Cataloguing My Yarn Stash

Well, another Sunday and instead of going to the Whitney and taking in the Biennial, I decided to review my yarn database (yes, it's true, I've catalogued most of the yarns I own), to see what projects to do with them. I've sadly discovered a yarnoholic's truth, that my comsumption for buying yarn has outpaced my creation of items with that yarn and unless I face reality, I'll be in the business of selling yarn, not legal services. The answers of what to do about the ever burgeoning stash quickly spring to mind, but the choice is illusive. Like Jared Flood's blog post, there are categories of yarn in my stash.

First is the "down with the ship" I'll never part with these yarns. These are the yarns that I tend to gaze at the most, fondle, dream about, always trying to think up the perfect pattern for their own yarn perfection. You know these yarns, they are Jade Sapphire's cashmere, any Hand Maiden yarn, Anny Blatt cashmere's, Karabella margrite, real Harris tweed yarns, coarse and wooly, Tao silk, those cashmere yarns I bought from the Italian ebay seller, most of them are luxury yarns. These are the yarns that my projects come from. I have great joy working these yarns and giving gifts made from them.

Then are the proletariat yarns, the ones that I've acquired in my 40+ years of knitting, most are wool, most are worsted or dk weight. Many of them are in sufficient quantities to make a sweater, baby blanket, etc. But most of them are not chosen for projects.

Then there's the non-proletariat, quirky, bulky, glitsy yarns that aren't in the bottom category, many of them were once in the 1st group, but have been ousted because they don't fit, it might be the wrong season, not enough yarn, too bold a color, etc., but I think I can make some good projects with this yarn, if I just find the right pattern, recipient, season, etc. Love by Filatura di Crosa comes to mind, a great fluffy bright colored yarn, but my current pattern craze is cables and it doesn't do cables well.

Then, the bottom. Most of this will be dispatched to senior citizen centers or donations. This is the acrylic I bought for babies, the cotton yarn that is terrible to knit and stretches out. This category gets smaller and smaller every year.

I think I need to stop buying yarn and start working of the over 479 database entry yarns I have. I'm a fast knitter, but my time on this planet is shortening. Ebay here I come.