airing the stash

That Advent discipline was useful but tiring. Thanks to all who hung in through the whole exercise, and especially those who sent me encouraging words. By the end, the combination of impending holiday plus early celebrations plus lack of inspiration left me scraping the bottom of my creative barrel. It has taken a bit of time for the words to come back.

Add to that, the last couple of days have been an emotional tug-of-war with my eldest son, in a dance that we have engaged in for far too many years. You would think that one or the other of us would have learned by now how to defuse such a situation before it escalates to def-con one status but we are too much alike, including a shared aversion to backing down.

By this morning, the odds of someone in this house (and not necessarily the guilty party) losing their head as a result of me biting it off was a very real possibility. I went for a run to try and work out the emotional kinks and calm myself down, but that worked only partially and I was soon spitting nails again.

Drastic action was called for. Forget my extensive to-do list. The only possible course of action was an airing of the stash.

This concept is thanks to Brenda Dayne, host of the Cast On podcast, my favorite podcast of all time. At some point every year, and I think it is around the first of the year though I can't remember exactly, Brenda pulls out all her yarn to remember and reorganize and reprioritize it. Any hobbyist can appreciate the need to pause and take stock (literally!) every so often of what you have and what you intended to do with it.

So that's what I did. I cleaned out and organized and sorted. I found all sorts of projects I had abandoned, and I either recommitted to finishing them or decided on a different course of action. I discovered notions and needles that had been missing for months, and restored them to their rightful places. I shelved books and replaced patterns. I took pictures of yarn that had joined the stash since the last time so I could catalogue it on Ravelry.

Surrounded by all that yarn and inspiration, my focus gradually shifted to lighter and brighter and more hopeful places, and the funk that had surrounded me for days started to lift away. Yarn fumes seem to have that effect, but I think I will go for another run tomorrow morning just to make sure, and then spend the day knitting to seal the deal.