Yarn is the most important tool for every knitter or crocheter, and invariably, what once was a simple matter of seeking out a new skein for a particular project or replenishing the stash when it got low becomes an all-out conquest. New fibers are plucked off the shelf without the slightest idea of a final product in mind, and ridiculous quantities of the stuff too. Don’t think that you’re above this sort of behavior, either! Even if you’ve never hauled bags of yarn out of your local yarn store yet, you may just discover one that that the skeins have piled up over time, and now all of a sudden that meager stash you started with has grown to embarrassing proportions. At least, that’s what happened to me.
Starting with the old scraps leftover from my mom’s knitting days, it was a while before I even had to buy yarn for myself. When I finally discovered all the different colors, fibers, varieties out there… Well, there was no turning back. A small bag turned into a plastic bin, which grew into a very large two-drawer fixture, which then needed another bin stacked on top. While its helpful thing to have so many choices at hand to start up new projects, it can be a bit maddening to search for a particular skein. I try to keep meticulous count of what I have so as not to waste, but sometimes it appears that yarn simply disappears into the cottony depths. Frustrated at losing my precious yarn, even with so much still in my stash, it was high time to investigate this mystery. Digging through the drawers first with both hands, it was quite a shock to discover a small hole in the back of the fixture! Could we have mice here? I wondered, fearing my craft supplies had already been used as nesting materials or even consumed. Luckily, a trail of unraveled yarn meandered away into the next room, so I took the bait and followed it… But what I found at the end was certainly no mouse…
Yellow eyes gleaming even in the midday sun, a cat no larger than my fist stood guarding his stash just as protectively as I might have! Startled out of a day dream or deep thought, he stood perfectly still, unsure of how to get away with the crime he had just been caught red-handed for. No way would I let him off the hook for this stunt, but as something of a pacifist, I was still more than willing to compromise. Seeing as he had more than enough of my yarn to keep him busy as it was, I proposed that he could act as a “keeper” for those errant balls of yarn that might otherwise slip through the cracks (never mind that he was the one who created the cracks.) Only when I needed one for a project, he was to relinquish it from his personal stash.
A reasonable and generous request by all accounts, since this tiny feline had been caught stealing mountains of fiber, he quickly agreed to my proposal. I was just happy to be reunited with my lovely yarn… and now I can let my stash grow even further, because I have this new friend to hold on to it!