Yarn stash ....

you know what I mean? You are a knitter? Someone who crochets? You weave?  You dream?

      "Cat, do you happen to have any black sock wool?" came the cry yesterday, "I need about two metres to mend something."

I found black sock wool - the last precious few metres  - and handed it over. 

   "It's not the same colour," came the bemused response. 

   "No, black has dyelots too," I told him even as he borrowed a wool needle and proceeded to mend his sleeveless pullover. His mother made it for him years ago. She has long since gone and he keeps it as a reminder of her even though it is not fit for anything other than the garden.

I thought about this and my stash. It is a reminder too. My mother used to make what she called "gardening jumpers" (sweaters/pullovers/jerseys) for the Senior Cat - and the nephews when they were small. They were "Joseph jumpers" according to someone else. My mother made them and so did several other women I knew. They would be made out of the left overs from the other garments. They would be randomly striped. Most of the time no effort was made to see that stripes matched or coordinated. My mother would simply start with a left over ball. When that ran out she would go on to the next one. There are still garments in the Senior Cat's drawers that she made this way. I need to be rid of them. I have reknitted the cuffs on some. I have patched and darned others. They have glue and paint and other stains. Yes, they were worn. My nephews wore theirs until they grew out of  the need for heavier woollens in this climate. 

I could make similar garments I suppose but, unlike my mother - and some other women, I like to try and make something in a way that looks intended. I don't want a large patch of blue and then a few centimetres of yellow  before some pink and then brown and a band of red at the neck. (I threw that one into the bin last week. The Senior Cat does not need it. It was not worthy of unravelling an reknitting. I doubt I could have pulled it apart as it was glued together.)

I looked at the small bag of left overs from socks that have been knitted. Would it make a garment? 

I know someone who would weigh this. She would weigh each colour separately and work out just how to plan it so it looks  intended.  Her work is beautiful. She uses endless left overs she is given or picks up from other places. Nothing is wasted. A lot of work goes into this. Charities benefit from her work although I doubt the recipients have any idea how much work is involved. I suspect it is a matter of pride for her.

I would set about the problem in other ways but this time I did not get a chance. The friend who needed black has taken the bag of left overs to turn them into a pair of socks for his partner.

   "Socks are good summer knitting - not too big," he told me. 

His partner, another male, makes patchwork quilts and gives them away to those in need. They often sit in the evening listening to music, knitting and sewing.

And their stashes continue to grow.