I’m travelling away from home soon to attend my sister’s wedding. While I’m very happy and delighted that my sister has found the right man, and it’s wonderful to celebrate their union, there’s a slight twang of anxiety starting to happen.
It’s the yarn collection (aka The Stash). Can I bear to be away from it? The last time I went away, I took three large black bin liners of yarn with me. There wasn’t much room left in the trunk for luggage…
Admittedly, then, I was going away for a month, and had yarn to show family for proposed projects for them. But even then, I missed what I had left behind. I missed the colours and textures. The comforting feel of woolly goodness. The silky tumble of alpaca. The soft purry cuddliness of possum… The ability to dive my hands into yarn whenever I wanted.
Going away presents exciting opportunities for yarn acquisition (one cannot pass The Wool Company without stopping…). I’ll of course be taking projects to knit for the four days I’m gone. It seems very silly. And I should just get to grips.
BUT WHAT SAY SOMETHING HAPPENS WHILE I’M GONE? What say the house burns down? What say I get burgled? What say…
“Mum! It’s not like someone is going to steal your yarn! And you’re not going to be away forever!” says the voice of reasonable daughter. A large guffaw comes from the son at the thought of his mother worrying that someone will make off with her lovely stash… Huff. They just don’t understand.
On a normal day, I sit and knit, and write, and dream about yarn. Sometimes I fume at it when things don’t go right. I can go and look at a particular yarn that I’m thinking about, and confirm its potential for the possibility I am thinking of. I can pull yarn from its cubby and combine it with other yarns for colourwork potential, or yarn combinations for projects involving more than one yarn. I can switch projects immediately when the one I’m working on is giving me more trouble that I want to deal with at the time. My entire waking day is surrounded by yarn.
But who will look after my yarn babies while I’m gone???
Just added to my stash by ordering from the Wool Co.!!! My niece is in NZ at the moment – one of the lucky ones to have won a Marmite trip home
– so she will bring it back for me!!! Yes, even when working on one project, I am constantly thinking about what to do with ‘the stash’.
Cool!! I do hope you enjoy working with it! It will be a lovely addition to your yarn collection.
Are there recovery groups for people like us?
But do we want to recover!? ;-p
I’LL look after it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *wicked laugh*
ha ha ha bin liners with you is EXTREME! I took one carry bag full when I went away for three days (two spent on the bus) and thought I was addicted…. you win the prize! you are the best!
:OD
You ARE a yarn addict!
I’m not quite so possessive about my yarn stash, most was given to me by Mum and is not my first choice of yarn anyway! But most of it is irreplaceable because it is a) old, or b) has a nice memory – like the Mum’s homespun from the black pet sheep that my sister used to knit my Dad a jersey that was too short so Mum unravelled it…..!
I have to admit I couldn’t travel without my knitting, being the sort who can’t just sit there doing nothing. I especially love long road trips in the passenger seat!
Have a great festive season!
My goodness, this is exactly what l do when l go to QLD to visit my daughters & grandkids & even for a short wkend away to a dogshow..One plastic storage box stuffed ”CHOCKA” with the fave yarns..Just in case !!! l now have at least 8 large plastic storagwe boxes stacked to the brim..But all edited, so l know ( l think !!) what l`ve got..But then one just cannot too much yarn.. Certainly didnt stop me last wk in Sydney going around all the yarn shops l could manage to get to..And just Ohhh & aaahhh at the colours & textures.. So pleased l am not alone.. Best wishes, Hahnsmum .
New England, NSW, OZ
A kindred spirit! Thanks so much for sharing. I don’t feel quite so alone either now!
Oh – I think there are MANY of us who can relate to that! When I travel (which is infrequent), my biggest fear is that I won’t have a knitting project to work on. I can pack a sweater project that’s just BARELY started and still worry about it. Consequently, I take 2-3 WIP…you know – to have an easy one, hard one and one just in case! You are not alone! Kathy
That’s one of the things I so love about being a knitter – finding people who are the same when it comes to our knitting habits! I do the same thing too – one project for the quiet moments when I can concentrate, one for “something to do with the hands” knitting, and one for the in-between times! And then, maybe one or two balls of something I might fancy knitting but can’t quite decide on what yet…