Stash Pressure

On Saturday, in a moment of weakness, I took the group to the stash room.

I shouldn't have done that.

You think you're among friends, women willing to play with wool in weather better suited for Gila Monsters than sheep, and so you show them your wool collection because you think it will be fun, and after all, it's air conditioned in there. And you think they'll understand.  You think that they'll maybe laugh at your little pile of wool that only fills 10 rubbermaid bins. And three shelving units. And several garbage bags.  And five dresser drawers.  Besides the limbo stuff that decorates the back of every chair in the house. You think maybe they'll laugh it off and say something reassuring that you can use as justification to the husband, something like "Oh, that's nothing.  I have rented U-Store-It unit and I'm thinking of an upgrade because I had to get the attendant to help me push the door closed last time I was there."  But no. No one says anything like that.  No one even makes a peep about having a stash.  Instead, you suspect that maybe you have a little too much wool when those same women, those fellow fiber freaks--some of whom drove for hours to be there to stand over the steam pot -- they look at you with that expression that you see on your other friends' faces, the one that means they think you're a bit mad.

In a graceful rush to calm my apparent anxiety that maybe I'd shared too much, Laura changed the subject and asked what it was that I had that I was holding onto out of fear.  What was I afraid to knit and therefore never be able to knit again?  I thought immediately of the Chasing Rainbows Kid Merino that I've been holding onto for over a year.  I've mentioned it before here on the blog.  I flirt with it a lot.  I spend whole days strolling the pattern library looking for the perfect pattern.   They were unsympathetic about my holding back.  Claudia promised that Nancy Finn would be at Rhinebeck and that should I feel that any additional yarn were actually necessary, that I could buy more.  Kellee said that in fact Nancy Finn was counting on my knitting that yarn, that she was starving to death because I hadn't knit with that yarn yet.  That I needed to be done with it before Rhinebeck so that I could buy more with a clear conscience. Then they all held me down and made me promise to cast on with the yarn before the weekend was up. 

See, Claudia? No confiscation squad will be necessary.  I'm going to make Lisa Lloyd's Flyingdales Cardigan out of it, even if the gauge is all wrong. It will be a little work to work out the math for the smaller gauge, but I feel that I need to suffer for my excess, and it will scratch two itches that I've had for too long. 

Meanwhile, the Mermaid socks are finished.  I loved how clever this pattern is, and I love the spiral toe.  I like they way they fit.  I would recommend these for any feet you're making socks for that are of undetermined measurements.  The bias in the pattern makes them very forgiving.  And I feel like I am in need of a little of that right now.

Comments

[carla Hibbard]

Love the socks, I want to try them! However everytime I go look at the pattern in the book the sample pair is so ugly ( I think) and I wonder why I want to knit them. Then I see someone elses like YOURS and I want to knit them all over again!

[--Deb]

Sorry about that . . . awkward stash moment you experienced. Social occasions can be unexpectedly difficult sometimes. The socks, though, are just lovely!

[Norma]

Oh, okay. I forgive you. I wasn't even there, and I forgive you anyway. :-D

[Teresa C]

That sweater will look great, love the swatch. Hey-the socks are cool, check out this photo of a sock, they look like sisters, sort of. (http://soupgirls.typepad.com/photos/getting_the_finishing_blu/trying.html)

[laurie]

casting on for new project + finishing socks = forgiveness/absolution? ;o)

the socks are lovely...and the yarn seems better suited to the pattern than mine (though i like mine just fine the way they're turning out lol)...well done :o)

[claudia]

The truth is that your hubby's stash beats yours all to hell. You've got to work harder to achieve marital parity.

How's that?

;-)

That is a great choice of pattern for the luscious Chasing Rainbows yarn, and I think the style would look really well on you.

[Anne]

Those are some GORGEOUS socks and now I think I need that book. Darnit!

[Debbie]

Those weren't looks of pity or weirdness, those were looks of awe. They were indications of overwhelming feelings of stash envy and even inferiority. I mean, I have 20 balls of Geisha and a few cakes of super soft alpaca wound up and some other random stuff, but that doesn't compare to the lucious pillows of roving and yarn you've got. Seriously. We don't think you're nuts, we think you freaking RAWK! And we're doing our best to catch up.

Oh, by the way, it was actually me that accused you of starving poor Nancy Finn. C'mon, she's relying on you, now get knitting!

