The Long and Winding Yarn

I have a lot of yarn. I have too much yarn. Why? I have yarn for use with my knitting machines. I never use my knitting machines. I have yarn for crocheting and hand knitting. I don’t hand knit, so that leaves a lot of yarn awaiting pulling and twisting with a crochet hook. When I think about it, it is pretty amazing that a long linear strand of fiber is pulled though itself one loop at a time, over and over again, to create something else. Crocheting is my attempt at being amazing. Last week I finished crocheting an afghan, started and finished crocheting a deer and started another afghan. None of these projects has visibly decreased my yarn “stash.”

When I began my retirement journey, I established rules for myself (I was missing those rules imposed upon me by the workplace), intending to ensure that my much-decreased income would meet my not-so-decreased expenses. One of those retirement-spending rules was to NOT buy yarn before going through my existing yarn supply when beginning a new project. I’m amazed that I should have so much yarn, and still, on most occassions, not have what I need for my newly-begun projects. Of the three projects that I worked on last week, only one did not require the purchase of more yarn. Yarn is very seductive stuff. It can really pull you in.

It’s amazing what people can do with yarn. I am a member of a machine knitting guild. The other members create beautiful articles of clothing, art and warmth. I own knitting machines. They are capable of creating, they just don’t under my ownership. They’re heavy and would no doubt help to hold my house down in a storm. They are also great whisperers of yarn-buying urgings. As I’ve said before, during a pandemic, household items become increasingly conversive (and persuasive).

I choose projects requiring a crochet hook, because crochet hooks require much less commitment than do knitting machines. Knitting machines require a commitment to space and set-up effort before you even start a project. With a crochet hook, you just pick it up and carry it to wherever you want to use it. When you’re to a stopping point you set it down.

Cinnamon sometimes curls up next to me and “helps” me with my crochet projects. She’s a very helpful cat. She has put in an order for a crocheted cat. We’re both still on the fence about getting her a real cat.

And so, my yarn about yarn is coming to a tangled end. I will untangle it, and add it to my stash to be used later. Retirement is full of “later” and yarn. Life is good.