Felting Frenzy!!!

Hope you all had a good Christmas! The New Year is fast approaching and time to make a list of things you want to do but have never done before.

Ever wanted to try felting but were too afraid to try?

You know, felting. Where you knit something in pure wool and then (GASP) stick it in the washer and dryer so that it shrinks! EEEK!

It's a thing.

Now's the time. We have 75% off some of our felting yarns so you don't have to spend a fortune to try it.

Come see. Be brave.

And if you don't want to felt it, that's okay too. You don't have to felt these yarns.

Here's this week's sale.

FELTING FRENZY!!!

75% OFF FELTING YARNS

Ella Rae -Reg: 8.50 Sale $2.12

Lima - Reg: $6.75 Sale $2.25

Naturgarn - Reg: $4.50 Sale $1.12

Nova - Reg: $7.50 Sale $1.88

Peruvia - Reg: 14.30 Sale: $3.58

Poems - Reg: $6.00 Sale $1.50

No special orders. All sales final. When it's gone, it's gone!

75% Off Sale

Are you all ready for Christmas? The presents wrapped, the stockings hung, the sugar plums - whatever they are - doing the watoosie - whatever that is - in your head?

Or are you tearing out your hair  - don't do that it makes you bald - trying to get everything ready.

Well, breathe. Come into the store and breathe.

And take a look at our special this week.

Inca Touch

We have three colors left and enough of each to make a sweater. Of course you can also do cowls and scarves too.

Inca Touch is worsted weight 50% Alpaca and 50% Wool. 

Regular Price: $6:00

Sale Price: $1.50

You can't do better than that!

And remember, no special orders. Once it's gone, it's gone!

Tweed Deluxe on sale

And now for our weekly 75% off special.

Tweed Deluxe

54% Alpaca, 32% New Wool, 14% Polyamid

80m/87yds 

Regular Price $9.00

Sale Price: $2.25

This is a handsome, rustic, chunky, chainette yarn. We have several colors and there's plenty to make sweaters with. It's a nice masculine yarn if you want to make something special for that guy in your life, but it can also make a nice woman's sweater too. Of course there's also hats, scarves and cowls as well. Why not make a sweater with a matching hat and cowl?

Ravelry has some great project ideas with this yarn. And we have 3 copies of a pattern book that uses this yarn exclusively. That's on sale too at 50% off.

Regular Price: $13.50

Sale Price: $6.75

So come on down and take advantage of this great deal. Remember as with all our special sales, no special orders and once it's gone, it's gone!

This Week's Special

Time for a new special. If you missed out last week you missed out on a great deal. Don't do that again or you'll get bruises from kicking yourself.

This week we have Filatura Di Crosa Charly on sale.

Charly is 100% Superwash wool. You get the warmth of wool and you can throw it in the washing machine.

This is soft. I don't know what kind of sheep they use but it isn't the itchy kind. Great for hats and scarves!

Whenever I think of Charly that jingle from a perfume ad in the 70's comes into my head. You know the one where model Shelley Hack gets out of a sports car and strides confidently into a restaurant where she throws her hat at the maitre d' and the piano guy who is singing the song smiles and nods at her as she sits down to meet her handsome date, and you knew you just wanted to be that woman.

Oh, you don't remember? I guess I really am that old.

Back to the yarn. There's 65m/71yd in each aran weight ball. So two or three will make you something.

You want the price you say?

Regular price is $7.00

Sale price is 

$1.75

Yes, that's right folks. Less than 2 bucks a ball. You can't buy a coffee with that. Think of what an inexpensive hat or cowl you can make with that. Out of quality wool! Who says knitting has to be expensive.

Now remember the sale is only for what's in stock. No special orders and once it's gone, it's gone. So don't be kicking yourself next week.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (who is contemplating this)

Holiday Hours

Beginning Monday November 30 - wait, it's already December 1st. Anyway, beginning yesterday, we will be having Holiday Hours.

What that means to you, more time to shop after work!

