I previously had little to no “stash”, I’ve only recently begun to foray into quality yarns.
OMG I’m completely obsessed now. I got some great yarns and I take it out (of its hiding place so my h won’t see how much I got!) just to admire it and it makes me happy to see it.
I have no idea what I’m going to knit with it.
A problem is that I also got this book of wrap patterns and I love it (“Nature’s Wrapture”) and want to make a number of the patterns…and I can’t stop looking online for some of the yarns mentioned.
I do NOT need to buy more yarn! I don’t even know what I’m doing with the yarn I already bought! I’ve only got 2-3 skeins of each so they wont’ work for a wrap.
I also ordered a ball winder and swift on ebay.
And my interchangeable knitting needles arrived today which also was very exciting.
I really need to not keep spending money on knitting stuff, at least not until I have a plan for some of the yarn I’ve already got. It’s just I really want to make one of these wraps even while I’m already knitting a pair of socks…I often feel that not ever project is right to knit in every situation.
It’s weird it’s like that yarn sale totally woke something up in me! I’m a little scared. LOL
There is, unfortunately, no going back now. There are no half-way houses for yarn addiction and interventions by caring friends and family members are rarely successful. That’s mainly because they all have their list of things they want you to knit for them.
Quitting “cold turkey” isn’t an option, either, since a cold turkey only inspires visions of hand-knit turkey sweaters to warm them up!!!
I could tell from your purchase of a yarn swift and ball winder that you have become a serious knit-a-holic already. Your future will most likely involve an ever growing collection of gadgets and accessories as well as yarn.
And eventually, you’ll be shopping for special furniture in which to house your collection. (I have a 7-shelf cabinet, curved-top chest and several bins, coffee cans and Pringle containers for needles already, along with a stuffed bookshelf and many files for patterns, etc…) From all indications, you will probably outstrip me shortly in that department.
You may not realize just how all-encompassing this addiction is, but it will become clear to you when you find yourself buying up boxes and boxes of gallon sized zip loc bags to protect your yarn stash from hungry moths.
No one you know will dare approach you with any suggestion that you might be going a bit overboard because you will always be armed with sharp pointed skewers and it won’t bother you one little bit if some critic happens to fall on them. The needles and most yarns are washable so no harm, no foul!
Welcome to knitting, Dearie. Don’t expect any of us to discourage your passion for the art form. All we’ll do is egg you on!
And: no, they do not help you. YOu sit in their meetings and after a few minutes, everybody whips out their knitting and you seen that one beautiful yarn over there… no, YAA-Meetings have not gotten me sober.
The size of my stash has sobering qualities. But the yarn itself… OMG.
Welcome to the circle of mad girls. Frolick around, but do not expect pitty. We all are on the hook, ehm, on the needle
lol I feel you. I have now taken over an entire spare bedroom recently with my knitting paraphenalia. The queen size bed is covered in yarn in those awesome zip plastic bags ArtLady told us about but I got a huge lot of them off ebay for cheaper but still great quality. Knitting became a very fast addiction for me and I LOVE yarn now, I love walking into the room and seeing all of it laid out and just flipping through things to get ideas. Luckily my bf enables my knitting problems…he encourages it and he is always suggesting new things I can make.
oh yes. My husnband really is supportive. Totally. He never complains about new yarn, he thinks good and pretty tools are essential to any craft or art so he even buys them for my birthday and such (KnitPicks, the big set!!!)
But at some point he asked: "isn’t there anything in your stash you can make this out of?"
I looked, found that: no, not really. And went to the shop. He did not mind much. Just that little damper.
Then I came across a girl on ravelry and her talk about judging her stash. She weight the yarn and came up with something like 25 kg (that were not counting the yarn in her attic). My husband will never think about stopping me again.
All he does these days is praise a certain yarn and ask if it is designated to a certain project and who that will be for. If I can not tell him that, he starts thinking about options. He has gotten good with judging the purposes of yarns.
My sock and synthetic stash will get reduced because I joined a KAL on ravelry for knitting for hospitals (preemies and sick babies). That will be fun and useful and it is charity. So maybe my boxes will empty a little of all the little leftovers and colors I just do not use. And then I can fill them again with useful stuff and new ideas…
I used to be an avid reader but now I can’t pick up a book and finish it because my hands are full knitting most of the time.
I have another addiction: Knitting patterns. I don’t have much stash but I have stacks of patterns that I will never knit. It makes me happy just to look and dream. I also cruise Ravelry at night for the patterns alone.
I have recently been thinking of an extra set of KP nickel plated options.
At least this midlife crisis is cheaper than a porche and a young stud!
Oh no, there should ALWAYS be time for reading! Even if it’s just at bedtime, read! I encourage reading as much as possible when the subject comes up.
I also spend hours browsing Ravelry. I just love looking at everything and as you said, dreaming of all the things I would like to make yet knowing I never will. Too many possibilities.
OMG! I never thought of moths getting my yarn! What kind of bags are they? regular ziplock bags? Freezer bags?
I thought it might be a bad sign that I was SO excited about the yarn sale. I talked about it for days beforehand. I had a plan to get there at 9am, upon opening. I couldn’t sleep the night before I was so excited.
Then I got nervous and thought I’d maybe look like some kind of hopeless obsessive if at 9am the shop owners found me there with my nose pressed against the glass. So I forcibly restrained myself and got there at 9:30am and the place was packed! Standing room only! I wondered afterwards if there was a line outside before they even opened.
AND I went to the sale three times. The 2nd time was because it wasn’t till I was almost done the first time that I realized the pattern books were on sale too…and I had run out of time to look because I had an appt to go to. So I paid for what I had and said I’d be back.
