Ravelry & Yarn Stash

I received an invite from Ravelry and set myself up as ReneeR. Great!

Now it's time to log my needles and stash. This should take a long time - so call me Sisyphus today. Logging and itemizing is not the tough part... it's getting across the room to touch the yarn and record it! My family seems to think my sewing/quilting/knitting room is not My Room, but the only drop zone in the house for homeless items destined for charity donation. I can't list the things, that have Nothing-To-Do-With-My-Hobby, sitting on the floor instead of the trunk of my husband's, my teenager's, my car, ready to go to a new home. That list would take more time than my stash's.

Yesterday, a group of us discussed our inventories:

1. Who had the largest stash.
   I nominate this woman.
   
   I wish she would adopt me!!!
   See more at Word's Biggest Stash.
2. How to hide yarn from your husband.
   One woman was caught hiding hers in a rental unit. (He probably found the bill and investigated.)
3. What hubby thought about so much yarn.
   (I'm safe as you can see by pics of my husband's hobbies.)




4. And...what constituted "too much."
   
(by UFO?)

And here's my honey playing his new toy, the dobro he made. Turn the volume on and listen to the Texas Moonbeam Waltz. YeHa!

Building A Yarn Stash

Building a stash is a hard thing to do for a beginner -- mostly a matter of what & where. What type of yarn do I buy & how much? Where do I go?



When a friend mentioned a yarn sale in Spring, TX; she could have told me we would visit the dark side of the moon -- Greater Houston covers Such A Large Geographic Area.

I made plans the night before. I knew I wouldn't go That Far Away For Yarn anytime soon. OK, which patterns do I add to my list? OK, calculate the yardage sizing, add the pattern name and yarn weight/stitches per inches. Armed with a shopping list of Multiple projects -- you never know what you'll find -- we went, we saw, we stockpiled.

Why, oh, why is the number of available skeins just one short of the pattern requirement? I went through four yarn choices (each short one) for the Oat Couture Celtic Cardigan alone. The lime/teal yarn combo above is the Santa Fe Shawl for my mother-in-law. The coral/lime/pink yarn is for my husband's grandmother.

So, an all day trip to Twisted Yarns and also the Hen House netted my first yarn stash for 2 shawls and 4 sweaters! Since I have always bought end-of-season for the following year, it made sense to do the same with yarn -- especially since it will take that long to knit for Christmas!

Support Your Local Yarn Store (SYLYS)

Thirty years ago, there weren't a variety of yarns available. I remember well -- I crocheted and did needlepoint at the time. Now, we have so many choices! Eye-candy!! What would the knitting community be like with only a generic, big box store selection? I've added a pic of my favorite LYS, Nancy's Knits -- great expertise, wide variety, and conveniently located south of the Galleria (5-10 minutes away for me)!

I couldn't ask for more -- well maybe I could, two additional hands.

And yes, I have become a yarn snob.