We are open until 9 almost every night. So make a stop at our house before you go to that other city.

And remember, we're having weekly specials! So come grab them while you can!

 

Monday - Friday 9am - 9pm

Saturday - 9am - 6 pm

Closed Sundays

Christmas Eve - 9am - 4 pm

Closed Christmas and Boxing Day

GUESS WHAT!!!!!

I have been given the go-ahead to offer a different yarn each week for a deep, deep discount. A 

"we are losing money" discount.

Why? Because we have new yarns coming in each day and we need the room.

I know. That sounds like a cheesy car commercial. Maybe I should put on a crazy sheep costume and do a singing and dancing ad.

So this week's sale is - drum roll and fanfare....

SMC Silk Wool

This lovely little number features 120m/131yds of 64% virgin wool, 27% silk, and 9% polyamid. It comes in 8 lovely colors (although we can't guarantee how long that will last). There's  a subtle sheen to this chain-like yarn which will knit up light and airy. This would make lovely sweaters, scarves and shawls. 

Regular Price: $10.95

Sale Price: $2.74

That's 75% off!

Now be aware. Once our extremely limited stock is gone, it's gone. We will not be bringing more in. You can't special order more. We do not guarantee that it will be here when you come (the lady just before you might buy all on hand). All sales are final. So don't hem and haw too long over this. And no tantrums if it's all gone when you get here. 

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who is determined not to buy more of this lovely yarn)

Charity Knitting: Knitted knockers Alberta

Soft, Lightweight, Breathable

Want to make a difference in a mastectomy patient's life?

Make them some knitted knockers.

We have the yarn here for you. Sirdar Cotton DK is 100% cotton, smooth and non-allergenic so it won't cause problems.

The website to get the pattern and to learn more is Knitted kockers Alberta. They have both knit and crochet patterns.

Please use the suggested yarns which are Cascade Pima (we don't carry this yarn), or we have received approval to suggest the Sirdar Cotton DK which we do have.

Dishcloth cotton is NOT okay. It's for washing dishes, not for putting into your bra. Would you want dishcloth cotton in your bra? Well, unless you like to always be prepared to wash dishes.

A $13 ball of Sirdar Cotton DK will make 2-5 knockers depending on the size you make.

And all you need to do is knit them. They do the stuffing and finishing part and then they distribute them for free to women who need them.

So come on down, purchase a ball or two, and knock yourself out! You can even bring your finished ones back to the shop.

P.S. If you buy the suggested yarn we will give you the pattern for free! Normally we would charge for ink and paper. Or you can download the required pattern from the website.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who thinks this is a great idea!)

Calgary Creative Stitches Show 2015

Front view. Like our new signage?

Here we go! Pictures from the Calgary Show.

The show was held at Spruce Meadows. What a gorgeous place! English heritage looking buildings all over the place. If my feet hadn't been sore at the end of the day I would have wondered around. As it was I took the wrong turn on the first day and had a nice little drive around. I guess I should have got pictures of that.

Lori testing out the till. 

Anyway, we didn't have much competition as far as yarn stores go. It's mostly quilting and scrapbooking - I have no idea what scrapbooking has to do with stitches but those scrapbookers are crazy. Dancing, singing, exercising. They are a noisy bunch.

I'm sure if we got enough yarnies together we could beat them at it.

Arm knitted scarves, and Lori's mom Muriel in the corner. You can see we
had a corner booth.

We got to show off some new yarns.

Lori's mom, Muriel,packed us a great lunch which we ate standing up and serving customers.

And Lori's arm knitting classes were a huge success!

View from one end. 

Next year I'll try to do better with the pictures. Maybe more of the venue. It's just that our booth looked so stunning!






Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who got to go and boy did my feet hurt at the end of both days).

Creative Stitches Show Edmonton

We had a great booth at the Creative Stitches Show in Sherwood Park. Lori's arm knitting classes were full. The booth was busy, and we were in a wonderful corner with two other knitting shops, Westminster Fibre, and the Edmonton Knitting Guild.

