What To Do If You've Spent All Your Cash On Your Yarn Stash

Some women like to buy shoes, some clothes, some handbags. I do have a penchant for a retro-style handbag but for me my spending triggers are books and yarn. Books because, well, they're educational aren't they? I have piles of novels in my bookshelf and teetering on top of my bedside table just waiting to be read. As the author of a novel, which I hope to find a publisher for, I tell myself that my profligate book habit is market research.

Then there's wool. For this blog I follow designers and the latest trends, the result being that I have a huge favourites list on Ravelry.  I see patterns I love and don't resist temptation to buy the yarn for them, particularly if the wool is limited edition, hand-dyed and won't be available next year, despite the fact I have a chest full of unstarted projects already along with about five sweaters and accessories I've already begun and switch between as my fancy takes me.

Stash costs cash!

But now it's reckoning time. I hit this with books last year when there was just no more space on the shelves or available wall to put a new bookcase against and I felt frustrated every time I saw my huge pile of books, which resembled the leaning tower of Pisa, on the floor. The moment came for me to 'woman up' and have a cull, selling online or donating to charity those I knew I wouldn't read again or hadn't read and didn't really want to. It was tough but I did it and made a reasonable sum in the process. Yet I slowly but surely kept discovering something new I wanted to read and now there are again very few spaces again in my shelves. In attempt to keep my reading habit under control I've now rejoined the local library and am starting again borrowing books for free.

Now it's time to do so with my yarn. Previously I have periodically sorted through my stash and sold or given away anything I know I'm not going to use. I donated all the odds and ends of balls I'd kept to charity. I matched my yarn with patterns I own and have even a few balls MORE so I'd have enough to knit the top I wanted (talk about false economy!)

I bought the kit to knit this jumper at The Wool Monty

Yet there's no more room. My wardrobe nearly has more bundles of yarn in it than clothes. Zipper bags contain the jumpers and tops I've knitted already. I've more than enough jumpers to keep me warm for the next ten winters and then add on top the ones I haven't knitted and I'll be about up to point of being able to wear a different sweater or top every day for a couple of months.

So I don't need any more yarn. Wanting, however, is a different kettle of fish. Patterns launch that scream 'knit me!' and indie dyers and makers bring out a glorious range of new yarns. The free time I have to spend knitting can't catch up with my intake of projects. My bank account is shouting at me to stop. It's time to go cold turkey.

When I first heard about Marie Kondo and her theories of tidying and throwing stuff out, I was rather sniffy about her concept. I'm not a minimalist. I want to have things in my house that bring back memories whether it's a photo in a frame, a souvenir brought back from holiday or a cross stitch I crafted on a wall. Yet Kondo advises to ask whether something you have 'sparks joy'. At first that phrase sounded far too hippyish for my liking, but, after mulling on it for a while, I saw where she was coming from. The photo of my husband and I on holiday makes me smile every time I see it because we look so happy and I remember the fabulous time we had. The pile of magazines, flyers and bills waiting to be filed on the kitchen worktop, however, pricks me with annoyance every time I see it; partly because it looks a total mess and partly because it's my fault I haven't got round to doing the household admin yet.

One of the 'buy now or you'll miss out' balls of hand-dyed yarn in my stash

The last time I had a clearout of my yarn stash, mentioned above, I did get rid of everything I knew I wasn't lusting to knit. Now, since I've bought more, it's time to put a lock on my purse and follow these self-made rules:

1. Don't buy any more patterns or yarns this year. No ifs, no buts.
2. 'Favourite' any patterns I really like in Ravelry. They'll still be there when my yarn and pattern ban is lifted.
3. When tempted to buy more yarn open my wardrobe and remind myself THERE'S NO MORE ROOM. 
4. Don't be sucked in by the promise of one-off yarns. There will be other one-off yarns produced next year that I'll love just as much.

Will it work? Hopefully by next Summer I'll have thoroughly enjoyed knitting up most of the stash I do have and will feel super-smug with more room in my cupboards and a bigger bank balance.

Of course then I'll probably treat myself for being so good by going to one of the larger knitting shows and blowing it all on more yarn ...