Wednesday 31 October 2007

There's something about Stash





Do you ever feel the need to apologise for your stash? Do you try to hide it under a cloak of invisibility? Does your spouse give you grief over the size of your stash?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might be interested in the No Guilt Stash Manifesto.

Recently, Amy from Rhode Island and I started discussing the amount of guilt and shame that is attached to stash. We hit upon the idea of No Guilt Stash and set about devising a manifesto.

Now, if you take it up, you need never again lose sleep over the size of your stash, yes, even if you have a small one that has made you feel inadequate. You need not feel that anymore.

There are too many things in our lives that take up our energy and cause us stress. Let's not add stash to the list.

Please, take the button* (not the bandwidth) and link back to this post if you would like to be released from stash- related guilt.

And many, many thanks to Amy for the hard work on the button. She had to learn some new tricks to do that.



No Guilt Stash Manifesto

I will neither defend nor apologize for my stash. My yarn brings me joy, and therefore brings others in my life joy.

Through my hands I do good in the world. I knit with love for friends, family, and strangers. Yarn is my medium.

I promise not to let my stash acquisition interfere with personal relationships or financial health; yet neither will I give in to pressure from significant others to reduce my stash.

I will not judge others' stash. I can admire it, be inspired by it, even covet certain skeins, but it is not my place to pass judgment on quantity or quality.

I recognize that stash management is personal. I fully intend to knit my beautiful yarns, but I refuse to be guilted into doing so on anyone's schedule other than my own.

I understand that it may take many years for a yarn to reveal its destiny, and that yarns that have been in my stash for a seemingly long time just haven't met their correct pattern. I won't feel guilty about this.

I also recognize that yarn can have many destinies. It can be a reminder of a special trip, a friend, a time in one's life. It can be comfort or inspiration. It doesn't always need to be knitted to fulfill its destiny. I accept that some yarns in my possession may never be knit by me.

I believe in the karmic properties of stash. I willingly share with other knitters, and I realize the stash, like love, will grow when it is shared.

******



*To grab the button, right click to save the image to your own computer, then upload it to your server. If you create your own button, please let us know so we can make it available to others. To link back, type in the following code, inserting the image code where it says to INSERT IMAGE CODE HERE. (You can click on the code to make it bigger.)