Yarn stash vs. yarn hoarding

[mizduck]

Ok, so I'm really trying to rationalize this because I have a guilty conscience! Whether it's at the store or in your closet, you'll be buying it eventually...might as well have it at home where you can visit it and pet it without having to leave the comfort of your PJ's.

[Ladykats]

Ok, so I'm really trying to rationalize this because I have a guilty conscience! Whether it's at the store or in your closet, you'll be buying it eventually...might as well have it at home where you can visit it and pet it without having to leave the comfort of your PJ's.

 

I couldn't have said that better. I love visiting my yarn in the middle of the night when the house is quiet and everyone else is sleeping. Then it's just me and my yarn. :bheart

[addicted to yarn]

I try to only buy yarn I have a project for, or buy "staple" yarn, in basic colors, that can be adapted for many projects.

 

I will not buy yarn because it's:

 

on sale

pretty

I like the colors

I don't have anything in my basket and feel like I should buy *something*

 

I must you for having the restrain not to buy just cause. If something catches my attention enough I might have to grab it. Although I am a bit of a scrooge, if it is more than $3 I really have to need it for a project!!

 

My pile is just waiting for me to see the project within! I look at hoarding as only wanting it for yourself and never using it for anything. My stuff will get use, it may not be until I am 105 but it will get used!!

[Trinket]

Yarn addiction = buying yarn you probably will never use, just to have it, buying yarn just b/c it's a "good buy" or "on sale" (yeah, b/c yarn never goes on sale again - I have to tell myself that all the time), hoarding yarn - i.e. buying it, looking at it but never making anything out of it.

 

Uh oh! Looks like I have a yarn addiction!

[furball1234]

OK

 

This is a very interesting thread. I started with 5 skeins of yarn ONLY for projects. The two persons I blame for my stash are my mother in law and best friend. First off my mother in law(will save the best for last:heehee ). My grandmother's nextdoor neighbor had an attic filled with yarn. My MIL came back with 10 skeins of yarn for me for FREE(well she paid for them I got them as a gift......for just being a sweety:devil ).

 

Now for my best friend. She had accumulated over the years 4 bins of yarn. SHE definitely was a YARN HOARDER! She brought all 4 bins to my house, dumped them all on the floor and told me to have fun pickin'. Now I have 20 skeins of yarn from her. My of yarn has grown tremendously and I think I am just starting to become a YARN HOARDER myself. SO the stash busting CAL I think will put me where I need to be. This was perfect timing.

[Elle]

My birthday is the 19th of this month, but I start celebrating on the first. DH asked me what I wanted for my birthday this year, did I want gold jewelry? a ring? what? and I said "yarn". He giggled and handed me $300 and said "go for it". I plunked the money onto my debit card and I have spent the last four nights upon coming home from work at 11 GLUED to the computer in search of my prize!

 

I hit Ebay and bought some skeins of novelty stuff, mostly eyelash for the PlanetJune critters (I bought myself all of June's patterns!). Then I went to Smiley's and spent $60 there buying a lot of the stuff that was on sale (it came to 48 skeins), THREE trips to Joanne.com for various yarns and 8 bags of fiberfill for stuffed critters, two trips to a craft site to buy a couple dozen pairs of eyes in different sizes (the site owner was a doll, he realized that I had made two orders and actually called me on the phone to tell me that he was refunding my shipping for one of the orders and shipping them together!), and I bought 20 skeins of eyelash from another site (can't remember the name) that was on sale for $1.99 a skein (all really pretty, bright colors that will make great bears!). I started to feel pangs of guilt about buying so much yarn and I noticed that Smiley's had not yet debited my card, so I emailed them and cancelled that order. I told DH about it as he was walking me back to our apartment two nights ago after work and he got MAD at me and said "as soon as you get changed, we're getting on the computer and you are going to GET THAT YARN! He MADE me go back and reorder it, although I was embarassed to order it from Smiley's again the night after cancelling it, so I found what I had ordered there on another trip to Joanne.com. It ended up costing $15 more than the stuff from Smiley's but DH was insistent, so I allowed my arm to be twisted and I bought it.

 

I have given $10 each to three of my friends who frequent yard sales with instructions to "buy whatever yarn you see", and on Monday when I'm off, I'm headed into town to hit the dollar stores to see if they have anything there I can grab. Next month it won't be my birthday any more, so I will be back to my regular monthly budget for yarn, and I'll spend every dime of it because there are so many things that I have on tap to make and I want to have the best possible selection to choose from when I decide to make a given item.

 

As far as I am concerned, as long as someone actively crochets and MIGHT have a need for yarn, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH YARN!

 

Elle

[TX CrochetLover]

Thanks to the Amazon sale on TLC, I now have a pretty big stash.

I don't have a roomful LOL!, but more than I have ever had. But, like I told my DH, I have plans for all of it. It make take a while, but it will be made into something for someone!

