Working with yarn is a sensual experience.  Some people like the softest yarns:  cashmere, alpaca, merino.  They gently stroke the fiber.  Some like the wool that still smells of the sheep.  They’re the ones that pick up the skein and stick their noses in it.  Most drink in the colors with their eyes—color-therapy.  It’s no surprise that crafting with yarn has grown in popularity as a therapeutic activity.  There is no doubt that it increases your endorphins, and if we assume it has the same effect as laughter, then even the anticipation of working with yarn increases your endorphins:  making you happier and less stressed.

Now, to the subject of the private yarn stash.  On a regular basis, customers share with me information about their yarn stash.  Many tell me they have more yarn in their personal stash than I do in the shop.  I believe them.  After all, I have a small shop.  Some keep their stash in plastic totes, some in cedar closets (I wish!), some on shelves behind glass doors like a private library.  All that yarn.  If left on its own too long it will start to entwine with the other yarn and soon you will have a chaotic orgy of yarn.  So it needs to be managed.  Separated into color or weight, re-rolled, bagged, touched, prioritized.

What I want you to do, though, is embrace it.  Yarn is therapy.  Bring it out of the closet, enjoy it.  Find stash-buster projects and plan ahead.  This morning I took out all my naturals, which I am collecting to make a shawl.  Every time I go to a festival or another yarn shop, I buy a natural yarn for this project.  When will I make it?  When the time is right.  How will I know?  I will begin.  In the meantime, just the anticipation makes me happy, and that, as the Master Card ad says, is priceless.