Three…. Give it away….
I have a yarn addiction. I have spent hours upon hours of my life in yarn aisles, groping and fondling skeins of yarn with reckless abandon. Luscious organic cottons. Tantalizing spun bamboo. Rich, handspun wools, alpacas and angoras. Polymides and acrylics with colors that pop and sing. I have purchased bags and bags of yarn for random future projects that seemed to never find completion. Those bags and bags accumulated into a sizeable yarn stash that had taken over a large storage closet in my basement. My stash had a room of its own. To say I have a yarn addiction may be an understatement. I was waiting for the people from Hoarders to come knock on my door.
Last Fall, I put myself on lock down. No more buying yarn for new random projects. Emergency, project finishing purchases only. It was time to delve into the abyss of my works-in-progress (WIP), finish all those blankets and scarves that were lingering in the realm of potential things in my basement. I started hooking, plodding away, one stitch at a time.
Finished a blanket.
Finished a couple of scarves.
Another blanket.
As I was doing this, I started pondering what I was going to do with these finished projects. My daughters have blankets. My Moms have blankets. My grandchildren have blankets. I had, over the last few years, made quite a few blankets and scarves for people. While extra blankets and scarves are nice, it wasn’t solving the problem of getting rid of the yarn stash, merely changing its form.
Then, it came to me. Give them away. At random. I had a friend who was going through a thing; I gave him a scarf. Gave my brother a blanket, just because. I have a blanket that, when I was making it, reminded me of a beautiful friend and soul sister that I have. Will be delivering that to her soon.
I started meditating through the process of crocheting, and the person I thought about, the one who lingered on my mind became the intended recipient. I didn’t question why. I embraced the simplicity of things as I handed them this piece of warmth of my own creation, that random act of passing on a piece of myself to someone else in the hopes of brightening that moment of their day just a bit. It made the seemingly insurmountable task of pairing down my yarn stash less mundane, made it feel more like a magical experience.
So, when I get to give my friend her blanket soon, my stash will be less one big bag of yarn. But, my heart, my spirit, will gain something far greater, something just as warm and soft, in return.
Laurie Sherman
