Friday, January 2, 2015

Dealing with My Stash




New Year’s Day feels like a Sunday and I have to keep reminding myself what day it really is. Though my blog day is Friday, I write my posts Thursday night, which in this case means New Year’s Day night.

I don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, diets that are going to start next Monday, or really any change being put off to some time in the future. I figure start right away or you’ll never do whatever it is. So, rather than putting off facing the disaster the room with my yarn had become until after the holidays, I began chipping away at it last week.

I wish I could say I was finished, but there is still work to be done. Even with bags of stuff picked up by a charity and more bags of stuff to take to my knit and crochet group, there is still a lot of yarn. The hard part was to keep sorting when what I really wanted to do was sit down and make something.

I have found all kinds of other stuff, too. Wonderful heart shaped buttons, tons of crochet hooks and knitting needles, pom pom makers, and a whole lot of partially done projects also known as UFO (unfinished objects). It was really hard not to stop and work on them as I found them.

Then I came across some things I made that were kind of ucky looking. A few made it to the charity bag and some went right to the trash. All the endless decisions are tiring, but it is freeing to let go of stuff. I think the hardest part was beginning. Now I have hope for a room with a semblance of order.

It was pretty funny to watch one of my cats walk in the room and look around. I guess he never realized there was a couch under that pile of yarn or a wood floor under all those plastic bags. My mantra has become I will never buy any more yarn until I use most of this up. To prove I mean it, I threw away the ad from Michael’s that showed all of their yarn being on sale.

Finally I couldn’t take looking at all the yarn and not doing something with it, so I took a break and crocheted this scarf. And in the process I used up two skeins of yarn I now don’t have to find a place for. That’s what I call a real win-win!


11 comments:

Susan said...

I did a big reorganization of my stitching supplies in November. My goal now is not to acquire any more stash.

Betty Hechtman said...

Susan, I am looking forward to being able to go "shopping" in my stash once I have it organized. It sounds like you are already there.

Linda O. Johnston said...

I admire you, Betty. That's a great start to the new year, even if it started early and wasn't the result of a resolution.

chkntza said...

The scarf is beautiful. My stash is on a shelf in my linen closet so it is much smaller. When it gets overcrowded I just make the leftovers into an afghan.

Planner said...

I heard that most people abandon their New Year's resolutions by January 17. Not much persistence....

Pretty scarf! I need to do the same thing with my stuff. I am planning to rein my shopping in this year--at least until January 17!

Betty Hechtman said...

Linda, I am so happy I started last week. Now the challenge is to finish before I get distracted with other things. Do I really want bins of yarn in my living room forever? Or more correctly does my family?

Betty Hechtman said...

Miriam, it sounds like you are smart in the stash department. You haven't let it takeover a room.

Betty Hechtman said...

Planner, the cool thing about the scarf is that the pattern said it didn't take long to make and for once it was true - at least sort of. I think the pattern was called a a lunch hour scarf. It definitely took more than an hour, but I finished it with ease while I watched a couple of hours of television.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful handwork!

Ken Teh said...

Beautiful handwork!

Betty Hechtman said...

Ken Teh, thanks for the compliment. I was pleased how the scarf turned out.