But what I'm finding even more interesting is how my relationship with my stash has started to evolve. It's no longer just something that lives in my closet and takes up space. It's something that I am actually paying attention too. Lets be honest, I think that part of the reason why it's so easy for a stash to grow is that us knitters really like pretty things. And then sometimes those pretty things get tossed aside and forgotten about when the new "something pretty" comes along. It's fun to go into a yarn store and come out with pretty stuff. It makes us all happy. But, it's bad for my budget and worse for my closet space. So now fewer things are going into the closet and more things are coming out. And, you know what I've noticed? My yarn has started talking to me, a lot.
Now just to make it clear, I haven't gone completely bonkers. My yarn isn't asking me how my day at work was, what I want for supper, or if I really should have paired that top with those pants. But it is telling me what it wants to be. I have always thought that yarn has that voice. (I swear those 11 skeins of Noro did jump off the shelf and into my arms screaming "make us a Lady Eleanor" a few years back.) But, I think that there has been so much noise coming from my closet that I have had no idea what was being said. Now, I do. Yarn is throwing it's self at me saying, "make me into that shawl you were looking at the other day" or "hey, don't buy more yarn for your father's Christmas gift, I'll work just fine." It's really kind of cool.
And, what's even cooler is that this yarn right here as told me it wants to be my first ever give away.
It's 200 yards of tilli tomas "Sequined Lace Endive" in %100 silk. It was passed on to me and even though I think it's really pretty, I am never, ever going to do anything with it. I want to see it go to a good home where someone will give it the love it deserves. All you have to do is a leave a comment on this posting before midnight on Tuesday April 26th about a time that yarn has spoken to you and you'll be entered. I will use the very scientific method of telling my husband how many comments there are and getting him to pick a random number. That person will get the skein. I hope someone out there wants it and who knows, maybe something else will tell me it wants to travel in the future.
My sari silk yarn spoke to me last week, told me it wanted to be a shoulder bag to hold my dpns/little projects in. I worked on it for 2 days solidly, and it's now my favourite project!
ReplyDeleteGoodgonegirl on Ravelry :) x
Great contest idea! Yarn normally speaks loudest to me first at the store when it yells "Buy me. I am the one." Even in a shop full of yarn I can hear the ones that are meant for me. As for stash yarn speaking, sometimes I have cast on what I want the yarn to be and by being very difficult it has told me what it doesn't want to be.
ReplyDeleteGood luck using only stash yarn this year. I think you've done a great job so far!
I love your post. I think I'm starting to listen to my yarn more these days too. I bought a massive 1KG cone of dark green wool/silk for the princely sum of 10 fine british pounds and it sat in my store cupboard for around 2 years before it started yelling at me that it wanted to be a Central Park Hoodie. It was right, it was the perfect match and I wear it all the time.
ReplyDeleteI bought this bright aqua blue (the shade of your blog's background) and lime green yarn to make two hats out of. I liked the way they looked together and I realized that they would look best using the Fornicating Deer pattern that's been floating around on Ravelry. I gave the hat to my niece who has a very wry sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteMy yarn talks to me all the time. The last thing that spoke up was a skein of Malabrigo Rasta, which demanded to become a cowl. The stash is usually quite polite, but sometimes I wish it would stop nagging me.
ReplyDeleteTotally drooling over the Tilli Tomas sequined!!!! I wanted their gold symphony lace in goldenrod after I saw a project made with it in Vogue Knitting--but no one I would knit for would look good in that color, and I couldn't fall in love with another. I am a sucker, though, for any shade of green. Good for you on your stash busting!
ReplyDeleteMy yarn talks to me all the time, too! The most recent told me it wanted to be a cowl, and I knit it yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI saw some of that Tilli last fall, and it's really pretty! I'm not sure what it wants to be, though. Sometimes yarns take their time telling us things...
That yarn is saying, "Send me to Akron!"
ReplyDeleteI had some yarn speak to me just by the name. It is Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in the limited edition coloway of Minne-toe-ta. I grew up in Minnesota and the colors are beautiful. Brown, gold, green and blue. I made a pair of fingerless mitts out of it. Debbie in Alaska
ReplyDeleteI'm only just learning to listen to my yarn - it speaks of what it should be but until recently I didn't pay attention and cast on what I thought instead... My yarn soon told me I was wrong and that it should be something else entirely. I currently have a hibernating cotton UFO that is saying "I'm not a scarf" but it hasn't decided to reveal what it is yet!
