I have been thinking lately about my fabric and yarn buying habits. Over the last 20+ years I have accumulated a lot of fabric - a yard here, a half yard there. I bought whatever spoke to me. Sometimes I would have a particular project in mind but mostly I just bought what I thought was pretty. I have also picked up fabric at garage and rummage sales. This has worked well for me, I think. I like making scrappy quilts so having a large selection of fabrics is good. In recent years I have learned that I have a hard time cutting into large pieces of fabric. I tend to save them for just the right project but, those projects are very few. I love working from my small scraps.
Chawne and I arranged a fat quarter fabric swap to help ourselves cut into some larger pieces of fabric and get them into use. I think this will help, look at this great fabric that Chawne sent me. This new fabric and yarn makes me want to jump into a new project. Isn't that yarn delicious?
I have learned that the same buying approach with yarn doesn't work for me. A skein here and there of pretty yarn leaves me with lots of pretty yarn and no plan of what to knit. With fabric I have bought quilting cotton which is all the same weight but my yarn purchases have been of all kinds of yarn. I like to make socks so any sock yarns will get used. The left overs from all the socks can also go together in a fun "scrap" blanket. I also have purchased enough skeins of several yarns to make sweaters but am having a hard time finding the right pattern to go with the yarn. I think that in the future starting with a pattern and then finding yarn to make it with might be the better way for me to go. The biggest hurdle in using my yarn is the novelty yarn. How did I end up with so much of that? I think the novelty yarns multiply on their own!
What are your thoughts on "stash" management?