The Creative Stitches Show is filled with quilting, scrapbooking and of course our favorite, yarn. So if you're a crafter you'll have a great time there!

These pictures don't do our booth justice. I'll try to remember to get more pictures from the Calgary show.



We're doing it again this weekend in Spruce Meadows.

Bridal Glove

Lori will be teaching classes again in Arm Knitting, the Bridal Glove, and "When the Pattern Says Pick Up and Rib".

For a brochure go to Creative Stitches.

Come on down and say hi!

Creative Stitches Show 2015!

We will be at the Creative Stitches Show in Edmonton and Calgary!

Lots and lots of yarn, some of it hasn't even been in our store yet. We just received them and put them straight back into boxes. Those who come to the shows will have first pick!

So come see what's new, and we have sales going on as well. 

And if you can't make it, the store will remain open. 

Hope to see you there!

Here's all the info.

Creative Stitches Shows in Alberta

More Summer Knitting: New Dishcloth Yarns!

We have new yarns for all your dishcloth and tableware needs!

Nova Plus Four Seasons Cotton (75 m $2.50)


This is a very nice worsted weight 100% dishcloth cotton that comes in 29 beautiful colors.




Soft but strong, perfect for your dishcloths.

You don't have to limit yourself to dishcloths. Bags, pillows, table linens, and coasters can be made.

Just look at Lori's gorgeous pillow!








She made coasters from the leftovers.

Imagine a table runner or matching placemats. You don't have to worry about getting food on them, just throw them in the washer.

We also have a several booklets that would work well with this yarn. One of them is exclusively bags  which are very sturdy.

People will ask you where you got that purse and you can smile and say "I made it myself."



Red Heart Scrubby (85 m $6.30)

Clockwise from far left: Grape, Royal, Cherry, Orange,
Black, Coconut, Ocean, Lime, Duckie, Bubblegum

You've been asking for it and now we've got it! The perfect yarn to make your scrubbies! Surprisingly this yarn is not hard on your hands at all but it will help clean your pots. Use alone or pair it with dishcloth cotton to make the perfect scrubber. Worsted weight, 100% polyester.

Scrubby up close

It comes in several really bright colors. Hey if you have to wash dishes by hand then it helps to have cheery colors to look at, especially if you're like me. I don't have a dishwasher and my sink is nowhere near a window. I'm sure a man designed that.


We still carry Lily Sugar 'n' Cream dishcloth cotton in solids, stripes and twists. 100% cotton, just $3.20 for 109 m or 86 m.

Now some of you may wonder why anyone would want to knit a dishcloth. Aside from how excellent they are for washing dishes there are other reasons.

1. Try out new stitch patterns. Maybe you have a pattern you're not sure about or a design in your head. Try it out on the dishcloth cotton and make a square before you delve into your expensive yarn. Or maybe you just want to experiment with new patterns. You still end up with a usable dishcloth.
2. Learning how to knit or crochet? Or maybe you're teaching someone. Dishcloths are perfect. The weight of the yarn is easy to handle and it doesn't matter how many mistakes are made. It's just a dishcloth.
3. A stack of dishcloths make a nice gift. They don't take long to make and you can either vary the colors or pick the color of the recipients kitchen. Think housewarming, newlywed, or someone setting up an apartment for the first time or starting over. 
4. Make some dishcloths and/or other kitchen linens and stick them in a basket of kitchen supplies for a gift. Or you can put them in a basket of baby supplies.
5. And yes, you can always make some for yourself. They will become your favorite!
6. They are not too hot to knit! Dishcloths can be made all year round.
7. And they are easy to take along with you anywhere.
8. Plus, they don't take long to make. Need a break from that gorgeous but complicated lace shawl that is taking forever? Knit up a dishcloth and feel accomplished.

There are plenty of free dishcloth patterns on the internet. So have fun looking!

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who used to think that knitting dishcloths was dumb but doesn't anymore).

Summer Knitting

"I don't knit in the summer."

