Many crocheters and knitters have pondered the age ole question of should you stock up on yarn or only buy as you need it. Many of us will go either way on this subject. Personally, I used to stock up on yarn and then I discovered that I wasn’t using a lot of it. So, I did what any of us would do when we have an excess of something. I purged my yarn collection. Not all of it, of course. Just what I knew I wouldn’t use.
Benefits of Stocking Up:
There are some benefits of stocking up on yarn. You always have some yarn lying around for little projects. On days when you have nothing to do and can’t go anywhere (sound familiar?), you can dig through your yarn and make little gifts, or you could make the ever-famous face masks that everyone’s working on.
One Downside of Stocking Up:
One of the downsides of stocking up on yarn is space. Many of us just don’t have a lot of space in our homes to have a stockpile of yarn lying about. I know I certainly don’t. Yea, it’s great getting a lot of yarn for a little amount of money. We all love a great sale! But then you get home and you have to figure out where to put it all.
Another Downside of Stocking Up:
Another downside of stocking up on yarn is having yarn you will never use. Have you ever just gone out and bought yarn because it was a great deal? Then months later, or even years, you see that old skein of yarn and you have no clue what you are going to do with it?
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Years ago, I would stockpile yarn. I though, the more the better! Then after accumulating more yarn than I could possibly use and having no where to store, I decided to purge my yarn collection. I’ll always have some yarn around that I’m not using, but only because it’s what’s left over from a pattern.
So, to answer the question, should you stock up on yarn, I would have to say it’s a personal preference. However, I would not recommend it. Like I said earlier, you will always have yarn lying about (hopefully organized) because of leftover yarn from projects. There’s no real reason to buy a surplus of yarn just because it’s on sale.
How do you organize your yarn stash?
Bryan Spellman says
I don’t knit or crochet. I am a weaver. Weavers use a lot of yarn, including what is called loom waste. If I set up my loom to weave two 6-foot long scarves, I have to put 5 yards of yarn on my loom to get 4 yards of scarf. The extra yard is waste. Now a foot wide scarf needs 360 individual strands or yarn (the warp). So those two scarves mean that I have 360 yards of waste at the end of a project. In one yard long pieces. So I have accumulated a huge yarn collection. At one point, I even went to an auction and bought all the yarn inventory of a shop that had gone out of business. And you are absolutely right. Where does all that yarn go once I get it home? But I’m ready for any project you throw at me. Oh, except for that lap rug. I need new yarn for that… 😉
Victori's Creations says
That sounds so interesting! I will definitely have to post a project where you can use all of that extra yarn!