Meditation on a Yarn Stash

It's official. My yarn stash has out-grown its assigned container.


And here is the yarn I have stuffed into my knitting basket:


I know many of you super-stashers out there are saying "you call that a stash?" In my defense, I offer the following:

1. That yarn is packed--I mean packed--into that 18 gal container as tightly as possible. There is a lot of yarn in there and the lid is has to be smushed down in order to get it to lock (but it doesn't).
2. Up until recently, I have mostly been a project driven knitter--that is, I buy yarn for a specific project, knit the project and throw out any remaining useless lengths. This aspect of my knitting self has evolved a bit. I have a single pet skein of Inca Print that lives in my stash only to make me happy.
3. Finally, I have not been knitting that long--only since the Fall of 2003. Building up a respectable yarn stash takes time.

Now, we live in a small condo with limited storage space. The container for my yarn stash lives in the PAX wardrobe workstation where I have my 2 computers and all their accouterments--you know: keyboard, mouse, usb hub, switch-box, cd burner, speakers, printer, scanner, software cd storage, computer books, paper, cables, cables, cables, etc. etc. Thank goodness I have the PAX workstation. I can close up the door when people come over and hide this disaster. But I digress. I am talking about stashing.

There is room in the workstation only for a single 18 gallon storage bin, so if I want to add to my yarn stash (and you know I do--there is a Fiber Festival coming up), I will need to do one of two things. Either ditch my computer and his companion, along with all their coincident slag, or I will need to find somewhere else in my house to stash my yarn.

What about here?


This is my fabric stash and I am letting it go. That's right--I've decided to give up sewing. At least for the time being. It takes too much concentration to sew properly and with two little ones, I just don't have it in me. This is also why I don't knit lace. I will keep my sewing machine, of course, and maybe in a few years, when the children are older, I will come back to sewing. But for now, all that cut fabric is taking up premium space that can be utilized for yarn and I am going to be ruthless. Once those bins are empty I will have 4 (!) bins for yarn and a place to store them. I'm going to go get my timer and Flylady the heck out of them.

Stash enhancing excursion, anyone?