I've discovered that I HATE stash!

[Roli]

Yesterday I was cleaning out my RV in preparation for trading it in on a new one and I found that I was drowning in stash! I had single balls of yarn and thread everywhere. Some were left over from projects and others I had purchased when they were on sale.

 

I found that I really don't like to go back to a yarn once I've used it in a project and I don't enjoy small projects. I guess I just enjoy starting with new yarn! Now that I've identified this trait in myself I'll stop buying those sale skeins and will get rid of all the mismatched stuff I have. It's incredibly freeing!

 

Is anyone else like me or do you all hoard yarn?

[nucki]

Well, I wouldn't say that I HATE stash. But nor would I say that I'm a "hoarder." I can't be - my budget has always been way too tight.

 

I can, however, say that if I have small balls of yarn, I eventually DO find a use for them. It might take me a long time (years, even), but I keep them and eventually use them for SOMEthing. Most of the time, I buy just enough yarn to complete a project. But even then, I've been known to underestimate how much I'm going to need and find myself having to go back and get more.

 

I think for me, it's my polish blood and upbringing. My grandmother raised me and taught me that you never throw anything away. You never know what you might find a use for.

 

That might be why her house is stuffed to the rafters with clutter, though.

[Karen C.]

Actually, I do get very frustrated with myself and it is freeing to finally find a new home for yarn no longer wanted. It would be extremely freeing for me to get rid of odd balls of yarn and remnants of my acrylic hoading past, but I'm very selective about how my stash is handled. I like to know that my yarn is going to a good home eventhough I'm adopting it out:lol

 

I find that when your stash is out of control, you never know what you've got and where it is. Rather than sort through all the hiding places in my closet, when I need yarn for a project, I just go buy more and that's how I end up with so much. I rarely impulse shop for yarn with no project in mind anymore so that's helped some.

[Addey]

There are two main ways my stash grows: projects I bought yarn for but never did and abandoned, and sale yarn that I couldn't resist but had no project for. Like Suzi, I try and only buy enough yarn for a particular project. I don't have much extra cash laying around to put into yarn. That's not to say I don't stock up sometimes on standards I use all the time, like Caron SS white. My problem is I'm fairly picky about yarn, not quite a snob but picky, so once I find a brand/type I like, that's what I stick with.

[crochet_hen]

I am a shameless hoarder. I think it comes from being military and living in some overseas places where it was hard to find the yarn I needed or it was too expensive to buy! Now that my husband is retired and we are back in the states (after 18 consecutive years overseas) I am going a little yarn crazy and having a hard time turning down yarn from any source. I do know what you mean about starting with fresh yarn though, it is amazing how I can dig through the ever growing stash and not have just the yarn I need for a new project! Plus once I have worked on a large project, I don't really want to work with that same yarn again. Still, I have this fear that if I get rid of it, then it will be the one I need!

[chrispersmom]

Yeah, I don't use the small bits as much, I have thought about going to the scrap crochet a longs and looking at people's wish lists. Maybe roak the stuff I wont use to someone there. Better than letting it just lay there and not be used. The small bits of thread that I get, I always use them for bookmarks or ornaments. But, I do tend to enjoy small projects like that. I don't like little scrap afghans though, too many ends to weave! Lazy I guess.

[Auntie Kellie]

I love stash, I hoard all my left over bits because I never know when I might need it. I was told by stepmom I get my pack-rattiness from my father.

 

Having kids around a lot, I keep even the tiniest ball of yarn in case we feel like making sock puppets or other little crafts that could use some yarn trim. Perhaps you could donate the smaller balls of yarn to a boy's and girl's club or day care center for their arts and crafts.

 

Hugs and Cookies

Auntie K

[lhasaapsolady]

I have many odd skeins and balls of yarn from projects I've completed. If I don't find a use for them my daughter will.

