And the yarn...

A comment came in last week, when I remarked I was going to a yarn shop, even though I had "too much yarn": "I refuse to believe there exists such a concept as "too much yarn.""

I have to admit, if I had had more energy and motivation, I would have dragged out alllllllll of my yarn stash - the totes of sockyarn in the guest room, the tubs of someday-sweaters in my sewing room - and photographed it, to see if it did, in fact, look like "too much yarn." (But as I said: no energy to do that). But I do own a lot of yarn.

But then again:
it makes me happy

I'm not spending money I don't have on it - yarn is 100% bought with "disposable income" money

As my mother is fond of pointing out, I have few other vices - I neither smoke nor hang around in bars (as if. I cannot even imagine myself doing that), I don't buy fancy electronic gadgets (my cellphone's special feature? It makes phone calls.), I don't eat in restaurants all that much, even.

I do wind up eventually digging at least some of it out and knitting it up - I'm currently working on a pair of socks from yarn purchased shortly after Simply Sock Yarn opened - it was a special Lorna's Laces colorway done just for them, in their trademark pink and brown. And I ran across a ball of Opal "Wintermarchen" yarn that I decided I want to use for my next pair of just-simple socks.

But there is a sort of funny psychological quirk among some knitters and quilters, to want to deny that they keep a stash. And there are some people who just DON'T, and that's fine - there are people who only buy supplies as they need them for projects. (They are also usually the lucky sorts who have multiple sources of supply within their town). And there are some who either are, or pretend to be, actively disgusted by the idea of other people having a stash of yarn or fabric - that it represents a sort of materialism and greed, I guess. I don't know. I cringe a little when I read the occasional blog-post or Ravelry post criticizing someone for keeping a lot of yarn or fabric on hand. (Of course, I also cringe - even harder - at the comparisons to the people on those "hoarders" shows. Actually, I think it's a matter of degree - I'm sure to someone who lives in one of those sterile stylish boxes of an apartment, I look like a tacky, hoarder-type with my little cottage with its brightly-painted walls and lots of pictures up and lots of books on the shelves, and stacks of rubbermaid tubs of yarn in my storage closet.)

I dunno; I just generally cringe when someone sets themselves up as a tastemaster and figures that what they are doing, how they are right and everyone else is wrong.

Yeah, I have a lot of yarn. And I admit, I sometimes feel apologetic about it, especially since it's probably something I'll have to consider the disposition of in my will (When I get around to writing one, and yeah, I know, I really need to).

Then again: there are people out there who have even larger stashes than I do (and who are far, far less self-conscious: I think it's interesting that the woman in question was comfortable with (apparently) stripping naked, covering all the strategic bits in skeins of yarn, and allowing herself to be photographed. I could never do that, and not because I'm thinking of something idiotic like planning to run for elected office someday...)

But she also has this to say about those who would naysay her stash: "I think people are entitled to their opinion. I’m not too interested in what people say. I’m not hurting anyone and I love to knit for charity. I’ll be knitting some helmet liners for the military this year and some of the blogs I read have causes they knit for. I like to participate in those. Lastly, it’s my hobby!"

(Two things there: I wish I did have more time to knit for charity. And I also especially wish I was better at being disinterested in what people said - and not just about women with large yarn stashes*.)

(*Heh. I'm now thinking of the "Huge tracts of land" joke from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail.")