So, I agree with some of the others, if you actually make things with the yarn, it's a stash. If you just sit around looking at it, it's hoarding.

[crochet_hen]

As far as I am concerned, as long as someone actively crochets and MIGHT have a need for yarn, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS TOO MUCH YARN!

 

Elle

 

Amen Sister!!

What a fabulous birthday present!

[rina]

I justify almost all yarn I buy with a project in mind. And I am a sucker for yarn sales. Yup. Of course, I have a lot of projects in mind all the time. Take, for instance, my recent trip to Michael's. :yarn :yarn Came home with enough yarn to fill a grocery bag and am wondering where to put it, since all my baskets are already overflowing.

 

But it all has a purpose, I swear!

[Elle]

Amen Sister!!

What a fabulous birthday present!

 

I know! I my hubby! He truly understands me.

 

Elle

[lindamry]

There was an article in the Winter Knitty about this: It's not a stash. . . it's a collection

 

A fun article and true no matter what craft items you collect!

 

Linda Y

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

Shame Yarns – These are the yarns that humble us. We cannot throw or give them away, because to do so would force us to admit to having them in the first place.

 

LOL!!!!!!!!

[RachelChochet]

I'm trying to trim my stash but latley I've been a hoarder.

[leesespieces]

haha elle, happy early birthday! my birthday is this thursday. =) my fiance's parents and grandmom gave me like $80 for my birthday, and since my aunt and i share a love for crochet, she's taking me yarn shopping the morning of my birthday!!! aaand my fiance promised that as soon as we have a day off together after my birthday, he's taking me up to a big ac moore! =D =D =D

 

so i started a stash-busting afghan to make room, LOL, except, i started a certain color combo (pastels and white, it's double-stranded), and it's really pretty, so now i want to go buy more pastels and white and save all my other yarn for something else LOL.

 

so that's why i have a stash. i buy tons of it every chance i get, and everytime i try to start a "stash busting" project, i end up needing more yarn because i like the color pattern lol.

[Elle]

haha elle, happy early birthday! my birthday is this thursday. =) my fiance's parents and grandmom gave me like $80 for my birthday, and since my aunt and i share a love for crochet, she's taking me yarn shopping the morning of my birthday!!! aaand my fiance promised that as soon as we have a day off together after my birthday, he's taking me up to a big ac moore! =D =D =D

 

so i started a stash-busting afghan to make room, LOL, except, i started a certain color combo (pastels and white, it's double-stranded), and it's really pretty, so now i want to go buy more pastels and white and save all my other yarn for something else LOL.

 

 

A very to you! Enjoy your shopping trip! I hope it's a successful one!

 

That's hilarious that you started a stash-busting project and now have to buy yarn to add to it!

 

Elle

[furball1234]

There was an article in the Winter Knitty about this: It's not a stash. . . it's a collection

 

A fun article and true no matter what craft items you collect!

 

Linda Y

 

 

Very interesting article! SO EVERYBODY! If you are guilty with your yarn don't be. Yes it is a hobby but yarn can also be a collection. So don't fret. The article made me see my yarn in a different light. Thanks for the article Linda.

[Beaglelady]

I have a large clear tote with yarn in it. But I don't just go out and buy yarn because it's on sale or pretty. I usually have a project in mind. Our house is small and I just don't have the 'storage' room to do it. NOW, I have a friend with a raised ranch house. She has her bedroom and across the hall is a room that she sits and crochets and knits. The closet ---- is nothing but skeins of yarn on the shelves. Top to bottom!! and she has 2 book cases filled with all sorts of books. To me that is a yarn stash/hord. Besides working on her own projects, she makes hats for the nursery at the hospital and lapgans to donate to nursing homes.

She has offered many times for me to come and borrow pattern books.

[dkswife]

I have four big plastic bins with lids that holds all my yarn. It's ridiculous, but I cannot stop myself.

 

I was on a self imposed yarn diet, but then Knithappens.net had a huge blowout sale and I couldn't resist purchasing several balls of DB Baby Cashmerino. Oh well....

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

At least when we fall off the yarn diet wagon, we're landing in a soft pile of yarn.

[Trinket]

There was an article in the Winter Knitty about this: It's not a stash. . . it's a collection

 

A fun article and true no matter what craft items you collect!

 

Well, now, that's a real good point there! People collect everything! Stamps, toy cars, dolls, sea shells, rocks... Why not yarn, right??

 

And, you know, yarn even has the "rare, hard to find" types in it's collections, too! Like limited edition or special issue yarns and yarns that have been discontinued, but everybody loved it!

[WendyLee]

I have a rather large "collection" of yarn. Some I have because it was beautiful (and expensive) and I figure someday I will make it into something extra special. I just haven't found that something as of yet.

 

Most of my yarn can be made up into just about anything. I just need to get to work and stay out of the shops so I don't buy more! My dh has given up and just shakes his head.