Stash Hashing

Friday Fun?  Well, maybe.  It was fun for me anyway.  So if you knit, you're probably on Ravelry.  If you're not, you need to be.  NEED. TO. BE. I love Ravelry!  Read that again...LOVE Ravelry.  No joke.  It's the best online tool for organization, information and connection in the yarn world.  Well, it is to me anyway.

One of the features on Ravelry is a place to list your "stash".  Stash, in the knit world is your hoard of yarn waiting to be knit/crocheted into something wonderful (for you non-knitter types). Or just stored and squeezed and sniffed. Whatever.  Don't judge.  You can list the name, make, number of skeins (or balls of yarn) and a picture of your lovelies as well.

One thing I've noticed looking at my friends stashes...Ok, back off...of course I cruise my friend's stashes.  It's considered totally acceptable to look at your friends stash of yarn.  You do it too, I know you do.  And by friends I mean people I've friended here on Ravelry, maybe messaged or commented on a project or two...NOT people I've met or knit with on a regular basis (now or ever).  Here's what I've noticed:  Some people have A LOT of very expensive yarn.  I mean enough yarn to knit several sweaters and umpteen pairs of socks.  Well, maybe we better not discuss socks, just sweaters.  To keep things simple.

My stash totals 62.  I know I have more in my stash that still need to be posted, but MOST of what I own is there on Ravelry.  Of that stash, all that yarn...I have enough to make 11 sweaters.  Two of which are on the needles (meaning I've started knitting them, for you nkf). My yarn varies from Madelinetosh (expensive) to Knitpicks (reasonably priced). Ok, I have enough for one sweater of Madelinetosh. And that I got from a friend at a greatly reduced price (just love her).  I don't have a ton of money to spend on yarn, unfortunately. Some, but not a ton.  So after peaking at a few OTHER stashes, I got curious as to how many sweaters worth of yarn there were and what types of yarn.  I looked at few folks I knew were sweater knitters.  That's right, some knitters knit more sweaters than others.  Some knit mostly socks or kids stuff or shawls, etc. Me?  Oh, I'll knit anything but I do knit a lot of sweaters (always one on the needles...ahem, sometimes two).

The first two I looked at (because they always knit beautiful sweaters...sweater after sweater) had big stashes.  One had 208 the other 278. Stash 208 and enough for 49 sweaters.  Wow! And the yarn consists of mostly high-end yarn like Madelinetosh, Plucky Knitter, Miss Babs and Rowan. Really amazing colors!  I'd be curious as to the value of this stash but since I've only had one cup of coffee this morning, counting sweater quantities was my limit of investigation.  Stash 278 had enough for 119 sweaters. Holy Wool Batman!!  She had some beautiful yarns, Debbie Bliss, Mirasol, Araucania, Madelinetosh, Plucky Knitter and The Verdant Gryphon.  Beautiful colors!! Thousands of dollars worth of yarn, to be sure.  I can't wait to see what these two knitters make with their amazing stashes!  I hope you're not thinking that I'm envious of their stashes.  Ok, maybe a little. These two crank out so many beautiful projects, I can't wait to see what they finish next!

I also looked up a designer I've friended.  Just to see how her stash compared and how many sweaters she might be up to. She had 111 in her stash and 19 sweaters.  I was surprised. Her designed are quite frequent, a lot of them sweaters, so I thought she'd have more.  Maybe not all of her stash is on Ravelry.  It happens.

THEN I checked out someone I was curious about...just to see her stash size.  Ready?  824  No joke. I think the fact that she posted this many yarns is worthy of applause! Now, most of her stash is single skeins.  I'd guess 3/4 of it.  And most of it Plucky Knitter (about $25 a skein, some bases are more).  So let's do the math, just for kicks.  75% of 824 is about 618.  618 x 25 = 15, 450.  Yes, over $15,000 in single skeins alone. Maybe she gets a discount?  $25 for a skein of good sock yarn is very reasonable. She just had SO MUCH of it. She also had enough for 52 sweaters in that stash.  This one might have reached SABLE. Most of you know what this means, it is a knitting term which stands for: Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. Maybe she's a fast knitter and can get it all knit up before life's end.  I bet she'll buy more yarn, too.  We all do.

Why this stash obsession?  Maybe because I haven't been adding much to mine lately.  Maybe it seems obscene to have so much of a good thing. Can one have too much yarn? Maybe I'm jealous. Yeah, maybe.

But really, I like my stash the way it is...not too big, not too small...just right. I'd say manageable.  Yeah.  Definitely not SABLE.  Yet.

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I just saw on FB that it's "I love YARN Day".  How perfect.

And thank you to all of you who have commented lately!! I love to read your comments!!