"Knitting is a winter activity for when it's snowing outside."

"It's too hot to knit."

Well fellow yarnies, let me tell you, that knitting is for the summer.

Okay, you don't want to be knitting a woolen afghan on a hot day, nor would we ever suggest it. The last thing we want is people dropping from heat stroke. How would you then buy more yarn?

However, there are lots of things great for summer knitting.

Unlike other crafts, knitting is portable. You don't have to drag out the sewing machine to the garden and then find a table and electricity. You don't need special light. If something gets sandy you can easily clean it (after all you're making wearables). And there's no risk of a wet kid or dog knocking your beads and sending them flying everywhere.

Granted, you may not want to knit while water skiing, but you can still take the knitting to the lake. Although that is an interesting visual. Okay, I admit it. I went looking for people knitting while water skiing. Turns out no one does it. It might make a really challenging Olympic sport.

Aerobic Knitting

I did find this.

That's right. Knitting while doing aerobics. So if they can do it, you can knit in the summer.

Now, merino wool may not be your friend in the heat, - imagine being a sheep -  but cotton, linen, and other plant fibers are. They are cool and have great stitch definition.

And the projects you can make are endless.

Think small and or lacy. This is the time to pull out those finer yarns. Lace weight, sock and fingering, and sport yarns are great for hot weather knitting. You don't have a time crunch on your hands anyway. Or you shouldn't. Now if you've over scheduled yourself in the summer then you have bigger problems then finding time to knit.

This is the time to make that lace shawl you've been drooling over. Or how about those funky socks?

It's also a great time to get a head start on Christmas knitting. Toques and mitts are small and you can handle the wool for short amounts of time.

And you can easily do pieced afghans when it's only a square at a time. No big blanket heating you up.

Dishcloths and place mats are great summer knits too especially when you're working in cotton and linen.

So settle down in your garden with a glass of ice tea or lemonade and your ears plugged into your favorite music, knitting podcast, or audio book and enjoy. Hey you can tell yourself that it's time you read War and Peace.

Just one other thing. Road trips are a great time for knitting - as long as you're not the driver. Yeah, don't do that, even if you are driving through Saskatchewan.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee that doesn't let the seasons dictate when she knits).

New Sirdar Yarns!

We have two new yarns. One thinks it's an animal, and the other one can't decide what it is.

Husky (65 m $7.00)

Top Row: Misty, Bluff
Bottom Row: Flecky, Waffle, Eskie

Waffle up close.

This is a super chunky (6) made up of 87% acrylic and 13% nylon. It's nice and soft. All the colours are spotted naturals. Three in the brown/tan range and two in the black/grey.

Although it's called Husky it reminds me more of kittens. Either way, a really nice yarn for cowls, scarves and hats or a big cuddly sweater. Let this be the yarn to bring out the animal in you. Or start you purring. It has purrsonality. Some might say it's purrfect. It certainly has purrsibilities. Okay, I'll stop.

Top: Paradiso, Fortuna
Middle: Florentine, Frencesca
Bottom: Lucia, Esther

Divine (150 m  $9.00)

Fortuna up close.

This is the yarn that is embracing its multiple personality disorder. It's 72% polyester and 28% acrylic. Ravelry says it's a DK (3). Sirdar says it's an Aran (4). It's thick and thin so I guess it's both. There's metallic running through its fluffy fibers and its colours are variegated.

This yarn looks like so much fun to knit up because each stitch is going to be different. It calls for a simple pattern - fancy stitches will get lost. Just let the yarn do all the work while you knit it watching TV, making dinner, learning a language or doing an aerobics class.

Esther up close.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus happy employee who can easily find projects for these yarns. Like I need more projects.

The Manos Hat

Is it just me or do her eyes look uneven? Like maybe she had a little too much fun on the town the previous night.

Okay, let's get past the eyes. Here's the Manos hat I made. It didn't take very long. It's made from Manos Wool Classica Naturals color number 704 Red.

The pictures make it look like there are shades of brown in it, but it's just a deeper burgundy.

