This is a complex topic. I've read numerous posts about it in various forums, watched multiple creators tackle the subject on their YouTube channel, and I've even read entire books devoted to the subject.
Speaking of books, I highly, highly recommend A Stash of One's Own by Clara Parkes if this is a subject you grapple with on a regular basis. It is a compilation of essays about stash, all with different perspectives, and I feel that it really helps explore the idea of what stash is and what it means to different people. I've read it multiple times myself and it has really helped me form some of my own ideas around my personal stash.
There's lots of reasons knitters have stashes. Spinners often also have stashes for similar reasons.
One of the things I keep seeing lately is a lot of judgement and disgust by some people at the "over consumerism" of stashes. I think this is somewhat a generational thing, this is somewhat just general frustration over a much larger problem in our world, this is definitely at least in part a backlash against "influencer culture" and "hauls."
For every Reddit post decrying people having and displaying their massive yarn stashes, 10 more users will leave a comment justifying their own. I try not to do this myself because I feel comfortable with what I have, I regularly evaluate my stash and my purchasing vs using habits, and frankly, I don't need to justify myself to a stranger on the internet who wasn't even talking about me in the first place.
While I've given a lot of thought to my yarn stash, I haven't exactly had the same deep introspection my fiber stash for spinning. This is probably in part because no one is making Reddit posts decrying the existence of fleece closets. Not that I have one of those. I just hear they exist.
Tonight though, after seeing another one of the aforementioned Reddit posts on the weekly BEC thread in r/Craftsnark, I go to thinking about this more.
Roughly a third of my yarn stash is handspun yarn, and I am someone who regularly uses my handspun! The truth is that I can produce yarn much faster than I can knit it. Of course the proportion has been gradually changing as well as I purchases less and less commercial yarn these days while I continue to spin at a fairly consistent rate. That isn't the point though.
When people buy yarn, a lot of times they buy it with a project in mind, or at least a rough idea of the product category or how they might use it. At the very least, if it isn't just meant to be something pretty to look at and collect, it is meant to be knit with, eventually.
Fiber is a little bit different. Sure, sometimes it is purchased with the idea of making a specific type of yarn to be knit into a specific project and of course sometimes dyed braids are purchased with that same "it is so pretty, I'll figure it out later" thought process. I guess I can't speak for anyone else, but that is really only a portion of my stash. I also have fibers meant to be used in smaller quantities and blended into other fibers for effect. I have mill ends in an array of colors, I have sparkle, I have luxury fibers. I also have fiber that is meant to practice on. I bought a pound of Heinz 57 blend so that I always have combed top to grab and practice on when I want to try something out or practice something new. I have fibers that I haven't really learned to spin well yet: cotton, flax, hemp, various types of silk, camelid fibers. I have wool that ranges from 1 oz samples of combed top to an entire raw fleece of sheep breeds (or in the case of the fleece, a cross) I want to work with and haven't tried yet. I even have a couple small bins that contain clean locks, processed wool, singles, plied yarn, and knit samples that I created for a demonstration last fall and I may use again in the future.
I think you can probably see a common theme when I'm describing what is in my fiber stash. Yes, there is fiber ready to spin and become a project; however, there is a large portion of my fiber stash that is meant for play, exploration, and learning. When you learn to spin it isn't as simple as just buy some fiber, learn to spin, make the yarn you want for your project, and you're good. It is a skill. It takes a lot of practice to develop the skills to be able to create the yarn you want to make. It takes a lot of learning and hand-on experience to gain that technical knowledge. If you want to exercise that creativity muscle, it really helps to have materials to work with and combine. My fiber stash is not primarily about acquiring and it definitely isn't for show, it is about having the materials at hand to develop my skills. If I want to spin, I need fiber. I need various types of fiber, I need multiple colors, and I need multiple fiber preparations to really be able to do all the things I want to do.
This is the part that is getting lost and I think is really frustrating me in this discussion about stash. I'm talking about my fiber stash here because it is so clear to me when I look at what I have and what its purpose is. Yarn stashes can be very similar though. Especially when you are talking about someone who has been knitting for several years, they absolutely can represent that knitter's journey as they've developed their skills, honed in on their preferences, tried new fibers or yarn types, and gathered materials that will spark their creativity.
I'm not advocating for anyone to go max out their credit card so that they too can record YouTube videos in front of a giant wall of yarn they cannot hope to ever use. Is that even really happening though? Yeah, I've seen a few channels where the answer might be "maybe?" but by-and-large, I don't really think it is. Knitters develop stashes for lots of reasons and just because some possibly are building them through "haul" mentality, I don't think that is the primary driving force for most people, and really, I wish I would stop seeing so many posts that are so critical of people ensuring that they have the materials they need to continue their hobby. If you read A Stash of One's Own, take note of Debbie Stoller's essay at the end. I think it is important.
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