Bad Stash

Over the past few weeks I’ve been going through all of my stuff and getting rid of things I don’t truly need.

I’ve given away about 4 out of every 5 items of clothing and now there are no clothes in suitcases under my bed. Everything fits in the wardrobe – summer and winter clothes all in together. It’s weird how having less is so much better. I have exactly five outfits for work and two pair of jeans for the weekend. Sure I have to make sure my laundry doesn’t get behind or I have nothing to wear but that’s not exactly difficult.

The weird thing is I do love clothes but find it easier to love just a few really good things. I don’t like the idea of throw-away fashion that lasts only a season or a few wears. I want lovely things to wear all the time and enjoy.

After dealing with clothes I moved on to the yarn stash. I have a problem with yarn on sale. I get all excited and tell myself I’ll make all sorts of fantastic things and I stock up with these great bargains. When I get it home I go through my books and plan what I’ll make. Then I carefully bag it up and label it and stick it in the wardrobe.

The next time I see it I think “what did I buy that horrible stuff for” and feel guilty about having spent money on something I’ll never use. It doesn’t matter how cheap something is, it’s not a bargain if you never use it.

So basically I sent a couple of hundred dollars worth of yarn to Salvos. Someone will find it there and give it a good home and the Salvos will profit from my poor purchases. I do feel bad for having wasted so much money on yarn I never use but it’s overshadowed by my sense of freedom now it is out of my house and has stopped taunting me.

Now I only have yarn I love and am excited about using. My wardrobe has space in it, my yarn is not cramped or squished and I know exactly what’s in there.

With a few exceptions, if a yarn is massively discounted it’s probably because nobody wants it. Yes, sometimes you get great bargains like the half price Rowan Summer Tweed that I scored, but usually yarn is massively discounted because the shop wants to get it out the door asap.

Yarn is like clothes. A great dress or suit that costs a bit more is better than two average suits on sale that are acceptable but not great. Clothes that do no more than cover your body are like yarn that does not more than keep your needles occupied. Sure, you’re knitting but you’re not making something you’ll love out of yarn you adore.

I was talking about this to one of the lovely LYS ladies and told her I’d bought a heap of Patons Shadow Tweed ages ago and got rid of it in my cleaning binge. She had bought a heap in the same sale and said she was making a blanket but she didn’t know why. She doesn’t want a blanket and isn’t enjoying knitting it – she just can’t throw it out. I told her about my yarn purge and she said she would do the same. (Sorry Patons Shadow Tweed – Your colours are good and your loft is impressive but you pill and felt like a bastard. It’s just not meant to be.)

Now I have a nice tidy stash I feel I can really get into my projects and get some patterns onto this blog. Just discovered I can’t upload PDFs to blogger. Bummer. Will have to just tag anything that’s a pattern and make sure I type it up in a way that will print out nicely. Will get some patterns onto this site tonight – promise.