, but he had lucid moments when he was merely stupid. - Heinrich Heine

"I have been trying to get my stash of yarn under control. My husband thinks this means that I am trying to get rid of some yarn. In truth it actually means that I have been trying to find much, much better hiding spots."

I will remember that there is more than one way to get control of an issue.

****

Each short musing takes one short page. It's a nice book to tuck into your purse or knitting bag when you have a moment. I've become a big fan of this woman and I'm on the lookout for more of her knitting essays. I just wish I didn't have to give this copy back to the friend I borrowed it from.

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee is a Canadian writer who writes about knitting. Her blog is at Yarn Harlot.

Sigh, I wish I had a cool nickname.