Lots of knitters have what they call a "stash" of yarn. It may just be a closet with a few shelves of yarn, or it might be an entire "craft room," devoted to the arts of knitting, crocheting, perhaps beads for certain patterns, or tatting.
This tends to lead the husband to say, "Why are you buying more yarn? You've got a ton of it in your craft room." Just like the sheep on a t-shirt I bought at a sheep and wool festival--three female sheep are knitting together. Meanwhile, in the background, a male sheep is walking out with his suitcases in his hands. One of the female knitters says to the other, "It's his own fault. He told her, it's the stash or him."
That pretty much says it all...we fiber artists don't consider our stashes as simply an overgrown collection of yarns in all the various colors, sizes, weights, and let's not leave out the many different feels of various yarn. A dyed-in-the-wool (haha) fiber artist will also touch a yarn that appeals to her, not just look at the color or weight. We may or may not ever use a particular yarn skein, but just looking at it, and stroking it is enough.
Of course, we DO buy yarn sometimes with a particular project in mind, and that's okay too. That does give us a ready answer to the "Why do you need more yarn? question from the husbands.
We simply say, "See this sweater pattern? I'm going to make this. So I DO use my stash." And then stick out our tongues.
Try to think of your stash as a "collection." For example, in addition to my yarn stash, I collect antique ladies' compacts, giraffes, and tarot decks. Like the yarn, they are pretty to look at and delightful to hold. They can cheer me up on a tough day, and shopping for new additions to my collections gives me great pleasure.
So don't feel guilty about YOUR yarn stash...just think of it as a giraffe. :-)
