I've recently taken a new path. Well, sort of "twist" in the path, I guess. I've been teaching knitting, bead knitting and crochet classes around the Twin Cities and St. Croix Valley area since the beginning of September and it has been a rewarding experience.
In my travels to many yarn shops, I've met the most remarkable people, willing to share "purls" of wisdom with me. The latest being the ability to view my yarn stash through new eyes, with a modified definition of the term stash.
It goes something like this:
If you purchase yarn for a sweater and a pattern and you put them together to knit or crochet that particular project, it's a sweater. It's NOT stash!
If you purchase a glorious ball of sock yarn (and can just feel the comfort of those hand made socks on your tootsies), and a pattern or book to go with it, it's a pair of socks. It's NOT stash!
If you purchase beautiful lace yarn and a lovely pattern for a delicate shawl or wrap that is just perfect for it (and you just have to try knitting lace sometime), it's a shawl or wrap. It's NOT stash!
If you purchase lovely yarn and beads for a beaded scarf or moebius and the pattern to knit a piece just like the the sample at your local yarn shop. It's a beaded scarf or moebius cowl. It's NOT stash!
If you purchase some wonderful handspun or "just have to have" a gorgeous new colorway in your favorite alpaca, but you don't have a pattern or an idea for what it will be, that IS stash. And that IS ok!!
Get the idea? Ok, now breathe a sigh of relief and gaze lovingly at all those projects just waiting for to be transformed by your skilled, gentle hands. You will get to them someday!
So, now that I've identified and separated real projects from what you thought was STASH and depleted it, why not take a trip to your local LYS in order to see what's new and replenish it a bit? It's ok to feed the stash and be Stash Happy!!
