Friday, October 27, 2006

Forgive Me, Bloggers, For I Have Sinned

I have been withholding yarn porn and I’m sorry. The exceptionally fabulous Colleen sent me wool - oh so snazzy Star Gazing Farms - for doing my sister’s Christmas sheep. She also included some roving that I really love and have been touching and admiring and contemplating. I received this package full of love and goodness two weeks ago and I've yet to show off the photos. I have pictures of new yarn from Anjelika’s Yarn Store that I haven’t showed you. I have pictures of the finished red Sophie bag. I have pictures of the fabric I bought to line both the red bag and Lori’s purple and green one.

It has been kind of a long tedious week. I’ve done some knitting but nothing worth talking about (i.e. a little silk bookmark for my niece, surrogate knitting of Lori’s square for Grandmother Purl, 3 swatches for my Grandmother Purl square – all of which got subsequently ripped out – and a square for Warming Grace.) It is sort of restless, fidgety knitting. Do ya'll ever get like this?

Tonight after work I have to go help my sister prepare for her Halloween party tomorrow night. I have at last come up with a costume so that is one less thing I need to think about. I will post the pictures I mentioned above over the weekend. Probably Sunday. Katy’s projects always seem to take on a life of their own so I am guessing I won’t be blogging tomorrow.

Show Me Your Wooly Secrets

I am doing a little bit of data gathering. Do any of you have pictures of your stash…pictures you’d be willing to share with me? I’d like to start a gallery of stash pictures. My motives are purely selfish: I need to settle an ongoing “discussion” at my house over whether or not I have “too damn much yarn” (my husband) or if I “can never have too much yarn on hand” (me). If you’d like to remain nameless, I understand and would honor that request. In fact, I have already received pictures from one anonymous knitter and her willingness to share has encouraged me to ask the rest of you. I’d also like your thoughts on a few questions:

1. Does your husband/significant other/additional household members know the whole truth about your stash? If not, do you keep it a secret on purpose?
2. Do you keep all of your yarn/paraphernalia in one location or is it scattered about?
3. Do you have a system for documenting your stash so you know what you have on hard or some other method of organizing what you’ve got?

In the course of doing this, I will show ya'll pictures of my stash and then you will understand why I am firmly in the "can never have too much yarn on hand" camp. My stash is negligible in comparison to some I have seen and/or heard rumors about.

9 comments:

Stephanie said...

You're welcome to take a look at my stash. It's scattered throughout my Flick'r account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/conchobara/). On the first page you'll see some new stash acquisitions, and my recent stash clean up/reorg.

1. Does your husband/significant other/additional household members know the whole truth about your stash? If not, do you keep it a secret on purpose?

My husband doesn't understand my desire to have so much yarn, but he's generally pretty cool about it. I don't tell him about every single skein I buy, but I don't hide it either.

2. Do you keep all of your yarn/paraphernalia in one location or is it scattered about?

It's all in one primary area. You can see on my Flick'r pages the bins and bags that they are stored in. They are in the living room because we severely lack storage facilities in our wee apartment. :)

3. Do you have a system for documenting your stash so you know what you have on hard or some other method of organizing what you’ve got?

Not really. During the recent reorg I was delighted to rediscover some of my yarns. I now have sock yarns stored together, cotton stored together, mohair, etc., but no formal system. I did bag likely sweater-amounts of yarn together.

Kim said...

This sounds like a great project - one I am definitely interested in for the outcome. I am thinking it could be possible that there are better supplied stashes out there than mine.

1. Does your husband/significant other/additional household members know the whole truth about your stash? If not, do you keep it a secret on purpose?
-Definitely not although I do hint about the size of my stash. Everyone has been sworn to not go near my 'secret closet'. I keep it secret on purpose - so I can continue to buy more without hearing the whines of the non-knitters who just can't understand

2. Do you keep all of your yarn/paraphernalia in one location or is it scattered about?
-Generally, the majority of my stuff is in one place BUT I find that if I scatter a bit around, they get used to seeing it and become numb to the sheer abundance (it seems to be working so far. Also, those baskets with fabric liners you have sitting around the house look the same whether empty or packed with yarn!

3. Do you have a system for documenting your stash so you know what you have on hard or some other method of organizing what you’ve got?
-I have an Excel spreadsheet that lists all of the characteristics of my yarns - even the project for which they are intended. This, too, is 'off limits' to those in my household. I shade out the entire line once I begin to use the yarn for a project and if I change my mind, it goes back to unshaded. I know, it is madness.

Ok, next I will send you some anonymous pictures (wink,wink)

Steph said...

Have you heard of Flash Your Stash? It was April 1, and lots of people posted pics of their stash that day. I hope that helps your research. :-p

Dusa said...

Hi Kristy - The link for Flash Your Stash is http://www.zibibboisgood.com/fys/index.html, and like Stephanie said, everyone linked on 4/1.

And seriously - THIS is the wildest stash EVAH. Anyone that has to break it down to ZONES wins!
http://www.zibibboisgood.com/more/fys.html

I'm sooooo sorry to hear about your slow healing. Many good thoughts and prayers are winging their way from here to you!
Dusa

Charity said...

I'll give some thought to your stash questions! :0)

I completely understand your restless knitting. I have times like that, myself.

Spinner said...

I'm not sure my stash would be even REMOTELY helpful for you. It is sadly small (fits in one laundry basket) and I'm pretty good about using stuff up. DOn't worry - I'm not THAT kind of knitter. I just have NO space. Realy. None. So I don't think my pictures would lend credence to your argument.
I'm completely having a scattered knitting week too! Can't settle on a project and don't feel like workign on the oens that need to get done. Maybe this week - i've got some good train time coming up:)

Spinner said...

(apparnetly I can't spell this week either - sorry bout that!

Dorothy said...

I'd show you my stash, but I'm afraid it isn't all that big yet so it might give your mister ammo.
It's not small, but not big enough to use as a "See, it could be this bad!" kind of retort.
I have no system to document and no, the Mr. doesn't know what's all in it. He doesn't really care though. He says if it keeps me occupied and doesn't beggar us, he's happy.

Anonymous said...

1. So far, my stash is managable- two small bags & a bin on a shelf in the closet, other than what I'm working on in my rather large tote ;) My stuff is mostly container in said tote & bin- I made a promise to hubby when I took up another craft that I would stock up on too much (of course, he never defined 'too much')
2. I don't think he even wants to know how much I have- his mom is a crafter as well, so he doesn't know any other way of life- but I don't hide it
3. I've just started using a notebook, since I've found several free patterns I want to do & am tired of loose papers in my tote bag.
This is my 1st visit here- I see we are neighbors (I'm in Tracy) & I'd like to come back to do a bit more exploring. Drop by my garden if you feel so inclined- the gate is always open (I really ought to get that thing fixed one of these days)