Tuesday, February 5, 2008

talkin' 'bout the stash

I have mixed feelings about stashing (yarn & fabric mostly). On the one hand, I don't have a lot of room in my apartment at times I feel like my stashes are taking over. It also feels decidedly impractical to have significantly more fabric & yarn than I have projects going on at any given time. But on the other hand, I love shopping, I love sales, and I'm covering all my bills, so if I want to go a little crazy at the fabric store/ yarn shop/ craft fair... no big woop. However I do sometimes feel guilty about how much 'stuff' I have. I've had some serious cognitive dissonance about it. But after this weekend, I've finally made peace with my stash.


I got up on Saturday with the intention of going downtown, to get some work done at the library, then maybe visit a new yarn shop. As I blogged about earlier, it was snowing, but I know that Tri-met has chains for the busses and generally keeps going, even in the snow. So I got ready and went out to my bus stop.

I was comforted by the bus-tracks I saw on the road, wrapped my scarf around my face & settled in to wait. When the bus finally showed up it just kinda stopped a block away just before turning onto my street (where the white car is). After a minute or so a bunch of people got off the bus and started walking down the hill. One of them told me the bus was stuck. =( I went up and saw that there were no chains on the bus, and the driver (clad in shorts & a polo shirt!!!) said they hadn't expected the snow & he was sliding all over the hill. Oh well. Rather than wait for the someone to arrive with chains, I just went back home.


But what to do... what to do? My hand is feeling better, but I still want to give it a day or two before I try knitting again. And it occurred to me that it's been mighty cold lately, and ever since I made the Little Boy Blue quilt I've been wanting a similar one for myself. Of course, mine would have to be in my signature color scheme!


So, I went into my stash and pulled out a stack of 2 1/2 inch squares, most of which I'd trimmed down from leftovers from other projects.

But a couple of these fabrics I picked up at the Fabric Depot outdoor sale this summer for no reason other than that they are pink (surprise) and they were 50% off (or better... this is really a great sale). Pure stash fabrics. Sure, being pink, there was a good chance I'd use them eventually, but I had no project in mind at the time.
Now, there were already nearly enough squares to make the top of the quilt I had in mind, but with these three one yard cuts I knew I also had enough for the borders, backing & even binding. I was so thrilled about being able to get started on a quilt (and in theory finishing it) without having to go to the fabric store that I made peace with the idea of stashing, and as soon as the snow melted I made my way over to the Fabric Depot Superbowl Sale to do some guilt-free stashing.

Happy little batiks are good to have on hand in case of future snow-storms. ;)

4 comments:

Beverly said...

I love when I can use up stash that was not purchased for anything special. Such a sense of accomplishment. And of course, it clears space for more stash!

IrishGirlieKnits said...

I was getting a bit worried about you initially, but when I saw the snow, somehow I knew the story was going to end with you appreciating your stash!!

And the pink!! Yummy perfectly pink!! Lovely

d said...

you'd think as an 'artist' i'd be a total packrat, but i just can't bring myself to do it. thus, when i need a specific color of paint that i can't seem to make myself, i have to run to the store, buy it, come back and by the time i'm done with all of that, i'm no longer in the mood to paint.

maybe i'll start stashing.

(oh and when i first started reading this post, i kept thinking you were talking about mustaches and i was very, very confused.)

Rebel said...

beverly - I feel the same way - especially about creating more space for more stash!

irishgirl - I know, I'm such a one-trick-pony but I love looking at the pinks too!

d - come on - stash! you know you wanna. Also... I used to be firmly opposed to facial hair on men, until well... I won't go into it, but I'm okay with them now. ;)