Is there ever a time when we think our yarn stash is too big?

Last week my husband wanted to take me to a local yarn shop to let me "restock" up on yarn.  He reasoned that
     A. it would be an easy Christmas gift from him to me, and
     B. he reasons I "...burn right through it"

What shocked me at the time was that I had said, "No.  I appreciate your generous offer to restock my stash, but I think I'll pass."

          I think he was in shock too.  (Are you?  LOL)

I say this because I believe that sometimes ones' stock needs to simmer -- to chill -- until it's ready to be used.  For some crocheters this is time when a fiber starts to talk to them about what it'd like to become.  And if the fibers are too buried, too crammed or packed in for lack of storage space, how will we ever hear what the fibers have to say?

This is why I think it's important to go on a *fiber* diet from time to time ... so by using up some of our stash, the fibers get a chance to speak up!  But this doesn't mean that they'll tell us what other fiber they'd like to be mixed with to become the "perfect" fabric, the "perfect" item.  

Oh no, no!  It doesn't always work that way.  No, for that, at times, we need to wait until Lady Luck comes to visit for a spell.  And for me, she arrived after I started creating one of the scarves I intended to give as a Teacher's Christmas Gift.  Note I said "after."  The color and the design concept were fine but not the texture and the fiber content!  Who want's a stiff & itchy scarf?  Not me, and I certainly wouldn't give one like that as a gift.  So yeah, I'm scrapping it.  (Lady Luck where were you when I first started the project???)

But while she was visiting she pointed to a fiber I had on the table.  I had used some of it this past Thanksgiving to make charity hat & scarf sets.  Then she pointed to a fiber I had laying on the couch where I was working it up into a Chemo Hat.  "Those two," she said as she sipped some hot cider, "would look lovely together." 

I looked at the combo myself and thought about the gift I had hoped to crochet up for my grand-niece.  I picked up one fiber, then the other and listened.  "Poncho," said one.  "Trim," said the other.  And wouldn't you know it, Lady Luck was looking at the very crochet hook I should use! 

Lady Luck, she's one clever lady!  I invited her to stay with me through the holidays.  We have a lot to discuss!  J


A Note About Today's Image:  I'd like to thank my daughter for unknowingly lending me her babydoll "Emily" for the photo shoot.  Emily is an 18" doll (well loved) but is really too small for the poncho & hat set that I crocheted for an 18 month old child.  When you are looking at photos see if you can figure out if the model is the correct size for the garment or if the photographer "tricked" you.  Once you've discovered their tricks it will make it easier for you to pick the better patterns out.  If memory serves me correctly, Maggie Reghetti discusses this in her crochet & knit books.   The hat is based on the pattern I wrote for the chemo hats I've been discussing this month.  I do not have a pattern written up for the poncho at this time.