Like The Queen
Whatever happens to strike my fancy, but surely some sort of fiber content.

11 Comments:

If you really have that kind of resolve, I will bow down to you!!!
Jane & I keep going on a "yarn diet". You will notice I say "keep going". But you are right, de-stashing is a good thing. Isn't it?

Convince me.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:10 AM  

Bess, darling...You truly are the "Queen"! You actually are glowing in those photo's. I wish I could have been there with you when you "took the oath"! Now I know what to get you for your B/Day! Teehee!

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 8:00 AM  

Wow. Good for you. I wish you great success, and I hope you get that wheel soon.

By Blogger Lanea, at 8:51 AM  

You are the most adorable love of a woman, I do declare....


One of my first tasks next week is to completely re-sort my fibers. I currently have five thirty gallon tubs and LOTS of spill over. My plan is to sort, put the things I won't use this year in the tubs, and have only immediate project outside the tubs. Sock yarn currently has its own tub, it may have to come out since that's an easy stash to go through. Nothing can get added until there is a place to put it. GULP.

Love your ceremony, sweets....

By Blogger Amie, at 9:24 AM  

All hail the Queen! May her resolve bring her her wildest dreams.

LWLY

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 12:59 PM  

Well well well! This shows great resolve. And a wee bit of insanity? I would join you, really I would. But I don't believe the state of Maine recognizes the legality of this particular ceremony.

By Blogger Unknown, at 2:16 PM  

you're a stronger woman than I am.

although I suppose if someone were to hogtie me and make me swear on a Bible that I'd not buy more yarn, I'd probably have to go with it. (But I don't know that I could do it to myself, on my own volition).

(But I DO de-stash! See! I'm knitting something out of stash right now! Never mind all that sockyarn and the five or six sweater's worth of yarn that's still sitting there!)

(this also counts as "National Delurker Week" comment. Not a total lurker, but I do read you almost daily, even if I'm not commenting all that much)

By Blogger fillyjonk, at 3:42 PM  

I probably should join you
as I just dropped an unseemly amount of credit card money on webs buying up sisik in red.

vi
who is now thinking of importing the sheep from france IF america and france will allow it....they are endangered you know

By Blogger vi, at 6:16 PM  

"In a discussion with some knitting friends last month my friend K and I began to puzzle out why we had yet to start a Dale of Norway sweater. Both of us want one. Both of us are fine knitters. Both of us have the income to indulge in the expense of one and neither of us is the type to feel we don’t deserve that kind of indulgence. And yet, we have been talking about Dale of Norway sweaters for ... 3 years!! ... but have done nothing about them. We came to no conclusions that night but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after we parted."

Hmmm...have you read what Stephanie PMcP has written about knitting a DoN sweater? ;-) (see her "Yarn Harlot: The Secret Life of a Knitter"...) Hugs!

By Blogger Margaret, at 8:02 PM  

You are truly an inspiration to all of us!! I love the picture, and your official document.

By Blogger Carolyn, at 8:36 AM  

All hail you... I am so impressed by your fortitude. I came by way of the 'Bossy Little Dog' blog and read the stash reduction oath. Great idea.

By Anonymous Anonymous, at 10:06 PM  

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]



Friday, January 13, 2006  

Stagnant Stash Solution

Each January, with its sober economic reflection and post holiday resolve, there comes the opportunity to find solutions to chronic problems, to make fundamental changes, to sweep out the old and usher in the new. Here in Virginia we’re even getting a new governor today - which is auspicious for him, since the astronomical signs point to stellar success for all efforts begun today.

With such heavenly promise, I offer here, today, my sole New Year’s Resolution.

But first, being the Queen of Loquacity; a little back info.

Three times since last May I have gone through my entire stash of fiber, fleece and yarn, seeking items that might be swapped, passed on, or at least, not duplicated the next time I strolled through the doors of the nearest yarn emporium. Each time I was unable to find a single ounce of fiber or skein of yarn with which I was not passionately in love. I had promised to participate in one yarn swap and with clutch-fisted resistance, managed to find 6 skeins of a lovely soft greeny aqua merino/mohair blend that, though it would look lovely on mama, I could part with. Thank goodness a close friend picked it up, so it felt like a gift instead of a loss.

I’m not offended by a large stash. I firmly believe in having plenty of material to work with, no matter what your passion is. I like the breadth and scope of having a mini shop in the house so that, come some rainy afternoon, I can indulge my creativity with immediate tactile feedback. But I am Virgo enough to need the things I own to be in working order, and lately I’ve come to see that my stash is not functioning properly. A good stash is not a museum of my shopping expeditions. It is a storeroom in the palace where one can pluck that single needed delight and put it to good use. Alas, lately I have only been stuffing items into it, not plucking them out. I have not made anything from my stash in months or - (gulp) - longer. My stash is not the biggest I’ve heard of, but it’s certainly spilling out of bags and bulging up from behind chests, which are already packed full. It is too big for me. Or perhaps I ought to say - it is a stagnant stash. It is not moving, not vibrant and flowing and adding to my life. It is adding only to my clutter.

In a discussion with some knitting friends last month my friend K and I began to puzzle out why we had yet to start a Dale of Norway sweater. Both of us want one. Both of us are fine knitters. Both of us have the income to indulge in the expense of one and neither of us is the type to feel we don’t deserve that kind of indulgence. And yet, we have been talking about Dale of Norway sweaters for ... 3 years!! ... but have done nothing about them. We came to no conclusions that night but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after we parted. Several days later, over lunch with my most Zen friend, the one who tosses out 100% of whatever she hasn’t used in a year, the one whose spare approach to life is often the recipient of my teasing, I realized what was stopping me from buying a DoN kit. I have Stash Stagnation and I can’t bear the thought of adding another $$$ worth of fiber to that sluggish backwater of fiber.

And so was born, over that laughingly silly lunch date, my 2006 New Year’s Resolution. It involves all the things that I know work for me: External structure. Group support. Public acknowledgment. A stick, but also a carrot. I give it to you now.




We had planned to have a bit more ceremony but at the last minute, we had to perform the swearing in during lunch hour on Wednesday. My accommodating public servant down at the county courthouse, Circuit Court Clerk GA swore me in and the notary witnessed it. There were only 2 photos left on the cheesy disposable camera I had in the office. So I can’t show you the revelry that followed this august moment. Happily I can report - a good time was had by all - including TheQueen.



Nevertheless. It is official. There will be No New Fiber in the castle this year - unless someone gives me some. That is not my concern. What is in question here is my accumulating propinquity, not another’s generosity. And who knows - perhaps next year there will be a Golding Spinning Wheel in my house.

posted by Bess | 6:31 AM
links
archives