2015 - The Year of the Stash Bust

If you're an avid crafter - of just about any type of craft - then, you'll know all about the STASH.  Your stash is all of your supplies - all the little (and big) things you've collected over time that aid you in your craft.

For those of us that love the fiber arts - your stash can often grow to be more than just your essential supplies.  To be fair, I only need a single pair of knitting needles, or a single hook to knit or crochet at will.  As long as there's some string around - I can make something.  But, I don't have just a single set of needles - or a single hook and a single ball of string.  Instead, I have lots and lots and lots of each.

Because I've got sooooo much fiber, in all those lovely colors and types and weights, it means that I'm utilizing quite a bit of space to store them.  As I can only work on one project at a time - that means that there's an awful lot of pretty string around here waiting it's turn to be transformed into something fabulous.

So, in an effort to get to each of those lovely colors and fibers in turn, I've made a resolution for the year of 2015:  I will not purchase a single skein of dyed yarn.  (it hurts a little bit to even type that...)

If I have a project that is just screaming to be made, and I don't have a color that is jumping for joy because IT gets to be that fabulous project - then I will just have to dye my own fiber to suit the project in question.  If that doesn't work, I'll have to move on to another project that's screaming for a turn - there are plenty. :)

This means that for the entire year of 2015, I will be working 90% of the time from yarn that I already have and maybe 10% of the time from yarn that I will dye on a project-specific basis.  There is only one exception to this rule of the 2015 Stash Bust - the WEBS Tent Sale.  For the Tent Sale, all bets are off.  I'm trying to be a good girl, but, let's not get ridiculous here.

In any event, it's now the 17th of January, 2015 and I haven't purchased a single, little tiny piece of beautifully colored string - not a single skein, hank or cake of yarn has been brought into the house by me.  (My lovely, amazing, completely ROCKING sister sent me some beautiful yarns and that is going to have to hold me over until the Tent Sale.  THANK YOU, KAREN!!!!)

We'll see if I can keep to this Resolution.  I'm at about a 50/50 split right now - half of me really wants to do this Stash Bust and the other half of me is ready to go surfing and see just what is on sale at Knit Picks right now...

Must, resist the pretty...

An Invitation to FLASH!!

So, this post is going to be all about FLASHING!!

I'm so totally going to flash you!

With my stash -

of yarn.

Boy, you've got a nasty mind...
:)

Mind you now, this is actually not even close to all of it...

So, here goes...

Oh, I should probably mention that this unit is just over two feet deep - and the yarn is starting to push it's way out.  Oh, oh and did I mention that 70% of it, or so, isn't even in this shot?  Oh, oh, oh, um, also you want to know the worst/best part?  There's more coming from Knit Picks sometime this week - and I can't find a single damn skein that works just right with the project I want to start next. *le sigh*

<3

Consider this an invitation to flash (your stash of yarn, please)!

Creativity is Great ... Now Let's FINISH Something!

Hello, my name is Dori and I have FO Syndrome.

For those of you unfamiliar with this rather harrowing syndrome, I'll be happy to explain.

In crafty terms, an FO is a Finished Object.  This syndrome is very specific.  It does not inhibit our ability to create, or to conceive of a lovely, or to see all the fabulous possibilities for that very cool pattern, or even cooler yarn.  It does, however, hinder our ability to FINISH these projects.

Ask an avid knitter or crocheter how many projects they have in any stage of progress and you might be surprised by the answers.  Of course, there are those lovely people that begin a project and work the entire project and then finish, block, weave in ends and photograph and share all before even buying the yarn for their next.  I haven't actually MET one of those lovely people, but, I allow for the possibility that one exists, somewhere.

Well, I have been afflicted with FO Syndrome for years and years.  I've learned to deal with it.

Which is to say, I've learned to ignore it and get really happy over the items I actually DO finish.  Hats and such little things, don't really count toward the Syndrome - they're too fast.  But, well, lace shawls, that's a whole 'nother ball of wax.  Sometimes, putting down a complicated piece of lacework is just a mechanism for preserving your sanity.

So, what this post is really all about, in the end, is that I FINISHED A LOVELY SCARF AND WANT TO SHARE IT WITH YOU!!!  :)))

Here is my version of the Clockwork Shawl/Scarf by Stephen West (isn't his stuff just fabulous?):



Just getting into the groove - loving the colors

 


OK - we're rolling now!

 


FINISHED OBJECT!!

Although I still suffer from FO Syndrome - - I am seriously NOT going to even speculate on the number of projects I currently have in the works - - even I can finish something that I've started.  There's hope fellow Syndrome sufferers!  :)