Quality Rather Than Quantity

Even though my stash has unwittingly grown since this KAL began, Summer of Stash has made an impact on the way I buy yarn. I recognized a lot of myself in Amy's Just because... list, with the addition of Just because it's there.

I live in a small town and don't have a car, so I'm lucky to see any kind of yarn store, even if it's just Michael's or Joann, more than a couple times a year. Online ordering is great, no doubt, but it can be a pain because you don't quite know what you're getting, not to mention the sometimes shocking S&H charges. As a result, I tend to go crazy whenever I see yarn in person. Eyelash yarn at Big Lots, fugly shaggy dog-like stuff at Dollar Tree, the clearance rack at Walmart.. I buy it just because it's cheap and it's there.

But I'm teaching myself to think in terms of quality rather than quantity. This week I finished a pair of socks that were started in January. This is not a typical example of my knitting speed (much procrastination was involved), but I'm not a fast knitter by any means. So I asked myself, what yarn would you rather spend 8 months knitting with: a fairly decent, inexpensive sock yarn (Lion Brand, KnitPicks) or something more spectacular (Regia, Trekking, Socks That Rock)? The answer is obvious. Instead of crowding my stash with "good enough" yarns that I won't get around to knitting for years, I'm learning to think more short term:

• Buy less yarn but of higher quality
• Keep the stash small
• Only buy what I have definite plans for
• Don't plan too far ahead, lest I lose interest or forget why I bought it in the first place

I can still substitute yarns and use my bargain hunting abilities to find the best deal possible, but I need to end my habit of settling for the absolute cheapest yarn that might conceivably work. I deserve better. :-)

-Manda