Stash... what stash?

It started innocently enough. A few balls of yarn to make random squares, all bought for ultra-reduced prices and none of it very good. Then it was a ball or 2 of the more expensive stuff, just to try, you understand. Then crazy hit and it spiralled out of control. I have a fair amount. Not the most I've seen, but also not exactly buying for a specific project. It ranges from cheap to expensive (or medium priced to those was larger budgets - 2 skeins of some of the stuff here could feed us, as a family, for a week (£30 total). Most of it is very very pretty and I do enjoy looking at it while contemplating all my option. Everything has a rough idea set aside for it, but all too often I get seduced by something else before it comes to fruition. I was (and am) buying quicker than I can knit.

A lot of my stash has been bought from charity shops (best buy still remains the 7 Jaeger Alpaca for £2!), some from friends and some from freecycle.  It contains a variety of fibres, though I wasn't fond of bamboo so sold it on.  And now with the added problem of 3 bags of fleece (which will eventually be bona fide plied and dyed yarn), I am running out of room!

There were 2 solutions to this horrifying problem: knit faster or stash-bust by crocheting everything I am unlikely to use into blankets. I already knit pretty fast now I've managed to somehow teach my fingers how to knit continental (previously I knit in continental 'style', but I still threw my yarn over the needle, but now I seem to do it textbook (as long as we ignore my purling)), so stash-busting was my only option.  Rather conveniently, not long after this revelation, Another showed me how to crochet at stitch n bitch last week.


I am not the biggest crochet fan - I love blankets, but have yet to see something wearable that has been crocheted, so I will probably work on blankets or similarly small projects.  It feels good to be doing something other than knit, although the pangs of guilt over stuff I should be knitting are starting to hit, but the pangs of guilt at not crocheting also hit when I'm washing fleece.  I think I am just a person who feels guilty over pretty much everything!


Sadly, the stash doesn't end with yarny items.  I have, in the past, had an 'thing' with fabric - not a 'problem' but definitely a 'thing'.  I have sold a lot of my fabric in the last year, so it no longer embarrasses me that I have boxes of fabric that sit not being used.

I had a short but sweet love affair with jersey fabric for a while (pictured right).  I had lots of different patterns and grand plans of hoodies and trousers.  Hoodies and trousers never materialised (may have been because I didn't sew them), and the guilt got to much so sold off a lot.  I kept my favourites and will make something with them one day soon!

Cottons are where my heart lies, it's just a shame I don't have the talent to turn them into anything decent!  Again with the grand plans, I was going to do skirts and dresses and cushion covers.... you know how this story goes!  I am quite fond of recycling our old clothes into something new, so I keep anything that might be used again - old pyjamas, t-shirts, jeans.  Seven of the cottons I now have are from Ikea and are just gorgeous, so I am planning to buy more from Ikea when we go next.  I really want to learn to sew curtains, but need them to be lined, but one day Ikea will bring out fabric that will scream 'bedroom curtains' at me and the rest will be history - we will have the wonkiest curtains in our village, but they will be gorgeous!

I know for sure I'll do something with all of this one day, I will not limit myself to project bags!

Let it be known that I do not have a problem with hoarding. Ahem.