THE POWER OF STASH

http://www.yarnhacker.com/ (This sure looks like my yarn stash!)

i admire people who are well organized and whose homes are not overcome with clutter.  But, I’ll never be one of those people.  Lucky for me, my husband is very tolerant of my ‘collections’ – which we crocheters refer to as our stash.

I have several crochet stashes – books and magazines, yarn and thread, hooks and accessories, WIP’s and FO’s.  Yarn is by far the most plentiful and obvious.  I’m fairly good about corralling my book and magazines on bookshelves.  I also stash my printed off patterns in three ring binders to prevent losing them.  Of course, the day will never some when I use all of these patterns.  But, they seem as essential to my crochet as yarn or hook.

My yarn is not terribly well organized.  I have it in large Rubbermaid type boxes, in clear plastic blanket bags, in cardboard boxes and grocery sacks, on shelves and in crates.  It’s everywhere!  And, it’s not sorted by weight or color or fiber.  I do try to keep all of one color together – or all of the yarn I purchased for a project.  Actually, I have a rather large section of the basement and most of our sitting room devoted to nothing but yarn.  Most of the thread is stored in several collapsible mesh laundry hampers which don’t take up that much room.  Clear containers are best so that I can see what I have.  But….if you crochet, you know that no matter how much yarn or thread you own, there will not be the right color, quantity, or fiber for the next WIM!

With all the books and patterns I already own, you’d think I’d have every conceivable pattern on hand.  Wrong!  The draw of new crochet books and magazines is irresistable!  I can’t stay away from them!  This is clearly an addiction!  Fortunately, my crochet friends fully understand this – and have been known to aid and abet.

This looks my messy stash of crochet hooks:

http://crochetalong.wordpress.com/2008/04/04/chrocheted-crochet-hook-holder/

Another enabler is my husband.  He always wants me to have whatever I want.  When we go into any store, he always seeks out the yarn and shows it to me.  If I’m trying to avoid spending more money on yarn, he will undermine that every time, especially if there is a sale!  Gotta love that.  I’m a fool for love and yarn!  And, he’s a keeper (after 33 years of marriage, I guess it’s good that I feel that way, right?).

There are times when I don’t have the energy to crochet or don’t have a compelling project in mind.  When that happens, I pull out a batch of old magazines or crochet books and browse through them for inspiration.  It is so relaxing to me – and I almost always find something that sparks a desire in me to pick up hook and yarn.  A new magazine issue or a newly published book is a bonanza!  Makes me feel like Christmas morning.