Is it when you run out of storage space?
When you reach SABLE (stash acquired beyond life expectancy)?
When someone else in the household starts to complain that you could be featured on hoarders?
When someone else in the family thinks you have too much?
When you can't carry it home?
When you can't knit it all in a year?
For me it isn't any of these things. I am not uncomfortable having a lot of yarn. Yarn is light and doesn't take up too much space and is decorative and gives me a hobby to fill my snerk free time and produces a useful product. It is a post-apocalyptic survival skill and an expensive way to expand your sock collection. It can be like admiring art, a way to appreciate textures and colors. One of my favorite artists is Van Gogh and the first time I saw a real Van Gogh in person I was struck--not only by the style of his work, the swirls and semi-fantastica interpretation of position, landscape, sky--but by the chewy slathered texture of the paint, like someone had slapped frosting on the canvas, and by the drenched colors. I like both of those things together. I can't make art and I can't own a Van Gogh, but I can buy yarn, and use it, and appreciate it.
So for me, the point at which I have too much yarn is when I cease to appreciate it. Not that it just becomes about acquisition or anything like that, no--it's just that I am easily distracted and when something new comes along it's all I think about. I forget the charms of this sock yarn
which I made my sister turn around and drive back to the LYS for because I couldn't get it out of my head, and which comforted us through the miserable gray expanse of Indiana and Ohio by being bright and cheerful and non-monotonous on our dashboard
as soon as this one came into my life
I love it and squish and want to call it George. It's a huge 490 yd hank--big enough for a pair of socks and something else, or a shawl of some sort, but I really want to turn it into a pair of Leyburns and then some sort of mitts.
So I am not interested in stashing down, in losing the weight of my yarn. I love the lot of them. I just want some way to make myself go back and regain that optimism that I had when I first picked these balls up. I spend time trolling on ravelry, searching for patterns to match old yarns, but inevitably, unless that yarn is already balled up and I am feeling particularly antsy, I cast on for something else, something fresher in my mind.
I think I'll try that Yarn Harlot's sock club idea--putting pattern + yarn in an opaque bag of some sort and then when one needs to cast on something new (or at least once a month) one goes and plucks something out, and is surprised. I think that would be fun. The only problem is that 1) not everything I'd put in bags is in a ball--a lot is still hanked, since I don't have a swift yet. Oh, and 2) I also don't have enough needles to cast on everything. I really need more stitch holders or a bigger collection of needlesthataren'tcrap if I want to pull this off.
Case in point, it took me forever to cast on my Shipwreck because I had no size 4 DPNs. Eventually I used size 3s and that worked fine--the middle section is actually a bit looser looking than when I switched to my size 4 circular.
I want to invest in a set of Hiya Hiya Sharp Interchangeables, but it's tough to justify the money in my head. I think it is a wise investment, but my brain keeps going, "$80?? for needles? holy crap! are you serious??" To which I can only sigh, because the size 4s cost me at least 6 bucks and these would give me a range of 10 needles, PLUS three different cables, the equivalent of 30 sets of needles, and it's such a better deal and they're such good needles, I really should suck it up and just get them.
While we're on the topic of sucking it up I should order beads for my Shipwreck and buttons for my Spatterdash. I am running a bit behind on that sort of thing.
While we're on the topic of getting things, I slipped and ordered a new sock yarn on etsy, and three braids of fiber to spin. Odds on me getting distracted halfway through my next sock once this arrives, and ripping it off carelessly to never be touched again while I ruthlessly cast on a new one? Oh wait, no swift! I win!
(This reminds me that I have no project for airplane knitting in a few days. Hm... this is problematic. Shipwreck is at the beads, but no beads. Baby sweater is short on yarn. Spatterdash only needs buttons. The sock is about to be hemmed and needs to be tried on 45 billion times while I find a good hem that is stretchy enough. Guess I have to start something new. I wonder what it shall be. I'd better go play with stash.)
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