Yarn stashes, like any other collection, are highly individual, and every knitter probably has a slightly different feeling about his or her stash (or lack thereof).
Clara Parkes (who you might know from Knitter’s Review) asked a bunch of knitters to write about their stashes, where they came from, how they feel about them or where they went if they used to have a stash but don’t anymore. The result is A Stash of One’s Own: knitters on Loving, Living with, a Letting Go of Yarn.
This essay collection features thoughts from 23 lovers of yarn, be they knitters, dyers, spinners, a shepherd or several of the above.
Debbie Stoller writes about stashing as a feminist issue, while Stephanie Pearl-McPhee tests the limits of her house (and her household) with her “large and mature” stash. Amy Herzog and Rachael Herron talk about living without a stash, or at least not the sorts of stashes we typically think of when we think about stashes.
Kay Gardiner and Ann Shayne offer different perspectives on letting go and the joy of stash. Franklin Habit explores the evolution of his stash and his making, which began by stealing supplies from his mother. A clinical social worker walks us through why stashing generally isn’t a problem, and how to determine if yours is.
Contributors refer to their stashes mostly lovingly, as a necessity, a diary, a library, a way to help independent yarn makers and insurance against needing to start a sock at 3 in the morning and not having any yarn around. While some express anxiety about the amount of yarn they have or the space they have to store it, most see the accumulation of yarn and associated items as a lovely, necessary thing, a connection to the knitters of the past and to each other.
This is a lovely book that will get you thinking about the yarn you keep and why, those precious skeins that will probably never be knit, and the threads — literal and otherwise — that connect us all as makers.
It might make you feel better about your own stash, or make you realize that all the good stuff is hidden by the less-good and it’s OK to let some of it go. Just like everyone’s stash is different, how we curate, store, deal with and think about our stashes is individual, too.
Book Tour
A Stash of One’s Own was just released and Parkes is now on tour to support it. Go see her if she’s coming to a shop near you:
Sept. 15 The Book Cellar, 4736-38 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, IL, with Franklin Habit, 6-7:30pm
Sept. 16 The Workshop Minneapolis (with Jennie the Potter), 5004 S. 34th Ave., South Minneapolis, MN, 7-9pm. If you can’t make it, you can order a signed copy.
Sept. 17 The Sow’s Ear, Verona, WI, with Meg Swansen, 6-8pm. Details on the shop’s Facebook page. To be sure you get a seat, email sylvie AT knitandsip DOT com or use the contact form on the shop website.
Sept. 19 Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, Bainbridge Island, WA, 6-8pm
Sept. 20 Powell’s City of Books, downtown location, Portland, OR, 7:30-9pm
Sept. 21 A Verb for Keeping Warm, with Kristine Vejar, Oakland, CA, 7-8:30pm
Sept. 22 Skylight Books, 1818 North Vermont Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 7:30-9pm
About the Book
192 pages, hardcover with jacket, $22.99. Abrams Press.