[Siow Chin]

Love those socks. There's no longer any excuse for me not to get that book.

[Laurie]

Debbie's right. It was sheer, drooling, envy. We can only aspire. I will help you feel INSTANTLY better at Rhinebeck when you see what I come home with. Then you will understand there was no pity in our faces. Only raw need. Someone who shall not be quoted has said that spinning is better than sex. And we were looking at some great s*e*x t*o*y*s.

[melanie]

It's true, it was Stitchy who accused you of starving Nancy. I think Kellee was slaving away over the steaming pot. That girl needs a medal for that. And Stitchy too, for Most Creative Enablng.

[Laura J]

It might have been Laur_ie_ who asked what you were most afraid of knitting; I was impressed by the question and find it an interesting philosophical meander, but I wouldn't have thought of asking. Now, of course, I will often, in the presence of such perfectly reasonable stashes as yours. You haven't seen mine yet.

Nice swatch, there.

[Lisa]

First of all, I thought the whole point was to amass a stash to fill up an entire room? What else are you supposed to do when you're depressed and the yarn store is closed? Go shopping in the wool room! Flyingdales is going to look fabulous in that yarn! I am so honored. Shout if you need help with that gauge thing. Will you be wearing it on the Wool Arts Tour? hint hint...

[Cassie]

I've been there, with the looks and all. But mostly in the fabric stash showing, not the wool showing. You've got to cultivate a more perverse sense of pride about the matter.

[Juno]

Dunno what you're on about....looked normal to me. Of course I haven't seen it since March. Anything I should know about?

[Lee Ann]

I'm all for Cassie and Laurie's sense of perversity. And I forgive you, too, even though there's nothing to forgive. That swatch is beeeyootiful, by the way...socks, too.

Bah, go spin something. You'll feel better ;-)

[Kellee]

Medal? I don't need no stinking medal...I just want back into the stash room. It's a dream come true, people. A large, air-conditioned room of one's own filled with all the joys and toys of a fiberholic's dreams? *SIGH* Oh, and yeah, I DID happen to notice that you've only got the one room but your husband has two. Methinks you should be taking over that other room up there, you know, what with Rhinebeck coming up and all.

[mamacate]

I'm thinking it's envy. At least you have room for you stash. My fiber obsession, I mean habit, I mean hobby is taking over our teeny weeny little house. Every room in our house is dual-purpose except the dining room (bedroom-office, kids' room-guest room, playroom-woolroom, living room-woolroom-office). I'm there with the envy and I didn't even see it (though I do wish I could have made it, it sounds like a divine day).

[Dani]

Aww.. don't feel awkward about your stash.. we all have one! I love those socks too by the way! How beautiful!

[Ryan]

The socks? Beyooootiful!

[Beth S.]

That cardigan is going to be *wonderful*. I love the color! I can absolutely understand why you'd be reluctant to commit that splendid yarn to a particular project... you want the project you finally settle on to live up to the yarn. To deserve the yarn. (Right?) In my case it's some splendid Mountain Colors alpaca blend. I really want to use it for something, but the project has to live up to it. Alas.

[Julia]

Oh that Flyingdales Cardi has caught my eye before - It's going to be gorgeous in that yarn. Don't be ashamed of that stash room. She who dies with the most yarn wins. Actually I have fears of dying before I have knit all my stash - fears that it will all be just tossed by my loving, yet fiber-ignorant family. Maybe we need a Fiber Memorial Society that makes sure that no surviving yarn stash is abused when a knitter passes. Kind of a Fiber Protective Services. You in?

[blossom]

what a beautiful pair of mermaid socks. i love them!! it adds interest to an otherwise plain stripes.

[Kay]

I really thought you were made of sterner stuff. Naturally they were speechless. You weren't exaggerating, apparently. I wouldn't think you would flinch from showing the greatness that is your fiber supply.

I sorted through my paltry so-called stash the other day and not only was it paltry (it did take me hours but I still say it's paltry) but there is very little of it I still want to knit. Does this make me a bad person--don't answer that. What is the solution? It can't be Stop Buying Yarn. xoxo Kay

[lisa b]

oh the horror!!! please post a picture of you "stash room". i just de-stashed and am selling it all on ebay...it killed me to let go of the dream. the dream that i would actually knit something like 100 felted bags. please buy it! tee hee.