Why Destashing Is Stressful!

I’ve figured out why I don’t like to de-stash. For one thing, it involves using yarns that have outlived their “O.M.G I Need To Knit With This Right Now”-full ness.

But, I think mainly, it’s like using up an emergency cache of batteries, or the last Q-tip, your last dollar in your checking accout, or even the last piece of chocolate. What if you need it later. What if you find the perfect pattern and you know you have the perfect yarn and just can’t find it, because you’ve already used it, but it was already eliminated from your memory banks because it was stashed? What if??

“As if” is more like it. I can remember stuff that isn’t life threatening. It’s stuff that I need to use everyday (like the fact that I rode my motorcycle to the grocery store, and am wandering around in the parking lot with a cart full of groceries looking for my truck, ask me about “creative bungie-ing”) that I can’t seem to keep track of. I remember full well that I have 397 different colors of green in my stash (I went through a really weird “green” phase), but I can’t remember that the really cool new knitting clutch that I want to try out is green. “Where are my keys”? That one’s not even in the ballpark.

So, back to stashing. Stashing is kind of like a life force all it’s own. You save it up for a rainy day, and then when the rainy day hits, you’re all good. De-stashing is like spending. I suppose some might find it gratifying to finally find a use for all of those greens, I stress over it. Yeah, it saves me money, but what if, in the end, I end up spending more because I’ve already used the stuff I spent money on the first place to save money?

It’s very stressful!

Next Pattern:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Next Pattern:

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