Totally Overwhelmed

Last week I mentioned that I was going to do a little digging in the stash to find some yarn for a sweater. In fact, I had a pattern and some handspun in mind. So Friday evening, I went into the stash room/guest room, opened up the doors to the closet, and started pulling out bins and bags.

Readers, I could not find the yarn.

Why couldn't I find the yarn? Well, let's just say that at one point, when Molly was moving out of this room and into the third-floor room where the stash used to live, the stash was organized. But that was several years ago, and the stash room has become a sort of catch-all for anything that doesn't have a place but needs to be out of the way. And often things are tossed into the closest willy-nilly. I have only myself to blame. This photo doesn't really give the full picture of the situation, but at least you can get a sense of the scale:

The bottom line is that I'm feeling completely and utterly overwhelmed by the amount of yarn I have. I know there are likely people who have much more and I am not in the least judging, but right now I feel like I don't even have a good sense of what I have, nor can I apparently get my hands on something that I know is in there, and that makes me anxious. I've been focusing on using yarn I already have for the past couple of years, but clearly that has not been enough.

So. Now it's time to get serious. Part of the solution to this problem is organization. If things are stored in a logical way, it'll be easier to find what I'm looking for as well as sort out what I may no longer want. That's a big project that requires space to spread things out, and I may not be able to do that until the next time the Mister is on a work trip and I can use half of the bedroom. In the meantime, the fastest way to relieve some of the anxiety of having too much is to use some of it us, so that's what I'm going to do.

I've joined a couple of charity-related groups on Ravelry that are seeking warm items made from wool (machine washability not required), and my plan is to prioritize making items for them. Thinner yarns can get doubled or even tripled. I can crochet more (it tends to grow a little faster). And I'll also encourage Molly to use up whatever she likes as well (she's a much better and faster crocheter than I, and she's made some really cute hats in the past, not to mention that she's been on a blanket kick lately).

All of this is to say that while I'll still be making gifts for family members and also probably sweaters for myself, you can expect to see a lot of the same thing over and over in the months ahead, and I hope it won't get too boring! Also, I may have some yarn I'm willing to offload on crafting friends, if that might interest any of you. But mainly I'm putting all this here for accountability and hoping for some moral support!

I have to say I already feel a bit better having written all that, and I hope I haven't made anyone else anxious about their stash. I will be back on Wednesday with a project and reading update -- assuming I haven't melted into a puddle of warm goo by then, of course.