Manos del Uruguay is a pure wool kettle dyed yarn. I would say it's a chunky yarn. One skein at 126 meters did the hat.

We have the yarn in several colors at $19.00.

I used a free pattern from the Manos site. It's the Affinity Hat.

Lori showed me a ribbed cast on that involved doing figure eights and which I probably can't replicate without some help and some chocolate.  The cables in the hat were done without a cable needle. That I can do again on my own although it can be a little tricky to not drop stitches.

But the most important thing, is that it was fun.

The hat looks better in person than in these pictures. Does that sound like bragging?

I guess the fact that I'm posting this is bragging.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus happy employee who knits hats for the store as part of her job.

We're Having a Sale! We're Having a Sale!

Thursday July 23-25 we are having a 50 percent off sale.

That's right. 50% off on select yarns and needlework fabrics throughout the store.

Happy Dance!

So come on in. Friday and Saturday we will also be hanging out on the sidewalk. Well, unless there's another crazy hail storm.

Great time to stock up!

Check your patterns and bring them in. We love it when you bring in your patterns. It makes it so much easier to find the right yarns for you.

I would tell you what yarns are on sale, but Lori likes to keep it a secret. I can tell you, that there is a LOT on sale.

And many of them will forever disappear into the great yarn heaven.

Oh, and we even have discounts at the till for non-sale items. So you win no matter what you choose!

Adventures with The Noro Scarf Part 1

We have some gorgeous Noro lace weight yarn that's been sitting on our shelves feeling neglected. It's been (drop my voice to a whisper so it doesn't hear) discontinued.

Noro Knittng Magazine Premier Issue

Kirameki is a rayon, nylon, wool and cashmere blend that comes in beautiful colors. Noro is famous for its long colorations and unusual pairings.

My scarf and the Kirameki that's giving
birth to it. Color # 164.

 I decided to make a scarf so everyone can see what this yarn looks like. By everyone, I mean the millions who come into the store and read this blog.

 You can't tell by looking at the skeins. The skeins in the same color all look different. If you look at this picture with the scarf and ball of yarn they don't look like they match at all. It's like fraternal twins who have different hair, eye and skin colors and different body builds. Think Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny Devito. That's right. Darny Schwarzenvito.

Scarf at turning point where we stop knitting drunk and
start knitting straight.

At one point after working this gorgeous purple the rust started taking over. Now I'm not a huge fan of rust and I'm thinking rust and purple? That just doesn't work! That's so wrong! As I knit this rust color I kept arguing with my scarf. "You can't turn rust, you're a gorgeous purple. It's wrong! Wrong! Wrong...oh wait." Hot Pink came along and suddenly Purple and Rusty were best buddies.

Diagonal Eyelet Scarf from
Noro Knitting Magazine Issue #

  It's like 1 and 1 equal 67. It doesn't make
  sense.



 This is the diagonal scarf. I picked a Noro  pattern from  the premier magazine of Noro.  Because I was using  Noro yarn. See,  we've got a theme going on  here.


 We have several copies of this particular magazine and several copies of the one that followed.

 The original pattern calls for Shiraito, a cashmere, angora and wool blend. The magazine says it's a fingering weight yarn, but it seems heavier than that. Like a generously sized woman who claims she weighs only 110 and wears a size 2. Shiraito, it's okay to be who you are. We like heavier yarns too. Embrace your ampleness. Artists love fuller bodies.

We do have Shiraito in stock. She's just hanging around waiting for someone to pick her up.

However I chose the lace weight. It's a scarf. You can use any yarn you want with a scarf pattern.

You can use any yarn you want with a
scarf pattern. Well almost. 

I also discovered that I wasn't crazy about the increase on the ends in this pattern, so I ripped it out - it takes me about three false starts to actually get going anyway - like a ten month pregnant woman getting off the couch.  Instead I used a slipped stitch and then an increase. Much nicer ends now!

