Size Matters: Your Yarn Stash

How big is your stash?  How big is too big? I know this is a big topic for knitters, especially as podcasters proudly display their delectable stashes for the world to see….  Do you covet their stashes? Or do you want just enough yarn to finish a project?

A Small Stash

I was once invited by a fellow knitter to go to some new yarn shops.  For me, going to yarn shops means I will most likely find at least one skein of yarn to buy.  I won’t have a project in mind – or I might – but I will usually end up buying yarn that I don’t need because I love it.  

But this fellow knitter was looking for yarn for a project…and wouldn’t look at anything else.  She barely glanced at the samples on display or the piles of hand-dyed yarn…. She was like a man in a store – see deer, kill deer, drag deer back to tribe.  

Since I’m not at all like this, and enjoy looking through overflowing yarn shops, it all seemed a bit strange to me.

A Large Stash

My yarn stash is too big.  I bought a lot of yarns when I was beginning to knit – with even some projects in mind – that were not good decisions.  Or, to better explain it: my tastes have changed as my knitting skills have improved.

When I started knitting, I vowed that socks were never something I would be tempted to knit.  Now, I want to knit all the socks – and to never stop knitting them!  And hence, my fingering weight yarn stash has blossomed.  Thankfully, there are so many things – other than socks – that you can make with fingering yarn, but I digress.  

A Cultivated Stash

I wish my stash was more cultivated.  I would like to have a selection of different weight yarns so that when I want to start a project, I have some yarn on hand.  But the problem is that solid skeins hold little appeal to me; it’s the hand-dyed variegated yarn that always, without fail, catches my eye.  

What needs to happen is training and discipline.  I need to train myself to look at all the yarn, not just the variegated, fingering weight stuff.  Fiber content and feel needs to overrule pretty colors. That’s not to say that solid yarn isn’t pretty – it is!  But my brain focuses too much on multi-colored skeins.

What are your stash obstacles?  Do you regret some yarn buying sprees?

In the end, I love every skein – not up for trade on Ravelry – in my stash.  And that’s what matters – loving what you buy. If you want to see what I’m willing to part with, visit my stash on Ravelry.