I came across this post the other day on Freshlypressed and I was really inspired. Not by the length (I was plain awed by that) but by the content. This girl has a lot to say and she really hits the nail on the head here. Sometimes crafting is more about consuming than it is about making stuff. Nowhere is this more true than in the world of knitting. Or at least in my world of knitting. We stash. Most of us stash – a lot. If you’ve read my blog before you know that I personally collect all sorts of gadgets, bags and containers for my knitting. Most of which, by the way, end up as dog chews or, worse yet, sucked up by an undiscriminating vacuum cleaner.
We are flooded with e-mails announcing new yarns, new patterns, and the ubiquitous yarn sale. We are tempted into believing that the “Wollmeise”, the “Malabrigo” and the “Tosh” are knitter’s gold and we can hardly call ourselves knitters if we use anything else. We troll marketplaces like ETSY and convince ourselves that “upcycled” yarn is really the only way to go. Using it will somehow make the world a better place even if it has to fly half-way around the world to linger in our stashes for months (or years) before it gets turned into something other than a ball of yarn.
So, in an effort to be less consumerist about my knitting I have unsubscribed from all “sales” based knitting websites. No more “sale” announcements, no more “just arrived” temptations, no more “limited colorway”. (I heard of another woman doing this once but I’ve no idea how it turned out as no one has heard from her since, hmmm yarn mafia maybe. I’ll watch my back for a while until I know it’s safe.)
Then I decided to go a step further and take a closer look at what I have and what I need (yes, I know “need” is probably a stretch). I have a list of things I’d love to knit and I have a stash of yarn but, unfortunately these two don’t really work together (never happens to you right?). I know one can rework gauge and all of that business but sometimes the yarn is just what it is. Such is the case with (most of) my stash. In my own defense, I have to say, that a good deal of my stash has been gifted to me in one form or another. Some of it was purchased on sale and some of it was purchased with particular projects in mind that either didn’t work out or have never gotten around to existing in the first place and most of it is lovely and will, god willing, one day, be turned into beautiful hand knits.
And then there’s this stash:
These are all completed sweaters. Sweaters I painstakingly knit for myself at one time or another. They have been in my wardrobe for ages, most of them, and, although there is nothing wrong technically with any of these sweaters, they do not get worn. Each of these sweaters is either A) the wrong size or B) the wrong shape for my current figure. I love these sweaters though because each and every one of them taught me something about myself and about knitting. I feel, however, that it’s time to let them go. Time to move on and learn something new. Time for operation redo! So, in an effort to reduce my carbon (to say nothing of my financial) footprint, I will start increasing my knittable stash by frogging one sweater at a time, as needed, and make it into something better, something not just pretty or impressive but also useful. I will learn from these yarns again and they will make me a better knitter one more time.
I’m not saying I’ll never buy yarn again. I love the ladies that own my LYS and I want them to continue to be successful. I can walk to their shop (even in the worst of conditions) and I can sit and knit there with them and I can buy my yarn from them, thereby making their work more gratifying and my life more rich in experience as opposed to chock full of stuff I won’t ever use anyway. After all, the thrill of buying new yarn wears off pretty quickly but the gratification of sitting and talking with other knitters while I ply my craft never fades.
And speaking of plying my craft…..
My most recent FO is this adorable crochet bag by Eclat Du Soleil available at Annette Petavy.com for which I used roughly four skeins of Cotton classic by Tahki Stacy Charles.
This was a really fun and satisfying project and made for good TV watching. The stitch pattern and color-play were both enough to keep me interested without being so complicated as to prevent TV watching or a bit of discussion (politics excluded!). This pattern includes directions for making three different (but kinda the same) bags and I’m sure I’ll make another as this one is going to be my new (non-purchased!) knitting project bag. I did buy the yarn new though-well a girl can try anyway…..
Knitish 