Am I there yet? I may have reached the pinnacle in terms of yarn hoarding. I should be all set now if there happens to be a shift in the universe and all sources for anything woolly dries right up. I think I may have achieved SABLE- a term coined by The Yarn Harlot (I think): Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. I won't feel too guilty about this because my knitting is like art to me and yarn is my medium. As long as I have my job and don't have to think about eating this wool for sustenance, I'll keep it.
Today's journey into my stash began innocently enough. I couldn't find a particular skein of yarn in the haphazard collection I call my stash. I've been meaning to get to this mess for awhile now. I bought new containers to organize about 6 or so weeks ago. One single skein led to a complete overhaul; I needed it to finish a moebius scarf I'm knitting. What I found was appalling. Lots, I mean LOTS of unfinished projects. A blanket for my oldest daughter (she is always so appreciative of anything off my needles-that's why she gets lots of stuff). I started that blanket two (maybe 3) years ago. It's past the half way point but I just can't seem to pick it up and work on it. I guess it would help if I left it out. Her green sweater-which is sitting there right next to me-hasn't been touched in 2 weeks. It's mocking me. It's a fun knit and it's mostly done so I don't get why I won't touch the thing.
Then there is a beautiful beige and brown blanket that I started last winter but lost interest in. It wasn't turning out the way I expected. I think I should frog that and salvage the yarn for something else. There is another sweater I began in September 2007. A friend gave me a beautiful bottle of Chilean wine with a card that said I couldn't drink the wine until the sweater was done. Guess what? Yep. Wine gone-sweater in time out. The lace portion of the bodice has been deemed a pain in the arse. I know I came to that conclusion while under the influence of Chilean grapes. I'll ponder the sweater's destiny soon because the yarn I bought for this is too pretty to go to waste.
There's a bag of red Plymouth Galway yarn for a top down, no frills sweater. At least that's not been cast on. Yet. Seeing it there gave me a yen to at least begin this thing. Miracle of miracles, the pattern was in the bag with the yarn! There are other half cooked projects and then, there is all the yarn I bought with nothing particular in mind. It's there because it's pretty. Or soft. Or soft and pretty. In the soft and pretty category are about 10 skeins of Mo. I'm thinking of that cute mohair sweater in Stitch and Bitch-maybe a few sweaters. There's an awful lot of mohair in my stash. There's a small box (in comparison to the others) that's full of acrylic. That's my baby or wool allergy box. Not too much in there. I'm thinking of donating the contents. I'm sure there is someone that would make good use of that box. If you want it, let me know. I'll send it your way-really-it's just languishing in the nobody will use me box. I'm such a heartless wool snob. There really are some pretty acrylic fibers out there. I just don't like the way they work up. Wool is my thang.
The sock box is the best box of all. It's stuffed full (when I finished filling it, I had to sit on the box to close it) of Lorna's Laces, Jitterbug, Regia, Ty-Dy from Knit One-Crochet Too, Smooshy, Noro, Schaefer, Lambs Pride, Bearfoot and truly, I don't recall-even though I just sifted through all of it. I simply can't part with anything in that box. Some is duplication. Those would be the fibers, colors (or names of colors) that appeal to me and I buy one skein as a gift and one for me. On some, the labels have fallen off, leaving me to guess the fiber and color. Can't be helped now.
Here is a picture of the scraps I've salvaged for the birds and squirrels. I'll recycle a potato sack , fill it full of the yarn scraps and hang it outside for critters to shop through for their nest materials. Hopefully, I'll be able to look up and see the remnants of socks, purses, scarves and sweaters next year. I love this idea.
My reorganizing is done for the day. I ran out of large storage containers so some of my stash is still in boxes and bags. As for the single skein of Mountain Colors Moguls that got this project off the ground? Found it.