Stashcavation

My yarn stash is a common blog topic for me. I boast about, rant about, wonder at and despair over my stash at regular intervals. The "my stash is so big I have too more yarn than I can knit before I die" lament is a subject many fiber fiends talk about. We discuss it amongst ourselves at gatherings on a regular basis; if you were a non-knitting fly on the wall at any knitting group, you would hear this for yourself. Now, I use the word "lament" earlier with a very large grain of salt. I (and most knitters) may lament about stash, but we are also proud of our cache of fiber. If you have been stashing long enough, there are yarn gems in there that make other knitters drool. I have several.

When eBay was more a big garage sale than a retail outlet, I went through a Noro phase and acquired several bags of various gorgeous Noro yarns that are now unavailable. I also have the original Alice Starmore yarns to knit up several older designs that would make Starmore aficionados swoon. I have a stash of Berroco Europa colors that I scoped for for cheap prices, a mound of Annabel Fox cotton chenille, loads of angora yarn (mostly ACA supreme and Anny Blatt) and various other goodies too numerous to mention. I glaze over at the thought...

...then I trip over another falling bag of yarn leaping out of a closet and curse a blue streak.

Thus I have coined a new fiber word: "STASHCAVATION", aka stash-excavation. It means what it sounds like; you peel away layers of your stash as they surface. There are things in my stash I KNOW I want to knit and soon, but I can't find them. I have the pattern, but can't knid the yarn or needles. I have all but a couple balls of yarn, but no budget at the moment to buy more. I have yarn and needles, but no pattern. On and on--you get my drift. I have turned my attention with some real seriousness to the various UFO's and those projects that I have all the parts for. I have made to-do lists in the past, which I now consider useless because I can't find parts to go forward with the various projects on them.

I have finished a shawl that now needs blocking (and I can't find my blocking boards). Another shawl is almost done. I have started a purse, because I have all the parts. I Actually finished the back for the Jiada sweater I have posted about here in the past. Even with that, I now think I need another couple of balls of main color yarn, that I need to mail order. Still, I am making forward progress. Finished pieces that need to be blocked sewn or felted are going on another pile separate from virgin stash.

Then again, my dyed stash is growing, too...