[shuttlebuggy]

I hate stash toooo but am also toooo frugal to part with it ---- you know I might need it someday mentality?! I too like to start fresh with new yarn and that is why my scrap fur poncho is in the craft bag with just a partial hood preventing it from being finished!

I can't wait to have no more furry stuff around - it really piled up on me and now I am down to having no further skeins of it or half balls waiting for a project as this poncho incorporated it with some mohair scraps I couldn't bring myself to throw away either!

[vonnie]

I take the smaller balls of left over yarn and make them up into 6 or 12 inch squares, I do this while we are traveling and I don't want to think about a complicated pattern, then when I get enough I just put them together and donate the afghan. This keeps me busy, keeps the yarn used up, and does good. If I find a yarn I don't like I bag it and drop it off at a "goodwill" type store at the next town we stop in.....keeps my stash down and keeps me busy.

[mizduck]

[mimicat]

It is sometimes shocking, when we clean out our cabinets/drawers and all the places where we hide our stash - how it has multiplied through the years.

I dont know yet what to do with leftover yarns/threads, but I know that I dont want to get rid of them yet. I have already given some of it, to one who really makes use of scraps. But I'm not giving away everything, thinking that I'm going to need it someday

I have somehow managed to control the accumulation of leftover threads, by purposely creating designs that finishes up the ball of thread. So far, I made a belt, and two kinds of purses.

[darski]

 

couldn't agree with you more

 

I like little bits of yarn because they make an entire sweater or an outfit for my little people. fortunately, Dora is not a bit fussy and wears everything I make her; Sunnie * my new sweetie* is a bit on the fussy side. Oh well.

 

Really, I do use those little bits so I don't mind them and what I am making is completely different from the original thing that I made.

[sammimag]

I'm not sure if I hate stash so much that I have found that I like to buy yarn only if I know I have project to use it for or if I want to get a skein to make swatches to see how it will hook up for something in the future.

 

If I like the yarn and color even if its bits and pieces I'll likely keep it because I can use it in freeform crochet. My dad (he crochets!) passed on some of his left over stash and I ended passing it along to the thrift store because it was only a skien of this and that and not my favorite colors.

[Mandys76]

I love my stash, I have a very special relationship with it.

 

For me, it stems back from my childhood. Even as a child I loved to crochet and knit, and I'd use anything I could get my hands on, even frogging things I'd just made so I could use the yarn again.

 

My parents were very poor, so buying yarn for a little girl to use was out of the question. Once a year though, my aunt would come over with a big plastic bag full off odds and ends that were left over from things she had made. I absolutely adored her for it. I still have the odd ball of yarn from her.

 

Now, financially, I'm in a better position, and DH won't stop me buying yarn if I really want it. However, I always stock up on so much because in the back of my mind I'm afraid a time will come when we can't afford yarn, and I won't have any. So I'm stocking up now, so when that time comes, I'll have yarn to use.

 

It's a stupid thing to do....but I can't help myself, and even DH kind of understands.

[amberslipstitch]

I admit it.....I'm a hopless hoarder!!!! And I am proud of it!!

[tlisley]

Ummm, y'all that hate stash can send it my way!! ROFL!!!

[Shell]

I LOVE STASH! i am often making small items (I've only made one wearable and that was a poncho for Jessi). I like making doll items and such. I am always happy to take other people's "too small balls" as I can generally use them! I am more than happy to work with the same yarn more than once. Wll, I don't really have much choice as I don't have much "stash"!! I do get bored with it sometimes, but give it a few months and a few projects between, and I am happy enough to go back to it

[Roli]

I like little bits of yarn because they make an entire sweater or an outfit for my little people. fortunately, Dora is not a bit fussy and wears everything I make her; Sunnie * my new sweetie* is a bit on the fussy side. Oh well.

 

 

Ummm, y'all that hate stash can send it my way!! ROFL!!!

 

Okay, now that I know who you are...next time I have a hopeless supply of odd balls, I'll simply send them to you!

