31 Miles to Knit

It's that time of year, when I clean the closets. I do this whenever I have to manage the entire seasonal rotation. You have no idea how much I hate doing it. I take everything off the shelf, dust, refold and restack the clean stuff, sort out the dirty stuff, wash, fold. With all the sweaters, it takes weeks.

So over the weekend I tackled some of the shelves. I tossed alot of old shoes. These are headed to the street, someone will want them, they always disappear within minutes of hitting the sidewalk.

I also decided it was time to really take stock of the Yarn Stash. You know, the wooly monster that takes over every spare nook and cranny in your closet? Under the bed, stacked in the corners? Yea, that stash.

Now, I've been knitting for only two years now. And thanks again to Ravelry, they have this amazing section where you can post photos of your stash. Because they have an exhaustive database, when you enter in the number of skeins of whatever brand struck your fancy, it calculates the totals for you! You can track the color, dye lot, yardage, everything. And you can export it to an excel spreadsheet.

Now, if you know me just a little bit, you'll know that I used to be famous for my organizing skills. The last few years have done something to that, not sure why. But the thought that I can download a spreadsheet to track my yarn stash makes me feel sooo together!

I'd say I am about 80% - 90% complete in loading all my stash into the database. You know Excel has a cool little autosum button, right? So I hit that button on what I've got recorded so far....would you believe: almost 54,000 yards of yarn. Ahem. That's nearly 31 miles. That's alot of knitting. That means I could knit from Brooklyn to....White Plains. Jeez.

To think I've collected over 54,000 yards of yarn in a mere two years is quite a feat! And that doesn't include what I've already knitted up! I only started recording all this stuff in the last few months! So many projects left my hands before they even got photographed. Or recorded.

Listening to other knitters, and bloggers and podcasters, alot of them seem to be ashamed of all that yarn obsession. Now, I just refuse to feel bad about this. Really! I see it as fuel. Inspiration. An extension of the process. There is nothing wrong with having yarn! Besides, if it wasn't yarn, what would it be - Booze? crack? Playing the ponies? That's the point. I can think of alot worse things to be "addicted" to. All of those things could be really bad for your health and well being. How bad could a little yarn be, anyway?

I say, celebrate it! Own it! Be at peace with your stash. Be proud of it. And when non knitters give you 'that look', just give them the look back - you know the one that says, "Hey, you aren't going to intimidate me into feeling bad about this, it makes me happy!" Yea, that one.

Have a great day.