On de-stashing

I like to think of myself as a minimalist wannabe with hoarding tendencies. I love the idea of having less things – both because it’s less clutter and it’s more eco friendly – but I have these bad habits of keeping things far longer than I need to. I’ve dreamed, often, of having “zero stash,” meaning I’d only have yarn on hand for the project I’m working on. I’m not sure how long I’ve had that idea, but it’s been in my head for a while and I think it’s quite telling of how overwhelming my yarn stash had become that I was no longer dreaming of what my next yarn purchase would be (this is, by no means, saying I had a ridiculous stash. I’ve seen some on Ravelry that make mine look like a small collection! My stash was just overwhelming for me.)

But no matter how much I thought about it, that dream wasn’t going to be a reality anytime soon. I had too much yarn, and because of my hoarding tendencies I couldn’t possibly bear to part with it. Because the thing about craft supplies is this: they’re full of possibilities. That skein of yarn, whether it’s 100 yards or 400 yards, has something that can be made out of it. And something full of possibilities is hard to part with for me – it has untapped usefulness and it feels wasteful to get rid of it because surely the moment I do that something will come up and I could have used it. (See what I mean about hoarder tendencies?)

I’m not sure what happened over the summer. Maybe it was the ending of my postpartum depression, or maybe it was getting a full-on toddler at 10 months and having no time to do anything… but something changed. I started trying to purge 5 things a week – either it was thrown away or it was taken to the Goodwill. 5 things turned quickly into 10 (or even more). 10 things turned into re-evaluating whether I truly needed to keep whatever the item is I was questioning and why I was hesitant to get rid of it. I’d collect a box of things, put it in my car, and the next morning drop it off on my way to work. Lather, rinse, repeat.

Today, I’m packaging up 10 skeins of various yarns. Monday, I’ll pop them all in the mail.  I posted a note up to some very dear online knitting friends with the note of “early giftmas – free to a good home.” In exchange, everyone who has claimed yarn has been really, truly lovely and has purchased a pattern off my Ravelry wishlist in exchange. So far all the patterns I’ve received have been for knits I do, truly, want to make. So that’s definitely a win! Patterns, of course, are far less cluttering since they’re digital. And, of course, less clutter means less guilt over owning something I’m never going to get around to!

I’m far from zero stash, still. But I’m getting closer. I’m being pickier about the yarns I buy, why I buy it, and I’m looking more into why I feel compelled to buy it when I know I won’t get around to it anytime soon. And, so far, it’s working.