Two long months ago when I started this #stashdown2020 project, I spent days inventorying my yarn stash, photographing it, and uploading it into Ravelry, and you know what?
Worth it.
I have been getting regular requests into the yarn that I listed as being willing to trade/sell – particularly, it seems, yarns that have been camped out in my stash for years, yarns that are old enough that they aren’t in production anymore. And I am more than happy to send them off to new homes where they will be loved and given a chance to (finally) fulfill their purpose.
I have been knitting for years, but until recently I have kept myself outside the bounds of the yarn community. My Ravelry profile was empty, with barely more than a profile pic and my account used only for searching patterns. I followed a few #knittersofinstagram but rarely liked posts and never, ever commented. Self-confessed lurker, right here.
I tend to be a private person, most especially online and one of the reasons I knit is that knitting is a solo sport. It’s a restorative, fulfilling activity where I don’t have to people if I don’t want to – same reason I’m big on hiking.
Now I have been paying enough attention to know that there have been a lot of challenges in the yarn community as of late – mainly in the areas of representation, inclusion, diversity, and privilege – but I also know that the yarn community, by and large, is a positive space…or at least it hopes to be. So even though I’ve only dipped my toe into the people aspect of things, I’m looking forward to growing more connected.
This was definitely supposed to be a quick post about how the coolness of the Ravelry stash function as a resource. And it is cool. Every skein I’ve shipped feels good, not only because I’m clearing out my inventory, but because I know exactly how it feels to get so close to finishing a project only to realize they just don’t make the yarn they used to anymore, and how exciting it is to manage to get your hands on some, and how helping someone succeed with a WIP is the kind of community support we’re all looking for.
I even managed to track down the skein I’ve been waiting on for one of my WIPs.
Starting Yardage: 35168
Current Yardage: 31684
Pigeon Feather Crafts 
I am very much like you, and that is why I am here in the blog world, as well as Instagram. I wanted to challenge myself to become a little more outgoing, and while knitting for me is mostly as solitary sport, connecting with people as a result of knitting has really helped me.
I am glad you are stepping out. I love tracking my yarn in Ravelry. I also love how patterns in my library offer suggestions based on stash.
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