Living simply is hard when you’re a knitter! Have you read some of those memes out there? I really love the one that says “I’m not going to buy anymore yarn….and then I laughed and laughed and laughed all the way to the yarn shop!” Yeah, that’s sort of me! It’s soooooo hard though! There are just so many beautiful beauties out there and I just want to give them a home.
The problem is, I don’t knit them up as fast as I can buy them! Don’t get me wrong having a stash is IMPORTANT! You need to have one...and I mean...it's my work right? But I know there are some skeins in there that I don’t love, have passed their time, need to be used….but I know I never will.
I'm A Hoarder
My problem is, I’m a hoarder. I can tell you a million reasons why I might need that, or use it someday. The problem is is that someday rarely comes! So my yarn sits in their baskets, cramped and suffocating, as I stack purchase after purchase on top of it. Seriously, I can't even pull out a skein without 20 of them crashing down off my shelf.
It all came to a head this past June when Amanda of Little Bitty Delights and I hosted the Stash Dive KAL. I was taking some promotional photos and one of them involved taking my entire stash and filling my kids kiddie pool with it and “diving in.” Well, my fingering weight yarn ALONE filled the pool to overflowing. (It was two large garbage bags full….yeah, that’s a lot!) I finally admitted that my husband could be right, I might have a problem!
Help! I'm Living In My Grandparents House!
Then this past year my house has just gone from bad to worse. I’m tired of always tidying up and never actually being able to keep things clean. Enter Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” Have any of you read/listened to it? I realized (after the 10th time listening) that I needed to do something quickly otherwise I was going to end up with a house like my grandparents!
I made a resolution that within the next six months I was going to go through each category and purge myself of the things I don’t love. Keeping only what truly brought me joy. So that’s what I’ve been doing! Following Kondo’s recommendation I’ve started with clothes and gone through all the clothes in our household. We now only have what we truly love….and I can now shut my closet doors!!!! It’s amazing.
But I want More Yarn!
It’s time. It’s really time to pare down my stash to only the skeins that I truly love. I know it’s going to be hard...but it needs to happen. I really want to use my stash as opposed to just having it languish in baskets and bins and never being used. I want to leave that guilt behind for good because, I want to buy more yarn! Lol Because when I go to buy yarn I want to know I’m going to use it as opposed to making random impulse purchases!
Let Your Yarn Stash Breathe
Starting January 14th for 5 days I’m going to go through my stash and pare it down to only the skeins that I truly love and that bring me joy. Then, I can display my beautiful treasures so I can see them. I want to free them and let them breathe.
If you want to join me I’ll be hosting a 5 Day Stash Love Challenge January 14-18, 2018. We’re going to free our yarn stashes, our books, magazines, and notations. Then, we’re going to organize them to perfection and display our treasures to enjoy. Lastly I’ll be giving you a free gift to help you maintain your resolution throughout the year!
Join The Stash Love Challenge!
If you have yarn languishing in the bottom of your closet or crammed into drawers and baskets then this challenge is for you! If you long to cast on something new but fear pulling out a skein because you’ll have to reorganize the entire shelf then this challenge is for you. If you have a huge rush of guilt over each purchase because you have 50 skeins at home calling your name….this challenge is for you. If you want to leave that guilt behind, enjoy your beautiful stash, and actually knit from your stash then this challenge is for you! Join me and let's love our yarn stashes!