Mrs. Strangelove...Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Yarn

I have to admit it. I have an obsession. I have a guilty pleasure that really has no rhyme nor reason. It started small, but now it has just gotten funny. I crochet. I crochet a lot. I make hats, purses, pillows, stuffies, scarves, you name it! They are all my own designs and patterns. I crochet everywhere, and everyone who knows me knows that my hook and yarn aren't far away. But crochet isn't my guilty pleasure although it sure is the cause of it. I love yarn.  I really love yarn. I love the different colours, textures and how every yarn crochets differently. 

Well folks, here goes. Here is my public admission:  "Hello, my name is Lisa and I am a yarn hoarder."  I currently have 15 storage bins of yarn, all organized according to type, colour, and thickness. You are probably wondering how much yarn can I actually use?  I would say that, on average, I probably use three to four storage bins of yarn a year. So, of course, I have to "feed" the bins regularly. 

I just finished another blanket, so I will head out next week (when the kids are in school) to a yarn store that I recently learned about to see what they have. It is will take almost two hours to drive there, but that isn't a problem.  I travel regularly to various yarn stores and spend hours (yes, hours) going through the stores to look at and feel their yarns. And during the regular course of a week, if I wind up in a store that just happens to carry yarn, I will inevitably stray over to the craft aisle and start groping the yarn.  I know it sounds kooky, but for some reason it makes me happy to wander through aisles of yarn, planning and dreaming about future projects.  

I can't help but think that my children's teachers are appreciative because I don't give them the standard teacher gifts.  I make them one-of-a-kind gifts that are created solely for them.  I made a poinsettia hat for a teacher that adored Christmas, but had a black thumb and kept killing her poinsettias.  I made a Hello Kitty hat for a teacher that decorated her classroom with everything Hello Kitty.  A few years ago I taught my daughter how to crochet and she crocheted a scarf for her third grade teacher.  Her teacher cried.  Not everyone can appreciate crochet, but how can you not appreciate an 8 year old spending a few weeks making a gift?

Sometimes if I find yarn that is unusual, quirky or just too beautiful, into the basket it goes. I may not see an immediate use for it, but I know that there will come a time when "it" will be the perfect yarn. I reserve these unique yarns for gifts for friends and family, because I want their gifts to be one of a kind.  

So if you happen to be in a store in the GTA and see a really unique yarn or even a really great sale on yarn, please feel free to let me know because my yarn bins are calling...

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