What a Life!

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You don’t have to spend much time in the knitting world to hear someone mention their stash. Stash would be yarn purchased but not yet knit, of course. And it doesn’t matter what your hobby is - scrapbooking, sewing, cooking - hobbies seem to bring with them a collection of materials used to carry out the favored activity.

I have friends who say they could fill an entire room from floor to ceiling with their yarn. There are people on Ravelry (a database of yarn, patterns and projects for knitters) who have in excess of 100 miles of yarn. To put this in perspective, one mile of yarn (1760 yards) is enough to knit an average long-sleeved adult sweater, give or take.

Some people try to rationalize it and say that they collect yarn, like one might collect stamps. Then there are online groups devoted to knitting from the stash. In those groups, you’ll find knitters committed to a “yarn diet” where they are not buying any new yarn and only knitting from their stash for a specified amount of time. There are even podcasts - such as Stash and Burn - devoted to the knitting life and climbing out from under the weight of the stash.

My stash fits into three drawers of an antique dresser I inherited from my grandmother, which means it is quite modest indeed. Still, I, too, found myself groaning under the weight of the stash. During the month of May, while everything was up in the air, I took charge of what I could control and decided to regain mastery over my stash.

My approach, however, seems to be unique. [At least I have yet to hear anyone professing the same theory.] It is simply this: yarn is purchased with anticipation. Anticipation of the wonderful things you’ll be making with it and the wonderful time you’ll have making those things. But as yarn sits in your stash rather than being knit up, it turns stale and morphs into guilt rather than anticipation. Guilt is not fun.

Therefore, the objective would be to reconnect the purchase of the yarn with the knitting of the yarn and the completion of the project. No yarn diets. No collecting. Just loving yarn in the way it is best loved - knitting it and enjoying finished projects.

So buy the yarn. Display and admire it for a few days. Then cast on and enjoy knitting it. When the project is finished, display and admire it for a few days. Take pictures. Blog about it. Then use it and love it, or give it to the intended recipient to use and love. Very simple indeed.

The key to success? Good project management. To be continued…

Let’s see…what can I take a picture of?

Priming the camera.

Smile!

Aren’t those flowers pretty?

Every year they bloom on tall shoots from these bushes which I’ve thought were downright ugly every since we first looked at the house.

This would be the snake I almost stepped on when trying to take the picture of the ugly bushes. Hope no one saw the little yuck! dance I did in the middle of the front yard. The picture of the ugly bushes ended up being taken from the driveway so I could see where I was stepping.

One thing that I miss about my old Canon S3 IS is the zoom. That picture of the snake is cropped, and he doesn’t look very sharp to me. Loss of resolution, perhaps? Or the camera focused sharply on something other than the snake? I don’t know.

I thought that with 10.1 MP of resolution with the Rebel XTi that I could safely crop. But now I’m thinking that instead of an 4×4 being half the resolution of an 8×8, it’s actually a quarter. [4×4=16 and 8×8=64; 16 is 1/4 of 64]

Pictures like that make me really miss that 12X zoom. I could zoom with the camera, get really close while being far away, and still get a crisp, clear shot. Don’t get me wrong - I love my 35/2 lens, but so many of the pictures outside - even when they aren’t cropped - seem to have a soft focus. You don’t know how many outdoor pictures I have that aren’t up on Flickr because they just seem out of focus.

I asked the talented Alissa what lens she has. She takes great outdoor photos, which is where mine seem so lacking. She has the Sigma 17-70/2.8 which she loves. The 35/2 would still be the lens I kept on my camera, but when I go outside…or to the park…or to the farm, I could use the Sigma. That’s where I so miss being able to zoom. [I still don’t miss it at all inside.]

I could ask for the new lens for Christmas, but that’s the time of year I would use it the least. That’s the thing about photography. I can spend $20 on yarn here and there and nobody notices. But one photography purchase a year is a huge ordeal. I don’t know if I want a zoom lens that bad.

What I’d really like would be Lolly’s new set-up - a Canon 40D with the L-series 24-70mm/f 2.8. Wouldn’t that be sweet? [No links to the camera or the lens because they’re so out of my range that I don’t even want to know how much they cost.]

Someday when I’m rich and fabulous, maybe I can have one of those. Until then I’ll take pictures of the one and only plant with flowers on it in our yard with the camera and lens that I have…and try not to step on a snake!

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[Ben is at Vacation Bible School. I am at home. I don’t want to say anymore for fear I’ll jinx it!]