Life of the Lintee Bean

I admit I may be more of a “yarn collector” than a true “crocheter”. I adore yarn.  Many of us that knit or crochet refer to our purchased yarn as our “stash”.  This seems appropriate.  I looked up the definition for stash, and one amounted to “something stored or hidden, such as money or illegal drugs”. I definitely treat my yarn like something precious and a little naughty or embarrassing. My friends would say I have “stash beyond life expectancy” – meaning I own more yarn than I could POSSIBLY ever crochet into finished objects.

When friends visit, I’m often guilty of pulling out a few balls or skeins of yarn and asking them to touch it and appreciate its beauty.  I don’t know if they enjoy doing so, they usually look at me a little funny. I love to take out yarn and look at it, feel it, and imagine all the lovely things that could be made out of it – if only I had the time and talent to do so.

Lately, the yarn collection has increased immensely as I discovered a new source for buying yarn.  The store allows orders by catalog or website, and not only do they have great bargain prices – they have a new yarn sale EVERY WEEK!  So, almost every week I’ve been lured into checking out the sale offerings and deciding I really MUST get that pretty cotton while it’s on sale, or I just MUST try out that new bamboo yarn.

Thankfully, I’m allergic to ALL yarns made of animal hair – wool, alpaca, cashmere, angora, etc.  That eliminates a lot of yarns from consideration, especially as wool is the usual yarn of choice. A friend was sweet enough to give me two hanks of alpaca.  I tried to work with it – it was very pretty and soft – but my eyes would get so itchy, and my nose would tickle, and it really just wasn’t a pleasant experience to work with it.

I’ve been storing my stash in a small bedroom closet.  Originally, it was in two plastic totes in the closet.  However, it outgrew the totes – and became two overflowing plastic totes, many bags, many boxes, etc.  So, when I opened the closet door, bags and boxes of yarn came falling out – and to shut the door again, you had to kind of shove it all in there and shut the door real quickly. It made getting out those few balls for “show and tell” a LOT more difficult than I’d like.

So, this week I was inspired to reorganize my stash. I decided to take all my yarn to the basement.  As long as I’m moving it, I organized it in plastic totes by weight (thickness of the yarn).  Each tote got a brightly colored sheet noting the weight (Fine, Light, Medium, Bulky, etc.).  Since I have a LOT of yarn, it was also organized within weight by brand – so “Medium – Brands A–D”.  It’s not perfect, but I like it. I can stand and look at the totes and revel in the knowledge I have all that yarn.  I like my storage system much more than my friend’s – which is to hide the yarn behind the sofa so her husband won’t see it.

I don’t know that I’ll ever get over that urge to purchase beautiful yarns.  I’m already wondering what will go on sale this week.  I do know for certain, I need to buy more plastic totes.

Submitted for publication in The Greeley Citizen