A Lesson From Homework

I have spent the better part of an hour looking for this single skein of yarn. It is needed for my homework for my Stitches Midwest classes. I have to make swatches, and this yellow yarn was purchased some time ago for this exact purpose. Practice, classes, fooling around.

So I knew it was somewhere close to hand.

I checked my project bags. All six of them. Then I checked a few project bags not currently in use. It wasn't in there, but I found a hank of laceweight I'd forgotten I owned.

My bedroom closet is enormous, and I keep a lot of yarn in there. I opened the two double doors on the right, behind which I keep most of my sock yarn, recent purchases, projects I intend to cast on soon, and assorted other items. This part of the closet is so full now that I can't put the yarn I purchased in San Francisco in there. There's simply no room. It's currently living in a big shopping bag on my bedroom floor, along with 20 skeins of sublime that I picked up for half price at Nana's recently.

The yellow yarn was not in there.

So I moved on to the left side of the closet. I have a cabinet in this part of the closet--yes, my closet is big enough to hold a four-drawer cabinet--and I had thought that three of the four drawers were filled with books. Not so. Two are yarn. I found about 10 hanks of sock yarn that I'd completely forgotten I own, plus a few other small skeins intended for scarves, mittens, and similar projects.

No yellow yarn there, either.

So I moved on to the bins under my bed. I have those long flat bins, and I rarely go into them. In fact, I can tell you exactly how long it's been since the last time I was in them. Do you know how I know? Because bags of yarn were shoved in the gaps between the storage bins and the dust ruffle. I know when I bought those bags, and I know when I stuffed them under the bed for lack of a better storage option.

I did finally find the yellow yarn inside one of those storage bins, underneath the some wool that I had bought to make slippers for my grandmother. Also in that bin: 14 skeins of red worsted for a long lace cardigan, 9 skeins of a blue blend for a vest, silk for a lace scarf, and God help me, more sock yarn.

I think my stash has reached critical mass. This is an important lesson to learn three days before I go to the Stitches market. Or perhaps it's just ironic. But clearly, I don't need any more yarn. That won't stop me from shopping at Stitches--I know myself, and I'm not stupid enough to think that I will have any self-control in that market. Whatever money I take there, I will spend there. That's just the way it goes. But you can bet I won't be taking as much money as I had first thought.

And this fall, I intend to buy Spindrift to make a fair isle cardigan. I've been planning for this for a long time, and I'm not going to give it up. I took a class a year ago in continental knitting in preparation for casting on this sweater. I've been practicing with small fair isle projects ever since. I'm not going to give it up, even if it means more yarn coming in the house.

But other than that? I'm drawing a line. I had sworn I would not buy another storage bin to hold more yarn. Storage is about to become an issue in other ways, too. There's an extra office in our shop which I and my entire family use as a catchall storage space. Because of my living arrangements, much of my household stuff is in there -- furniture, kitchen items, and oh, yes, the bulk of my stash.

But we've sold that building and need to clear out the storage area. I don't have a solution to my storage issue yet, but with this looming storage problem and today's hunt for the yellow yarn, one thing is clear.

I have enough yarn now.

Really.