ReplyDeleteMostly it says "socks socks socks" but that is because I have a sock and sock yarn addiction! I do have one ball that is demanding to be made into sideways knit socks, but since I am doing an A-Z sock challenge this year it will have to wait until I reach the S cast on towards the end of the year
ReplyDeleteI love going through my stash, fondling all my yarns and imagining what they could be knitted into. One of my next projects will be a yarn gifted to me by my sister which she spun and dyed that wants to be a halfcircle shaped shawlette.
ReplyDeleteRebekka on ravelry
Isn't it true that sometimes quality is better than quantity! I'm trying to work from my stash too but so far I pale in comparison to your efforts!
ReplyDeleteI had one quite funny incident with yarn. I ordered some pretty yellow from eBay and it's been sitting in my stash for months. One day I was organising my stash and I saw it and it whispered that it would make a very cute stuffed duck. I whispered back that unfortunately none of my friends is expecting any babies soon so it had to go back to the box and wait its turn. Surprisingly, next day a friend of mine announced she was pregnant! So the yellow yarn became a duck after all :o)
Yarn usually doesn't speak to me until I start swatching...then it won't shut up.
ReplyDeleteFunny how yarn "talks"! I find handspun yarns tend to have the loudest voices - first they tell me how the fiber wants to be spun, and then what the yarn wants to be in the end!
ReplyDeleteJolene (JoboDesigns on Ravelry)
Hmmm... well there is a huge bag of what I can only describe a big mistake. It is a yarn and not a wool, it is a silken type thread with lumps... why, oh why did I ever buy it. I know it should go but I cannot bear to throw it out. But as soon as I saw your yarn, I could see a stunning pair of wrist warmers in my sister's Christmas stocking, it is so yummy. :)
ReplyDeleteI bought some Posh Yarn recently...her name is Pamela and her colourway is 'Well did you evah!'
ReplyDeleteShe is bright red with golden sparkly bits, very beautiful indeed and made of gorgeous merino. We became best friends as soon as she arrived.
She talks to me every day...she begs me to take her out of the box where she lives and pleads with me to start a new project using her as the star (she is quite vain). Unfortunatly, I have quite a few projects on needles at the moment so she is going to have to be patient a while longer...but when her time comes, oh! it will be spectacular!
I tell her this and she is apeased somewhat as long as I make her into mitts...'socks would hide me away from view too much', she says...I agree with her.
The yarn that usually speaks to me is the kind screaming "Hey, I'm on sale. Half off!"
ReplyDeleteLately too many of my skeins have been calling out to me and I've had a hard time picking the next project. I finally used a pretty green cotton I'd had for a few months that kept telling me it wanted to be a washcloth. I've had a few pretty yarns calling out to me to make a pair of fingerless gloves, but I haven't braved any of the beautiful patterns I have for a set, yet.
Yarn speaking to me usually happens when I am in my LYS even if I don't go in for any particular reason I always find something that speaks to me. Usually patterns speak to me and I find the perfect yarn. I've been wanting to try yarn with sequins or beads.
ReplyDeleteThe latest talking yarn I ran across was not in my stash, but in an LYS. It was a Mirasol yarn that told me that it wanted to be a cowl for my bestest buddy...and that's what 3 skeins of it became...
ReplyDeleteOooh... Do want!
ReplyDeleteIt happened just today, actually. I was thinking about a shrug that I want to design earlier, so when I took one of those not-so-infrequent trips to the yarn store some Malibrigo just screamed at me. I've never knit with Malibrigo, but I've heard a lot of good things about it. So home with me it went.
My stash speaks to me all the time too. Just last month I saw a test knit for a great cowl and even though I had several other important projects I was working on a silk cotton blend from my stash screamed at me that it HAD to become that cowl and that if I didn't sign up for the test knit I was going to end up being forced to pay for the pattern. Guess what cowl I now own?
Gasp. I've been dying for a skein of this yarn! *drools*
ReplyDeleteMy yarn "speaks" to me on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes, yarn I haven't even bought speaks to me! It often says things like "Buy me, take me home, and knit me into a ______" haha :)
Most of my yarns speak to me before I buy them, which is why I buy them...they all have stories and I am immediately inspired and know what they should be made into. Its the leftovers of these yarns that cause problems for my stash, I have so many half-skeins leftover from projects and I usually knit these all up into my "scrappy" beanies and they look awesome :D not to mention, each is one of a kind, totally unique and different!
ReplyDeleteWow, what a pretty yarn! I'd say I'm sorry you don't like it (it is a shame! lol) but I won't be too sorry if I win :)
ReplyDeleteI have yarn that speaks to me too - generally it wants to be socks, but sometimes it tells me it too needs a new home. That yarn in your giveaway is stunning, and I'd love it to join my stash!
ReplyDelete