The End of "I couldn't help myself" Behaviour
I am joining this bandwagon
There comes a day when all one owns no longer fits into the space in which one lives. That day has arrived at Chez Johnson. I kept tripping over fallen balls of yarn until yesterday,
the day of reckoning.
All that was on the floor got loaded into Rubbermaid boxes, those fabulous bags with zippers and shmooshed into drawers and onto shelves. The work in progress was moved to a central location (I uncovered four more tote bags!) and will be either finished or frogged in the coming week.
This is the scrap scarf which I have been adding to for the past year. Side one, and side two. It measures about 11 feet long. I couldn't bear to let go of all the remnants of yarn so I put them all into this scarf which I will never wear. 
This takes frugality to a whole new level of idiocy.
While these yarn arrangements look neat and tidy, it is merely a facade.
We must walk by on tiptoes, lest these yarncakes leap out of their lair and trip us up. Note: I also cannot pass by a book store...
Surely there is a remedy for this condition?
The guest room closet. At any moment it could give way and crash through to the lower floor. 
Newish yarns, saved in plastic, in a plastic bin. Hidden under my hanging clothes.
Just cotton and silks, so I need never open this box...I like to knit wool so much more.
And now the bedroom shelf too. The rest of the scads of yarn is now secreted in the dyeroom shelves, but really you have seen enough.
I am absolutely going to stay away from yarn shops, buying online and all the email sales that arrive in my inbox. This is a moritorium.
However today Spring has arrived and the garden shop beckons! ...the compost pile is low so there's that space...
Like a squirrel stashing away nuts
ReplyDeleteSounds like it's time for you to take the "use what you have" challenge for April, and maybe extend a quarter or two?
ReplyDeletehttp://simplesparrow.typepad.com/simple_sparrow/2006/03/use_what_i_have.html
isn't the "use what you have" challenge a great idea?? i'm really hoping it gets me to finish a bunch of stuff that is hanging around here. i can't help but wonder if all of us doing this at once is going to do some kind of horrible damage to the the craft supply business economy! hehehehe
ReplyDeleteOh, honey, I HEAR you. What is it in us that craves that abundance of supplies around us? Fabric, yarn...it's tangible color and frequently irresistable. I've also come to the conclusion that I have a hard time resisting it all because it represents HOPE...for the time to make stuff, for the creative inspiration, for the fun of the process... No wonder it's hard to stop accumulating. I'm not sure what the solution is (I say, having bought a few more fat quarters of fabric when I've been vowing not to add another single THREAD to the stuffed-full closets around here.) But I commiserate with you.
ReplyDeleteMelody, if you felt like giving some of your lovely yarn to a good home, send it out with Frieda when she comes to NZ in a few weeks. I promise I'll look after it......grin
ReplyDeleteI'm just as bad as anybody else. I love the long scarf with the odds and ends. I hate waste. Reminds me of my fabric odds and ends, I sew then together and make new fabric and use it all the time. I don't have a yarn stash yet and I'm being very good. I have a wood stash and fabric stash. Wall to wall, ceiling to floor wood and drawers and a huge floor to ceiling cabinet full of fabric ahhahahah..we all have our deals but we love them. What we should do maybe is trade. If you don't intend to use your cotten and silk, trade it.I trade or sell with my friends who need wood (not fabric). Well at least I have an idea what to post in my blog later hahhahaha....
ReplyDeleteRosy
Wow! It must be spring but I too have started a big "cleaning of the art room". Which included boxing, I'm not quiet ready to get rid of them, art theory books from school... I have just started buying yarn to knit as I have just learned how... It is so fun. But it is addictive, looks like you know that already... just wanted to say hi and that your work is lovely, Julie
ReplyDeleteYou have a problem and an intervention is in order!! You are addicted to yarn and you have taken this too far. Will you ever use all that yarn?Will you stop buying yarn and dyeing yarn? No - you must find the local YHA* meeting as soon as possible.
ReplyDelete*Yarn Harlot Anonymous.
And I bet you still don't have just the right yarn or the right colour for your next project, you have to face reality, there is no cure.
ReplyDeleteI recently organized all my yarn that was all over as yours is.
ReplyDeleteI found some great things and have used some of it.
Maybe complete abstinence is not possible.
But how about this: If you buy something new and expect to use it within the month and use it with another yarn you already have, that would help thin the stash. KS
Face it.....some of us just have NO self control. I am going to show your pictures to my husband so he can see that I am not the only one!
ReplyDeleteOh, and the cottons and silks in yarn- feel free to dump them on me. Oh, and any of the *cakes*- perfect for weaving....did I mention I bought a loom??
The 11' scarf- hey- THAT is a work of art!!! It would look wonderful draped on a decorative curtain rod.
I'd suggest we start a support group but I'm afraid the only support we would get is company going to the yarn/book store.
teri
Ok, I have this habit of coming to your blog and then clicking through to my other favorites by using the buttons on your page. Every time I click back I am first confronted by that scarf. Yes, my first instinct was correct....it needs to be displayed like any other work of art. If you can't find a spot.....
ReplyDeleteteri (only you could take a bunch of yarn scraps and come up with something this cool)
I agree with Teri - that scarf needs to be displayed on a wall somewhere. Very cool. Thanks for the mini-stash flash. It was very lovely and fun.
ReplyDeleteLike I haven't heard all this a million times before.
ReplyDeleteIf you start hiding the yarn in your sock drawer thinking it will just blend in and nobody will notice, then you have a real problem. And yes, the scarf does need to be displayed or added to. Maybe it needs friend?
ReplyDelete