2008 Here I Come!

What, you ask, does that cute little picture of a squirrel storing nuts away in her hidey-hole have to do with me and this blog? Hah! Should be obvious!

As I look around my office--or, as we will refer to it here, the stockroom--what I see is 40+ years of storing nuts, er, yarn, away for the winter.

What the heck was I thinking? I'd like to be able to tell you that I was extremely prescient and knew that one day I'd be happy to have yarn to knit from because I had no money and all the time in the world to knit, but I can't lie to you. Nope, I just kept buying because I love the stuff and can't resist it. (I wish my savings account reflected this same commitment to stash-addition.) I can look at these yarns and say to myself, "ahh, I bought that at Stitches at Valley Forge, many years ago."

Well, okay... now is the time for the squirrel to take some of these nuts out of the hole and start working her way through the hoard. Last year I foolishly thought I would join the 2007 Knit From Your Stash movement. Nah--far from reducing the stash, it grew exponentially. I lost my mind, I think. For some reason, the minute I tell myself I can't have something, I MUST HAVE IT. (My weight demonstrates that this practice is not limited to yarn.) This year, with no paychecks for the foreseeable future, I better get going on the stash.

The two yellow baskets are just lace yarn. What the heck was I thinking? I never even knit a piece of lace until February 2007---how could I have accumulated all that lace yarn? Let us remember: I don't even WEAR shawls. How many could I possibly need? I'll have to start using lace shawls as wall hangings, or wadding them up to use as hot pads and dishcloths, for God's sake!

And, by the way, look at all this crap....er, uh, stuff. And this is only most of it, not all of it, just the office stuff. There are several more baskets of yarn in the bedroom. So, two things: First, it's a mess. When we moved into this house, a couple of years ago, it was beautifully organized and clean, and I was really proud of my well-organized stash. Everything was tidy and most of it was contained. Now there's stuff every whichwhere, tossed up against things, flung across the top of shelves, stuffed into drawers, crammed into baskets, falling out of boxes and project bags. That needs to change--how can I even begin to use this stuff up without being able to find it?

Second, it tells me that I've been buying carelessly. It's a sure sign that you don't value something properly when you bring it home, toss it into a basket or bucket, and never think of it again. I can feel my mother twitching in her urn, trying to get out those familiar words about starving children in Armenia. Do you think there are desperate knitters in Armenia just wishing they had my stash of fuschia acrylic and purple mohair?

NOTICE: I am going to TRY to knit down the stash. You heard me: I am going to TRY not to buy yarn and use what I have. I have 40 years of yarn, folks! I should be able to find SOMETHING to knit.

Exclusions: I'm sure if I get to SAFF and MSW, I'll buy. There's just no way around that. But I can be a lot more discriminating--I don't need to come home with stuff just to have it. And if I have to buy for a specific gift item, I probably won't have a choice. And, needless to say, patterns don't count. (At least I don't have to stoop to Wendy Johnson's obvious quibble last year--she said "sock yarn doesn't count." Luckily I have--literally--yarn for about a hundred pairs of socks, so I don't have to make up any crazy exceptions for sock yarn.)

So, I have lots of lace yarn, LOTS of sock yarn, and enough worsted and sportweight yarn for at least one major sweater and two or three vests. I have plenty of both wool and acrylic to knit for charity--CIC needs all wool but there are many charities that want acrylic hats, etc. for washability. I should be able to knit for awhile before I feel the pain.