I plan on keeping you all updated on this scarf. I know you will all be waiting breathlessly for the next installment.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who makes lace weight scarves for the store because somebody has to). 

New Red Heart Yarn

It's been awhile. It's called tortuary, or otherwise known as inventory, which is when you have to count 239,609,204 things, register them correctly in the computer, and then watch as everything ends up being wrong anyway.

But we survived it.

In the meantime, while we were counting things, more things came in. And yes, we had to count those too.

We have two new Red Heart yarns. We don't carry a lot of Red Heart so when we do bring it in we think it's exceptional and those other places like Mikey and Ceiling Mart are not carrying them.

Red Heart Stellar 

For you boucle lovers! It's super bulky (6), 99% acrylic and 1% metallic fiber. Machine wash cold on the gentle cycle and dry flat. 8 mm needles, 73 meters.

We have three colors and each ball comes with a free pattern that calls for two balls.

At $7.10 a ball you can make a scarf for under $15.00!


 The picture doesn't do the colors justice. You really have to come in and take a look.

Clockwise - Deep Space (that's the deep purple one), Universe (grey), and Celestial (pink). They all have just a hint of metallic running through them.

Red Heart Infinity

This is a chain yarn. Chunky weight (5), 69% acrylic, 11% wool, 10% polyester, 6% nylon, 4% metallic. Machine wash on gentle cycle, lay flat to dry. 8 mm needles, 118 m.

The balls come with a free pattern which uses 15 mm needles and only one ball. You can make a scarf for only $7.10 plus tax!

The colors are very pretty too. Back to front, left to right, Poppy (peach), Almond (beige), Oasis (blue), Thunder (grey), Denim (dark blue), Seafoam (aqua), Blossom (pink), Enchanted (purple). Of course again the pictures don't do them justice and these too have a hint of metallic in them.

Now we know that it's the height of summer and we've been having some record breaking temperatures and the last thing on your mind is winter scarves, but as crafters we know it's never too early to get ready for Christmas. So come on in and get your yarn and you'll be all ready for when cooler temperatures hit and your home from vacation and the garden is harvested. We would love to see you (plus we have fans going to keep you cool).

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee who is being tempted by some really pretty colors).

Exciting News!!!!

We did it!

Well, actually Lori did it. I stood on the sidelines and alternated between cheering her on and snarky comments.

What did she do? Nope, she didn't run a marathon, get a pilot's licence or advise the prime minister on anything although I'm sure she could advise the prime minister on quite a number of things.

Nope, Lori did something even more astronomical considering all the time she put into it.

Lori created a fully functioning Crafty Lady website!

This means that at 3:00 in the morning, you can shop in your pajamas.

Now isn't that cool? We won't judge you on your Cookie Monster pants and your Homer Simpson slippers.

However, just because it's fully functioning doesn't mean we have everything that's in the store on the website yet.

It's like having guests over to your house. You make sure the living room looks good with your matching furniture and lovely drapes and tastefully chosen knick knacks and no one needs to know about the hole in the wall in the back bedroom, the orange and pink wallpaper in the second bathroom, and the paper mountain in the den. Eventually you will get to that, but for now, the house is ready for short term guests.

So we welcome you to our living room where Lori is showing off her patterns and the yarns that go with those patterns.

Eventually she will be putting out all the yarns and other items we have. However, it doesn't mean you still can't order those things. You just have to send us an email or give us a call although calling at 3 in the morning might not work too well. You'll have to actually wait until the store is open.

And it doesn't really matter where you live. We like our customers from Halifax to Victoria and we even like you guys from outside of Canada. You just have to send us a note so that Lori can set that up.

Check us out often because like housework it's an ongoing and never ending process.

So grab a cup of coffee, glass of wine or pot of tea, lock the kids in their bedrooms and the husband in the garage and chill out for awhile. Here's the link. The Crafty Lady.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus happy employee who regularly survives yarn avalanches.

That Stash!

Let's talk stash. Specifically yarn stash.

