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Licensed2Cook
Permanent Resident
USA
3554 Posts |
 Posted - 10/29/2003 : 07:08:45 AM
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After reading the SABLE posting I got to thinking. What defines a stash? I mean is it yarn with a purpose or without or both? Do remnants count toward the stash build up, because I don't think that they should because you completed a project and therefore are at that point just being prudent and keeping the leftovers. If I have yarn and I know what I am making with it and it's in the line up but I have to finish something before I begin, is it still "stash"?
Share your thoughts on this with me.
Dee |
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Lelani
Permanent Resident
USA
2005 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 07:25:17 AM
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Well, I bet you will get all kinds of opinions on this!! Here are my thoughts: When you have several plastic bins, the ones from Target, filled with all different kinds of yarn from super expensive to super inexpensive,many colors and textures and still running out of room to store this wonderful yummy yarn then i think that qualifies as a stash. I am seriously considering as someone else mentioned on another thread about purchasing a LARGE piece of furniture to store all this yarn. Might be helpful if I could stop purchasing it as well, but oh well!!!! Yes, I have some future projects in mind for some of it. I have good well meaning thoughts for some of it. Some of it, I just kind of like to look at it and dream of things to make with it!!!! I always buy more yarn than i need for a project so that I can add these left overs to my growing stash. Who knows I might want to make a matching hat, scarf or purse with it!!! I guess I think a stash can have purpose or a someday purpose!! Im interested to see what others have to say about this. Vicky by the Bay , what do you think!!! Somehow I think you have a great stash, only wish i lived in your area to check it out!!!
Lelani |
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Milinda
Permanent Resident
USA
3816 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 07:35:50 AM
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Dee, I tend to think of my yarn in categories. Desingated Stash, those would be the amounts lined up with definite projects in mind, although, I reserve the right to change plans for it if a better idea strikes my fancy.
Then there is Stash with Potential, that would be the fiber I purchase because I love it, it was at a good price and it is something I would enjoy making up a purpose for at my leisure. Probably most would consider that the true definition of Stash.
I have a section in my walk in closet for Leftovers from previous work and I consider that something with a certain degree of potential if there is enough to combine at a later date. For example, I had three skeins of Lopi from something eons ago but it just happened to be enough to do felted clogs so those leftovers became viable again. If one is an accumulator of yarn over many, many years, the Leftover section frequently can have many worthwhile projects in it.
A very special category is the Eye Candy Stash. This is the yarn that is incredibly gorgeous but I have yet to find something viable to do with it and since it's so pretty, I use it as decor. For example, I have a large antique apothecary jar and I keep my infamous Anny Blatt Silk arranged attractively in this jar. I like to look at it, it's too spendy and temperamental for frogging and it has to serve some purpose at this point, lol!
I'm thinking some of us could petition an institute of higher learning for a degree in Stash Management.
M L |
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GFTC
Permanent Resident
USA
6331 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 09:20:40 AM
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Having an organized stash of both yarn and needles and a knitting library enables me to begin a project at any time without having to go out for yarn or pattern or needles. If it is pouring out or snowing or midnight or a holiday or a not-using-any-credit-cards week I can go into my own private "lys" and select yarn and a pattern. I know that I will always find something I like since I have purchased all the "stock". Having a decent sized stash gives me the fun of deciding what yarn to use and what to make with it, just as though I were in a yarn store.
I see it as no different than having baking ingredients and cookbooks on hand in your pantry. Maybe you'll bake, maybe you won't, but if you get the urge you're ready. You won't have to start going out to get flour or chocolate chips and lose your momentum.
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MMario
Permanent Resident
2202 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 09:36:44 AM
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I know that I will always find something I like since I have purchased all the "stock".
I *wish*!
When I get the urge for an exciting new project (versus comfort knitting) inevitably none of the yarn I currently own satisfies.
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Lelani
Permanent Resident
USA
2005 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 09:51:57 AM
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MMario, I just love your last posting here!!!! Yes, also it is a bit like having your own local yarn shop. I also have a large selection of needles and books. This is such a fun way to look at it.
Lelani |
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jade
Permanent Resident
USA
1543 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 12:59:49 PM
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For me a stash is a stockpile of yarn, all to be knitted at some unspecified time. I have firm plans for every last bit of yarn. If I can't use it, I give it away. Of course my plans change every time I look at the stash and see different combinations of stitches and colors, but I never have doubts that I will use it somehow, sometime.
If I didn't have a houseful of evil cats I would put skeins in bowls for display, but I can't risk it.
