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Every knitter has one: a stash.

I’m talking about that trove of gorgeous, luscious, irresistible yarn that you’re not exactly using right now. If you don’t have one yet, it’s inevitable that one will develop. After all, what are you supposed to do—wait until you’re finished with one project before you buy supplies for the next? Puh-lease! You had to snap up that blue merino the instant it went on super-sale. And you can’t throw out the half-ball of cashmere that was left after you finished that hat for your mom—that stuff costs a fortune! Then your cousin Mabel decided that her arthritic fingers could no longer handle the needles…well, the stash grows and grows. Exponentially. Mine occupies a box that comes up to my hip.

Knitters aren’t unique in their hoarding ways. Beaders collect beads, and cross-stitchers stockpile embroidery floss. I knew an avid quilter who moved 14 boxes of fabric to her empty-nest condo.

Reclaim and Purge

But if it’s all tidied away, it’s not doing any harm, right? Not quite. According to Karen Kingston, even hidden clutter (and that’s what you stash is, darlin’—clutter) affects your chi. How? First of all, anything in your house that’s stagnant (like, say, a box of yarn you haven’t looked in for a year) gathers stagnant energy. Eventually, your whole life starts to feel slow, muddy, muddled…and stagnant.

Secondly, anytime you encounter the stash—when you open the closet door, when you stub your toe on the box, when the balls so cleverly stacked on a high shelf start to fall on your head—it sets off a cascade of thoughts that may lead you down a nasty path.
Oh, I’ll get to that as soon as a I finish those socks.
I never finish anything. I’m a failure.
I’ll be giving this stuff to my niece when I’m too old and arthritic to knit . . .
You started out looking for a belt, and now you’re thinking about old age and death.

So here is my challenge to you: Reclaim your chi. Purge your clutter. Use up your stash.

Stop Buying Yarn . . . For Now

Don’t buy any more. Avoid your LYS (local yarn shop) for a while. Suggest you meet your knitting buddies at a coffee shop instead. Put a parental control on your favorite yarn sites. This is not a lifetime moratorium—just a temporary one until you deal with what you have.

Line Up Your Projects

Create a space—a shoe box, a shopping bag, a basket—for each project, and gather everything you need for each one: yarn, pattern, needles, accessories. Is there anything holding you back from starting any of them? Do you need to print out a pattern from knitty? Do you need to buy a new size of needles? Do you need someone to demo a tricky stitch? Identify your roadblocks, and move around them.

Find Patterns for Orphaned Yarn

It’s easy enough to buy “about a sweater’s worth” of yarn, but how do you get started on “about a sweater”? This is where Ravelry is a knitter’s nirvana. If you’re new to the site, get this: you can look up your yarn and see what everyone else made with it, complete with pictures, comments, and (in many cases) links to the patterns. It’s the Information Age, baby!

Toss the Crap

If you’re just not that into the yarn, you’re not going to enjoy working with it. Life’s too short to work with icky yarn. If it’s decent stuff that’s just not to your taste, put it on eBay (but don’t expect to recoup too much of your investment). If it’s nasty acrylic that you bought cheap, put it on freecycle—there’s always a Sunday school or daycare that needs craft supplies.

Use It As Decor

You bought the stuff because you thought it was gorgeous, right? So enjoy it, even when you’re not working with it. Turn a nook or cabinet into your own personal LYS, with baskets and cubbies brimming with beautiful colors and textures. Create a space that makes you feel inspired rather than guilty and overwhelmed.

As for those odds and ends left over from projects past, I do have a plan for them . . . but you’ll have to wait until my book comes out!

Rediscover the Joy of Knitting

Now that you’ve got your stash organized, you can get back to the joy of knitting. Road trip? Grab a project (for the times you’re not driving, please!). Conference call from home? I find that knitting something simple actually helps me concentrate. Frustrated with a complicated section that’s dragging on forever? Give it a rest, and pick up something new. Your chi’s flowing now!

And when your stash starts looking a little thin…head over to your LYS and celebrate!

[Photo by ||!prliignore7||]