Thursday, February 28, 2008

Yarn Stash

This year, 2008, one of my 'hopes, goals and intentions' is to use up my yarn stash and not buy new yarn. (Oh, how hard it is to focus on this goal when I see the delectable yarns on blogs and in the daily emails from Knitting Daily.) The Professor has been making noises about the size of my stash, commenting that I have enough yarn and unspun fiber here in Willow's Cottage that I could not possibly ever run out of yarn, enough if I never bought another ball of acrylic, silk, wool or cotton yarn the rest of my life. He has a point.

There is a modest wooden five drawer dresser in the guest room closet that is filled with yarn. One drawer contains the acrylics, another the wool blends, yet another the wool yarns in all weights from sock to bulky. Some of it is unused, new skeins, although there is plenty of leftovers from finished products. I estimate it will take several years of constant eight hour a day knitting to use up the dresser drawer yarn stash.

I also admit to owning three large plastic boxes stuffed to overflowing with unspun wool and llama fiber. I cannot deny that I have already spun a lot yarn from other large plastic boxes stuffed to overflowing with fiber.

I must be honest and tell you about the baskets of natural, undyed, handspun softness that I have placed in strategic spots around the cottage so I can walk by and run my hands over the skeins and think about the llamas named Black Beauty and Ebony who gave me their fiber to turn into yarn. I can push my fingers in between the strands and remember what it felt like when the llama and silk blend was slipping through my fingers, twisting onto the bobbins, and then was being plied into a wondrous creamy two ply sport weight yarn. It feels so good to just touch this yarn that I may never knit it into anything--it is already perfect the way it is.




Then there is the Cowichan wool from Vancouver Island, Canada, that I bought in Victoria in 2003 when The Professor and I were evening guests of my Cherokee friend Singing Bird and her husband and, before we drove out to Butchart Gardens, we visited the 'back room' of a trading post and I chose a large (huge, actually) bag of luminescent silvery grey wool from the shelves of undyed genuine Cowichan wool rovings. It will take many, many evenings of spinning before I run out of roving. And how many hours of knitting will be needed to turn the Cowichan yarn into sweaters, socks or afghans?



It may be between 2011 and 2020 before I NEED to buy another ball of yarn.

Unfortunately.

16 comments:

Elizabeth said...

But look at all the potential for making wonderful, exciting things....!

Willow said...

My next step is going to be to dump the whole stash on the guest bed and see what happens when I stir it all up and let the creative juices flow.

Reflection Through The Seasons said...

I know exactly how you feel, but its fabric with me. Have a good weekend. Marion

roxie said...

Won't you need the occasional bit of accent color? And what if a grandbaby needs a RED sweater? Would the Professor deny the poor child a red sweater just because you don't have machine wash red wool in your stash? What's his problem, anyhow? Does he need the dresser for his underwear or something? How extraordinarily unreasonable of him!

Your llama and silk yarn is droolworthy! Soooo pretty!

Tess Kincaid said...

Hi Willow! I have officially changed my name back to willowmanor. We wouldn't want to confuse bloggers everywhere! ;) I found your Willow's Cottage and it is lovely.

Anonymous said...

That yarn is so beautiful all by itself. I used to wonder why I can't just pile up a bunch of yarn and call it art. Why not?

Knitting Linguist said...

Wow -- that is some gorgeous yarn. And really, some of it isn't yarn for knitting, it's yarn for looking at and petting; therefore it doesn't count as knitting stash. You may still need to purchase the occasional skein of something else to compensate ;)

BTW, thanks for the view of kindergarten chez Willow! Your students sound much better behaved than my colleagues, alas.

Sara at Come Away With Me said...

Your post is a poem to the sensuous beauty of yarn! I have a new appreciation for the lovely stuff. And the photos are great, makes me wish I could reach out and touch those skeins...I love touchable things!

Flower said...

You have a lovely habit. Someone needs to keep extra yarn just incase something should happen to all the other yarn in the world! :))

Jane said...

Ah a girl needs a stash for inspiration. Mine is in two large zippered bags and yes i have still bought another two balls for a project i'm doing at the moment. Jane x

Islandsparrow said...

Isn't all that beautiful yarn part of your decour? Sort of like pillows??

I'm the same way - but with books!

kate said...

So much beautiful yarn ... but, it is hard to resist adding the odd skein ... such is the nature of any collector!!

You are an incredibly talented woman. I think it's cool that you took up dyeing on top of spinning.

Anonymous said...

That is beautiful yarn! I can't wait to see what you create with it.

Bethany said...

I was chuckling at the memories of where everything came from! It is amazing what can be associated with a little (or a lot!) of wool!!! Good luck with the new years' resolution. I'm sort of doubting it...but your a prolific knitter so it won't be that long until it's gone!!!

Beth Leintz said...

I agree with the knitting linguist-yarn isn't just for knitting- its for having and collecting. One of the great joys I get is buying some new yarn and all the possibilities it brings with it- even if I never get around to actually putting it on the needles.

Just found your blog and have enjoyed it very much!

Mary Sheehan Winn said...

The yarn is beautiful!