Stash, that glorious wonderful thing, that home to a thousand dreams and the temptress to lead so many knitters astray.
I love yarn, it is warm and squishy, it is the embodiment of possibility, will it be a scarf or socks or a sweater or a baby toy? However, because of all this possiblity I think of yarn as a kitten I have adopted, I need to keep it safe or make something out of and if, unexpectedly, I fall out of love with it, it is a spurned lover haunting my thoughts and my queue.
Part of the fun of knitting is that you get to buy stuff, and you get to enjoy new yarns and tools, however if your stash is weighing on your conscience, every yarn purchase induces more guilt. For those with a SABLE (Stash Beyond All Life Expectancy) there is a kind of shame that seems to go around with growing the stash even further, despite the fact that you have means to purchase all that yarn without any sacrifices.
This brings it all back to me, I don't have a SABLE, I have a nice stash, but it has been giving me angst, mostly because I feel like yarn should be FIFOed. For those of you fortunate not enough not have a parent who uses technical terms at home or haven't worked in food service, FIFO stands for First In, First Out. So when you get something new it doesn't get stocked right away, you sell the oldest stuff first and then stock the new stuff. So as I have applied this mindset to yarn, when I find something new, gorgeous and scrumptious and I order it, I end up putting it in my stash until I have knitted up some of the stash that has been marinating for longer.
But this has put me in a position where I feel stuck with yarns that I don't love any more, that weren't of a quality of fiber I appreciate today. But that since I brought it home I HAVE to knit it. Heck, I have crocheted two baby blankets from yarn I didn't love, but felt obligated to use up.
So, while it wasn't one of my 2012 goals, I think I am going to try to be not as hard on myself about my stash. I am going to let go of the yarns that make me feel guilt, be that through donation or destash. I started doing this last week at our Georgian Bay Fiber Guild swap, I managed to get quite a few yarns that were weighing heavily on me off to new, happy homes.
Also, I am going to work with some of the new fibers in my stash, letting myself get taken in by a beautiful skein and project without feeling like I am betraying all the yarn that has come before that perfect new skein.
Now time to get more of it moved out and to work with some of the new yarns I have coming in, including Tanis Fiber Arts 2012 Club and the Indigodragonfly Smart Ass Knitters/World Domination One Skein Club which will start up in June. Also, that box of SweetGeorgia yarn that showed up at my door last week.