 

I like the idea of a scrap afghan in principal but Oh, how I dislike making small motifs or squares! I can force myself, though, so maybe I'll try to use some of the thicker yarn for a project like this.

 

In the past, I've donated a lot of yarn to a detention center for young boys. They find that crochet relieves stress enough to allow them to understand some of their aggressive tendencies. The problem with sending them the yarn was that it was VERY expensive to ship my box--over $60! But the boys sent a wonderful thank-you card that they all signed.

[cupcake]

I hoard, and then every so often I have a big clean out and donate it to the red cross ladies at the hospital. They are excited and can make coathanger covers and slippers till the cows come home , I feel benevolent , and I have more room in my cupboard to start again. Everyones a winner!

[angelfire]

with me I am trying to make small balls of stash. I need a minimum of 21 different colors to make an afghan that my DGD picked out from a Herrschners book. It is wonderful and I really want to make it for her for her b'day...but I think it is going to take me along time to get to that point. I only buy yarn for projects. I have been gifted many skeins but not enough to worry about...So I hope that my stash grows by little balls of scraps.

[CrochettingMama]

The same thing happened to me and a few yrs ago I donated my half skeins and balls to a shelter. I gave hooks too.

I like starting with fresh yarn as well and have only made a couple scrap blankets.

But I do plan on making the stained glass window afghan.

I hoard yarn though, but i always buy enough to complete a project!

[eurolyons]

Well Roli, I'm in the middle...I do like doing small projects, I do like new yarn, but I don't like having out of control stash...really I don't...and what I currently have right now is starting to drive me crazy. I spent years collecting yarn and fabric and had quite a stash, and I simply could not keep up with it. It is such a trap to get into where you think, "I'll save this, 'cause some day I might need this to make something..." 10 years ago I had to move and put everything in storage and I had to go through my sewing room and get seriously brutal...lots of yarn went (and this is a sad commentary, a couple of trash bags of yarn went to an aunt that had previously been my mom's yarn stash from the 70's!!!!!) as did I can't remember how many bags of fabric remnants I had over the previous 10 to 15 years...It's not that I didn't make a lot of things, I most certainly did...but there's a limit to it all. It killed me to admit that I just did not know if I was ever going to get back into sewing the way I had in the 80's or if I was ever going to fall in love with crocheting and knitting again...and saving all this stuff just made me feel guilty that I was neglecting the crafts...but I had other priorities...

 

I go home to Washington State every year and work on going through the massive boxes of my previous life in California...some boxes have not been unpacked since my divorce in 1991!!!! And I've had to be brutal again...some things just have to go...like UFO's that I simply cannot remember what or whom I was making that project for...what was the purpose...more guilt...

 

So, no I don't like having a stash that keeps growing faster than the projects I'm cranking out...at some point one has to declutter...I know what I actively purge things, my creativity and energy levels soar...it's just a necessity for me.

 

Good for you for identifying your traits...

[littleemeraldgreenfrog]

I'm a hoarder with limits -- really hated yarns (that stuff that I will never crochet or knot with ever again because it was such a pain to work with...) or tiny amounts go. I make hats, mittens and dolls clothes so I use up alot of yarn that way. If I traveled in an RV 365 years, I'd have alot less!

[moomooo]

Ohhh My dear : I'm always looking for odd ball and scrap yarns for my charity works.,.. So ladies please if you got yarns laying around that you will not use, please email me or Pm me and we can work something out..

 

I can either pay for the shipping or make you something for it or even swap you something...

 

Hubby is retired and I can't work so I can't always buy the yarns..

I am not a horder nor have a big stash of yarns ...

I do love to use all the yarns and even bits and pieces.. I love to make my fridgies and even mouse toys for the vet clinic to donate them and with just long strips of yarns I tie together and then wind them and I then double it all and make snuggle blankets for the SPCA locally here.. So there is always use here..

Thanks in advance