Monday, March 20, 2006

More evidence of my self delusionment

Hey! Guess what I’m doing? I’m casting on a new knitting project with absolutely no feeling of guilt about my unfinished works in progress. Wanna know why? No? Too bad I’m telling you anyway.

Because I don’t have any unfinished works in progress! They are all done! I mean, not counting the ones that I have yarn for, but haven’t started yet. That’s a totally different category…the unstarted project.

Which brings me to the issue of stash. I have quite a fabric stash, since despite evidence to the contrary (i.e. I spend all my time knitting and spinning) I am a quilter. However I’ve managed to keep my yarn/fiber stash pretty well under control. I was crowing about this to my mother on the phone last night…about the fact that I’ve managed to keep my yarn cravings in check and that I usually only buy yarn if I know exactly what I’m going to make out of it. Manimal happened to walk by at this point in the conversation and he started snorting with laughter. “What? I don’t really have that much yarn. Co-worker gave me that garbage bag of stuff last week and I think that that probably tripled my stash.” He thought for a moment and said “I think all your yarn would probably fit into a 55 gallon drum.” This is firstly an example of the fact that Manimal and I have vastly different frames of reference (I don’t think of my yarn in terms of gallons), and secondly an indication that I really don’t have that much yarn. I mean, a 55 gallon drum? Those don’t take up much space, right? So I said “Exactly, I really don’t have that much yarn.” He continued chortling, added a head shake and walked out of the room.

And for reference, that 55 gallon estimate includes all of my spinning fiber, and most of the yarn that I have at the moment (aside from the odds and ends from coworker last week) is handspun…so we are combining two different hobbies here. I’m also relatively good at using up all my odd ball bits and ends because I favor projects such as hats with foot long multi-colored dread locks (swear to Ninkasi I will have a picture of it soon..ish).

So, if you could all do me a huge favor, and post really long comments about how much yarn you all have stashed away so that Manimal knows what a real yarn stash looks like I would appreciate it.

Ragnar…really not that bad of a fiberslut. Really.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Maybe a five gallon bucket?? None of it have I spun myself.

I think you have just the right amount of stash, you have so many options right now.

Anonymous said...

At 10:26 am it was Equinox.

yiiippeeeee spring is here

Ragnar said...

You people are not helpful at all. I didn't say you had to tell the truth...preparing myself for more headshaking and chortling from my life partner. Hmmph.

Anonymous said...

Well, do you want to talk about the 13x16 foot room that I have entirely dedicated to beer brewing equipment, beer bottles and kegging equipment, will that make you feel better? How about the still empty 7 more carboys I own (one of which is in your basement).

Or the large amount of space in my garage dedicated to gardening equipment?

No, you should not feel bad. One 55 gallon drum is nothing, plus you are always knitting things for Manimal, even if he didn't wear your socks with the kilt to church on Friday (St Pat's).

Ragnar said...

Okay...well then what about the 4 carboys I own? And other nefarious brewing equipment...and did we mention that I own 7 sewing machines? And the 8 boxes of canning jars in a friends basement...ach. This was not a good tangent to go off on.

Anonymous said...

Two canning pots and one pressure canner and probably 12 dozen jars.....

we should stop...we work to play do we not??

Beverley said...

HI I am about to make your day!!!

I have 32 plastic bins on wheels full of yarn and spinning silk etc. A double wardrobe full of fleeces in boxes, two small bookshelves full of my coned yarn and several as in 6-7 large plastic bags full of mill spun yarn. I have two large as in really big plastic bins full of handspun and mill spun. I also have a very large carton full of hanks of millspun yarn. I have about 10 A4 paper boxes full as well with yarn and fabric. Oh and there is the small wardrobe full of sliver to spin and the drawers are full of fabric including I might say two unfinished quilt tops.

I also have all the rest I have brought lately lying about the room waiting to have space made for them. Throw in two knitting machines , 4 spinning wheels, 7 weaving looms, a sewing machine in a cabinet and all the equipment that goes with the above. Two lace bobbins pillows and gear.A Shetland lace shawl blocking frame. Ah and I should mention the 5 large book shelves full of craft, mostly knitting books and a 2 drawer filing cabinet of loose patterns. Then there is the 3 plastic drawer sets of thing such as embrodiery threads and equipment and crochet cottons.

We could move down to the garage where I have all my paper making stuff + microwave for dying + all my art gear such as paints and easels etc etc. Is this post long enough yet!! This is why we have a four bedroom house and only one room is a bedroom!!

This should quieten him down a little!!! lol. He could be worse off he could live here!!

You know best of all my DP didn't blink an eye when I said "do you mind if I buy another knitting machine?" Just said "Why should I mind" Bless him!! [ see my latest post]

Knit on >^..^<

Ragnar said...

That's more like it! Thanks Bev. I knew there were some pack rats out there in Bloggity land.

Anonymous said...

You know, I didn't think I had much of a stash, either. Just one underbed box...I mean, that's nothing! And then I went looking for a skein of yarn last night.

I realized that if the yarn wasn't in that underbed box, I wasn't counting it when I thought about my stash. And I realized that I have a huge pile of bags that are full of yarn. And I realized that I have a lot more yarn than I thought I did.

In fact, if the server my blog is on ever comes back up (grumble) I might just post pictures of it.

Beverley said...

No!! Who shines shoes these days ... now if you are offering to wind some hanks into balls so some knitting might actually be done...........!!!!