I went back the 2nd time to look at the books though didn’t find another one I wanted…but the 3rd time I went back (and this time made a special trip, from home, the 2nd time I at least was still out and near the store!) simply because I was having obsessive thoughts that maybe in my probably 90 mins spent in the store, I had somehow missed some special yarn that I very urgently needed.
And since I’ve been google searching online to find other yarn shops with sales on. I was up till 1am last night trying to find a good deal on Colinette Jitterbug because there is a wrap I want to knit from it.
Before I had this little ottoman that opened up, for my knitting stuff. I have this morning commandeered a whole seating bench as well. It’s not full yet of course but…I have plans.
I have a friend coming over today, I’m going to show her my stash. I doubt she will understand. She knits too but just a bit.
I even took pictures of the new yarn with my iPhone and emailed it to another friend who doesn’t knit but she says she loves yarn and has sometimes been tempted to buy it just because it’s so beautiful.
I have an urge to get her a “how to knit” book now, I feel confident there is an inner knitter in her, waiting to be released.
I am really on my FIRST project with really nice yarn. First time using a skein rather than a cheap ball of Red Heart or Bernat or whatever.
So I had no freaking clue it was any different knitting with a skein. I didn’t [I]know[/I] you were supposed to wind it.
So I’d set out really happy, and started just casting on from the skein and started knitting my test gauge. It got so horrifically tangled I thought I was going to have to throw the whole thing out.
Luckily we had a family gathering to go to with my in-laws and those things are like watching paint dry sometimes (one time I, my d, and my d’s friend, sat in a row on the couch, all crocheting, with my h on another couch, untangling d’s yarn), so my h volunteered to untangle the yarn while I worked on a different project (i had four on the go at the time, though one is now completely finished and two others just need the ends woven in).
He did manage to get it untangled but it was awful.
The second ball I wound by hand and it took a while and still towards the end got tangled though I was able to untangle it.
I figure I really need one of those swift and winder things! Though if it doesn’t get here in time to start my next project I am guessing from reading online that I can bring the yarn in to the yarn shop and probably they can wind it for me?
my god, I thought I was obsessive. I take a bow here. WOW, are you in there deeply.
For winding the skeins: get your husband to help: holding the yarn out like an angle statue and you wind, round by round, no slack. That works anytime like a charm. Just tires out his arms, so don’t do all skeins a the same time.
Honey, welcome to the club! I’ve been obsessessed with yarn for years now, and that was before I even knew what to do with it!! Something about it has always fascinated me…making it from “just yarn” to something beautiful…like a new hat or something. To me there’s just some kinda magic about it. There really is no cure for it. Just enjoy it!
I also searched ebay for just zippered plastic bags and found many options to choose from that are even cheaper. I bought a 12 stack and very happy with the quality.
Do you mean a hank? The kind of yarn that looks like a figure 8 wrapped into itself?
If thats what you mean, I had no clue the first time either. Well, rather I sort of did. I knew that it had to be wound into a ball, I just didn’t realize how much of a pain it was without a swift. I spent way too long with it wrapped around my knees winding it onto my thumb. So sad.
I am so glad I am not the only one with this issue! I don’t have a huge stash of yarn- yet- as I tend to by based on the project I am working on. I do, however, have what I call “practice yarn”, which is generally the Red Heart acrylic yarn that is really cheap and easy to get. I use that for learning new techniques and it gives my girl something to use when she’s wanting to knit. I do, however, have a giant stash of patterns. I’m obsessed with the idea of knitting a sweater, so I have what seems like a bazillion patterns for different sweaters. Most I’ve managed to keep limited to my computer’s hard drive, but the others are jammed into a binder. I do keep them all in sheet protecters though. I have a friend at work who frequents estate sales, and she picked up 2 knitting books from the 40s for me. Love. Them.
The hubster isn’t too keen on having mounds of crafting supplies cluttering the house, but I think he likes the fact that his friends and coworkers come to him often to ask me to knit them hats and scarves.
Thanks Breezed! I’m sure I will be perusing those plastic bags soon. lol
And yes…the hank I guess is what the figure 8 yarn thingees are called, I got it tangled into a huge mess because I had no idea you are supposed to wind them. Won’t make that mistake again!
Yay! Okay I may be obsessed but this is totally working for me today.
I am tired (recovering from a prolonged respiratory infection) and not feeling well enough to go out but I need a break from the socks I’m working on and just felt I need something new to start on. I wanted to make something “bigger”.
I looked at my stash and I have 6 balls of Noro Aya which I had no idea what I would do with when I bought it but I loved it and hey it was 50% off! lol
I searched and found a pattern online for a gorgeous wrap. I bought it and downloaded it.
AND because I’d ordered the Denise interchangeable knitting needles, I know I have the right size of needles even if I need to adjust for gauge. Woohoo!
Going to put a movie on and get started. Now it may be that in the end I’m pulling my hair out because I can’t figure out the pattern (you seem to knit across but also diagonally, on the “bias”) but at least I didn’t have to get in my car and go shopping before getting to the ripping out of hair point. :happydance:
I too was an avid reader until 2 1/2 years ago when I learned to knit. I was so addicted to knitting that I couldn’t care less about reading unless it was reading a knitting book or magazine. Then this Christmas my DH bought me a Nook Color and I can read while I knit. Brilliant!!! :woot:
As for the stash business. Welcome to the club, Crow. We all love to touch the yarn in the store and then it calls to us to take it home. I still leave the store with lots of yarn whenever I dare to enter. I have gotten to a point with my stash where I can go to it when I find something that I want to make. It takes a while, but it will happen to you too. It is nice to be able to do that.
BTW, I also got a swift this year to add to my knitting gadgets…
