Flash Your Stash!

I missed the great "Flash your stash" day, but I thought it was such a great idea that I am only catching up now. The stash is growing at an alarming rate-- my husband may even suggest that I have a problem. I guess the first step to resolving a problem, is admitting it's there... so let's begin the healing process shall we?

My stash kind of splits off into three very different groups:

There's Group 1- The Stash That I Am Not Ashamed Of

Much of what you see here was purchased on sale, and REALLY it doesn't look that alarming in the grand scheme of things. This stash is mostly wool in it's many varieties and mostly sock yarn. There is also some silk thrown in there which I am sitll completely clueless with what to do with it. This is the "natural fibers" collection/portion of the stash that I have stroked lovingly in a store, or had dreams about while I waited for my online order to come in. (The bright and hideous pink and red stuff, as well as the glowing orange- were Mystical Creations Yarn disasters. Sadly, what is seen on the retailer's site is NOT what you get for real. You've been warned.)

There's Group 2- Leftover's That I Cannot Part With

When you spend as much on yarn as I do- it's really hard to tell yourself to just throw it out when you're finished, especially when it's a natural fiber and especially, in case of the blue yarn pictured above, when you have so much of it leftover. My problem that I understand here, is that I over-order, gripped with the fear of running out of yarn. (Because you KNOW that will happen if I don't order more than I need.) Even though I still have not come up with a plan, (and I'm not as crazy as this woman who made a blanket with left over sock yarn), I cannot bring myself to part with this stuff. I remain hopeful that someday, the leftovers will speak to me in such a way that I will know what the heck I'm supposed to do with it.

Then there's Group 3. I don't want to show you group 3. Group 3 is not for the faint of heart and certainly not for anyone who considers themselves a "yarn snob". Group 3 is not composed of natural fibers. Group 3 is The Acrylic Group of Shame.

Group 3 is also the biggest. When I first learned how to knit, I didn't want to spend the money-- and so I bought acrylics. Don't get me wrong- acrylics aren't the devil that some knitters will tell you they are, I still knit all of my baby blankets with it, simply because I like it's durability and washable status. But, they also don't carry the same thrill for me as knitting with a shiny soft silk, or an unbelievably cuddly merio or, be still my heart, Koigu. Yes, stashed in that corner is some cotton, (which again, purchased on SALE), that makes a very lovely Mason Dixon Ballband Dish Cloth, but doesn't really do much otherwise. Much of this stash is leftovers, (again with the over-buying) from baby blankets or purchased (colum 3 with the bright blue) for my Certified Knitters class. I will admit a special weakness in my heart for Bernat Satin acrylic... because that stuff is the closest thing you can come to knitting and pleasure for acrylic. I don't think I'll ever stop knitting with acrylics completely-- but I do admit that a lot of this stuff was purchased over a year ago... waiting for my yarn snobbery to disappear.

While sorting through this yarn for it's photographic debut-- I also managed to come up with another group... Group 4- Garbage.

This was balls of unused yarn from "back in the early days" of my very first project. This is crap- that has no chance of ever becoming anything over than a colorful space occupier. And, so with all the strength that I could muster, I purged. I can't seem to bring myself to toss an unused skein of something that I won't use- but bits and pieces of skeins don't seem to bug me-- so it was very freeing to at least rid myself of some of the stash.

Cataloguing the stash here leaves me with a strong desire to "stash bust". I'm looking for any suggestions, especially for group 3, to use it up and get it out of my stash. I'm not going on a yarn diet yet, (although the budget in a few days may dictate that), but I'm definately on an acrylic diet-- or better, acrylic anorexia.

*sigh* Let the stash healing begin...