Cheryl
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SerMom
Permanent Resident
Canada
6412 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 1:23:54 PM
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"What is stash"? Good question, with probably as many answers as there are knitters.
If I'm not using it right now it's stash. I may use it tomorrow, or next week, or next year, or . . ., but right now, it's stash. That's for yarn, of course. Needles and books are in a whole other category, mostly, I guess, becasue they don't get used up.
And I have a lot of stash. I've been buying like there's no tomorrow, with absolutely no idea of what I'm going to do with any of it. And the irony is, that with all that stash, I have to go out and buy yarn for the gift exchange. I have nothing appropriate for what I have in mind. Gee, poor me!
Barbara
"I know we've got one SOMEWHERE" |
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Elizabeth
Permanent Resident
USA
1557 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 2:19:59 PM
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quote:
When you have several plastic bins, the ones from Target, filled with all different kinds of yarn from super expensive to super inexpensive,many colors and textures and still running out of room to store this wonderful yummy yarn then i think that qualifies as a stash. I am seriously considering as someone else mentioned on another thread about purchasing a LARGE piece of furniture to store all this yarn.
That was me with the stash-holding furniture (three chests of drawers). I also have those big placstic bins AS WELL. Stacked. In the closet.
I am a stasher.
BUT I haven't bought yarn since last year, adn I am resolved to use up the stash (mostly) before buying more. Those Elann emails are kiiling mew. I cannot even read htem anyore, becuase I will want to GET MORE YARN. Luckily, I have no LYS, or I'd be a goner.
Elizabeth
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Marg in Mirror
Permanent Resident
Canada
3204 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 2:54:38 PM
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Most of my stash is generally 'designated' -- but really only to justify why I bought the stuff in the first place. I maintain it is my prerogative to change my mind! Right now, aside from some simple Boa boots for Xmas gifts,I'm trying to decide what to start next from my stash -- even though I've decided November will be "Finishing Month" for my UFOs...
-- Marg in Calgary
TLWKOTB
http://knitsonthebus.blogspot.com |
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thevalkyry
Sustaining Member
USA
736 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 3:30:48 PM
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Because my living space is too small to maintain a backlog of yarn I tend to consider stash yarn as undesignated yarn - of which I maintain very, very little. I dont consider yarns in active projects as stash, and I dont feel like I can truly call my remanents stash, and I dont really buy yarn if I am not going to launch right into a project.
According to Websters a stash is "something hidden away". To me, that seems to lean more towards undesignated yarn, yarn that has not yet found a project, but was too good not to purchase and squirrel away :)
Food, Gas, Rent.. and Yarn |
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myshelle10
Permanent Resident
USA
2749 Posts |
Posted - 10/29/2003 : 8:04:49 PM
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ditto-- I"m w/ her. I'm in such a small place right now, that I don't buy too much yarn that's not going onto needles *very* soon. (Goodness knows I'll need help if I ever have more space!)
I consider stash the stuff that I don't have a use in mind for, or a project laid out w/ a vaguely anticipatable start date! :)
myshelle
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fmarrs
Guardian angel
USA
9776 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 01:41:10 AM
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In my case, if I didn't count remnants as part of my stash, 3/4 of my stash would not be counted. I have it in 3 rubbermaid containers, one large 2 medium. The remnants are in the large one. There are about 6 full skeins in there left over from miscalculated sweater purchases. Usually because I changed my mind and made it for someone smaller than the one for which I purchased it. The rest are partial skeins and a large basket of small balls.
I think a "stash" is any piece of yarn that is stashed away for later use. This could be a small basket or bag with a few skeins or a whole room full of yarn.
fran
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Jeanie
Chatty Knitter
New Zealand
142 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 03:58:51 AM
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There really are so many catagories of STASH, most of them hae been covered but I just might list them to justify them to me at least.
1 Yarn that was bought cos I loved it & knew what I would make from it. But haven't yet.
2. Yarn that was such a good buy that I couldn't leave it there.
3. Yarn that was once a WIP but has had a career change.
4. Yarn that was given to me cos "I know you will be able to use it Jeanie"!!!
5. Yarn that is left over cos I either stuffed up with too much or changed my mind about what I was going to make.
6. Yarn that sits sneeeeekily in cupboards & thinks that I have forgotten about it (& I did ) & I can't be sure but I think it Breeds!!!!
There is probably more but that sort of describes my STASH & I love every ball of it.
