Knitters, crocheters, weavers, dyers, quilters and any other type of fiber junkie/artist collects stash.
Stash is the stuff you will work into a beautiful project…someday. Meanwhile, it sits with its familiars, waiting for the day that project comes to life.
Yep, it happens to the best of us. For myself, beautiful yarns are a temptation. One reason to acquire them is because they reflect the beauty and love felt for the craft. They link me to my ability to create.
Like the potter’s clay, they inspire. They are representative of creative possibility, imagination and potential. They entice with visual intrigue and tactile delight. All without any effort on our part. They just are.
Have you ever walked into a yarn store and simply felt better? Suddenly calm or at peace? I have. Yarn stores are my happy place, surrounded by the colors and the fibers I love. To leave without taking a bit of it with me sometimes feels sad. Beautiful yarns in my bag can feel like a talisman that strengthens and grounds me as I step back out into the world.
Yarn stores are a beacon and talk between strangers is common over shared joys and discoveries. “What will you make with it?”, starts conversations, explorations and possibilities, It is a question from which many a friendship has grown. Sadly, the pandemic has cut many of us off from these moments of revitalization and growth.
So I turn to my stash. Taking a memory-stroll through it, I remember where I found this lovely hank, who I spoke to, what it inspired in me. Often prompting, “Am I ready for this one?”
Sometimes a lovely bit of stash will seed itself into my brain and grow over the next few days or weeks. The original inspiration may emerge again, more fully formed and bolstered with the confidence that has come with time and practice.
Sometimes it sparks a new idea, one that needs to be nurtured, considered, tested and brought to life…created. It is this need to create, living in me, that I respond to.
As stash grows, it requires a place to live and something to hold it. A packed bookcase, plastic storage tubs that barely close but stack well, repurposed and zippered bags from sheets and comforters, reusable grocery sacks and even the odd cardboard box are all used to contain it.
Organizing stash is a different effort. By color? Weight? Quantity? How is is all grouped reflects the user more than the yarn. I generally choose weight, with sweater quantities grouped together, but there is no ‘right’ way to do this. It should follow your own methods and support your creativity.
How do you knit? Is yarn always used for specific projects or with more general intentions? Is having options available important to you?