Maybe you are one of those ultra disciplined people who only buy enough for one project at a time. You finish that project and then head down to the store to buy just enough for your next project.

I admire you. I used to be like you.

But then for some of us, the collection bug hit. We go into a store and see a yarn we love, we go to a sale, we buy a magazine and find several projects we want to do, and before we know it, we have...

STASH.

We're not talking about a couple of lonely balls of stash, we're talking...

STASH.

I'll bet that no one has as much as this lady.

The World's Biggest Stash?

That's her private stash. Not store stash. She did an interview later.

The World's Biggest Stash Update and Interview

I'm sure you're all feeling better about your stash, unless you want the Guinness World Record.

Although we call it all stash there's different types of yarn stash.

Leftovers: This is the stash that is unavoidable. It's the leftovers from those projects you made. It may be half a skein. Too much to throw out, but not enough to do something with. If you have a skein or more left over you can make a matching hat, or mitts, or a cowl. But it's the bits and pieces that make up this pile. One day, you will make a crazy scarf out of it all, or an afghan. Or something!

Staples: You know that it's designated for socks but you haven't picked out the pattern. You love lace shawls so you collect beautiful lace and fingering yarns, you just need to pick the pattern. You have a ton of dish cloth cotton and you know you'll make those dishcloths one day. Those skeins of yarn are for scarves. These ones over here are your basic worsted weight that you go back to again and again, and that pile over there is your baby yarn because there's always a new baby on the way. You know where it's going, you just haven't decided on the project. But you are ready for the pattern when you find it.

Ingredients: You know specifically what you're doing with this yarn. You have the pattern, you have the needles, you may have even put it in a special spot. You just haven't got around to making it yet. But you will. You will.

Gourmet: You were in a yarn shop and fell in love with an exquisite skein of cashmere and silk that was way too much money but you bought one ball anyway. You went to a sale that was so fantastic that you walked away with an entire bag of gorgeous alpaca. You have five skeins of that really lovely Debbie Bliss but you don't know what to do with it. One day you will find a use for this yarn but right now, it just sits quietly in your yarn pantry waiting for you. It calls out to you sometimes, and you gaze at it, and you may even go looking for a pattern for it, but the perfect pattern hasn't appeared yet.

Expired: And then there's the stash that you just don't know what to do with. Someone handed you their bag of leftovers. Or you thought at one point that the color was nice but now you don't. You bought up the big box store yarn in your early days of knitting but now you don't want to touch it. There's that skein of yarn that was all the rage but now it's dated. And then there's the project of shame. The yarn that you tried out on a pattern but found out you hated it. Either the yarn or the pattern or both. There's really nothing wrong with any of the yarn. It hasn't gone bad. It's just taking up space. But you spent money on it so it's hard to give away. (Hint: You know that worsted weight acrylic that is looking resentfully at you for not using it and you really don't want to - we'll happily take it and donate it to wonderful volunteer knitters who will make blankets for Canada).

And if you give away stash you are perfectly justified to buy new stash!

It's okay. We all do this - well except for those one project at a time people.

One piece of advice. Never show anyone your stash. They will either think you're crazy and want to send you to therapy, or they'll want it. They will bug you about it. They will ask for it. They will pout if you don't share.

I even heard of a woman who would sneak into her mother-in-law's basement where her stash was kept and take what she wanted without asking, because it was in the basement. We do not approve. We think people should have their own stash collections.

Whatever your stash situation, we understand. At the beginning of the year I thought I would go on a yarn diet. No more new yarn until I made a dent in the yarn I already have.

I work in a yarn shop. Do you know how crazy that resolution is? Lori brings in a beautiful line of tonal alpaca and common sense goes the way of the dodo. She has a 50% off sale and the yarn I've been eyeing for months is now in my studio. Kaffe Fassett does a knit along, and I want to knit along. I found a wonderful pattern and none of my yarn works for it.

So it would help if everyone came down to the store and bought yarn so it would quit yelling at me to take it home.

Posted by Anna Maria Junus (happy employee with stash)