I am even into STASH reduction now & am making inroads although not massive. BUT I think that I can honestly say that I have almost used up everything that I have purchased this year. (Excuse me while I go polish my halo!! )
JLH |
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jade
Permanent Resident
USA
1543 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 09:12:34 AM
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6. Yarn that sits sneeeeekily in cupboards & thinks that I have forgotten about it (& I did ) & I can't be sure but I think it Breeds!!!!
Jeanie! I never thought of this. Perhaps that's why there's always more there than I can remember buying.
Hmm, if I put my plain sock yarn next to the Noro worsted, do I get handpainted sportweight? Or boring DK?
Cheryl
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sabknits
New Pal
USA
27 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 09:44:46 AM
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I think "stash" is yarn that is not currently being used in WIP. This can be anything from a single ball to a hundred million balls, including partial balls and bags of snippets from finished projects (I'm assuming here that everyone does this....saves the pieces left after weaving in the ends. Yes, I got the family "saver" gene).
If I have 4 balls of yarn that are actively involved in a project, those balls are no longer stash, even if I have a dozen more just like them IN stash. When I've finished the project, the leftovers go back into stash.
When I have one of my "organizing" fits and pull yarn for multiple projects (I have 28 packages of yarn right now that I've set aside to knit into felted bags) that yarn is no longer considered "stash".
When I dig through my WIP basket (usually looking for needles that I can't find) and I decide that I won't finish a particular project, that yarn goes back into stash.
sab
sab |
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marilydic
New Pal
USA
32 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 10:18:30 AM
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I tend to agree with ML, I've got designated stash bought specifically for a project and most of the time have the pattern with the yarn so I don't forget what I bought it for. Stash yarn that I bought at least enough of to make something for me or my husband out of (I tend to by in lots of 10 just in case), stash for dyeing, stash that I buy at end of season sale that has no purpose but its colors that I like, and then there's the two or three skeins of something just so lovely that it will probably never get knit up but its there just for me to pet!
I've been going through and destashing occasioally for good causes though. Whenever someone or place is looking for yarn donations I go through and look at things that I've bought from a yard sale or odd lot sales and look at them and thing "am I really every going to turn this into...." usually the answer is no and it then ends up in a box and shipped to whereever it needs to go. Speaking of which the latest one I'm doing is if anyone has read their IK there's a good article about knitting at correctional facilities and I'm sending some yarn to one in MA.
But I've also been spinning for over a year so there's a fiber stash and I haven't quite gotten organized on that count yet...its all just hoarding! 
mari |
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Knitting Noella
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Posted - 10/30/2003 : 10:19:43 AM
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What is a stash and what to do with it?
I found that anything not being used at the moment.... is a stash! I found also that my stash has gotten so big that I had to open a retail yarn shop in my basement to validate all the yarn buying that makes me happy. I'm not happy if I'm not knitting or crocheting something. I even made it so that I have room to teach these great crafts to anyone willing to learn. I started in September and have three students already. My stash is now beautifully displayed like a yarn store... on shelves , with some of my patterns books to add interest. If anyone is interested you can see what it looks like since I put pictures on-line on a webpage; http://pages.infinit.net/noella22/ just enter the site and click on the yarnlink in the navigator and voila! My stash is pictured there!
Happy knitting! |
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irishmomof9
Chatty Knitter
USA
142 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 11:27:16 AM
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| My stash has undergone many changes in my years of knitting. When I was in college, the few skeins I could afford were always kept in my little dorm room, to brighten up the dreary days. After graduation and marriage, they were definitely put to use making baby garments and blankets, later toddler sweaters, mittens,etc. I never had much of a stash then, as it was all used up! Now that the kids are grown and I actually am semi-retired, I am lucky to have a huge stash tucked into all kinds of furniture, plastic containers, bookshelves and baskets in 3 different rooms! It's exciting to finally have the time to look thru knitting books and magazines now, and to be able to whip up a toddler sweater or afghan from my stash! God bless all knitters; they are a special breed! |
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baskinknits@aol.com
New Pal
38 Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 2:12:57 PM
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quote:
I know that I will always find something I like since I have purchased all the "stock".
I *wish*!
When I get the urge for an exciting new project (versus comfort knitting) inevitably none of the yarn I currently own satisfies.
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knitterkris
Posts |
Posted - 10/30/2003 : 3:31:25 PM
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You're kidding, right? You're trying to define "stash"? What counts and what doesn't count as "stash"? Who is keeping score? Who tallies the points? What does the winner get?
There are plenty of rules and definitions in life and I don't think we need another one so trivial. |
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