It’s hard to believe, kittens, but it’s already that time again: a quarterly stashdown update!  I left off at the end of 2013’s stashdown discussing the process and my optimism that this year would be the one that everything I’ve been learning would fall into place and click.  Thankfully I’m a person who loves the process of change and isn’t put off if it doesn’t “work” the first few go ’rounds: 2014 is my fifth consecutive year of tracking my yardage in and out of my stash.  At this point, it’s as natural as breathing.   I suspect as long as others continue to the do same, I will also track…even long after I’ve reached what I feel is the perfect stash size for me.  (I haven’t given that topic too much thought lately; I should explore it again at another time.)

If you haven’t done so already, you should click on my chart to see it full sized!  I am really proud of myself this quarter: my numbers were amazing!  In fact, I have never in the other four years of participating in Stashdown had a ratio of yards out/in that was this high. A-maze-ing.  I was rather productive while knitting as my monthly tallies have shown, but I also did a lot of destashing this quarter.  One of the interesting things that has changed for me recently is that while I love everything in my stash and have some attachment to it…I’m learning to let things go and be OK with it.  For me that’s big.  I do not often talk about it, but both of my parents have some hoarding tendencies, and I often find myself collecting items with difficulty editing or finding homes for them all.  I’m always fighting against it and trying to cull faster than it accumulates–I swear I do not know where most of it comes from!  It just appears.  Like magic.  Unhappy, stress-inducing magic.  But that’s not really here-or-there.

I know the rest of my quarters are likely to be a bit less impressive than this one: I’m going to continue working on not purchasing anything new and working through some of the excess stash I have…as well as continue to let go of skeins that I am able to reassure myself that I can live without them and they deserve a better home where they will be used.  If I can manage to not purchase much in Q2, I’m hoping I may even hit a 10:1 ratio.

Kittens, here we are once again: the end of one year and the beginning of the next.  My fourth year of Stashdown participation has been completed, and for the fourth year in a row…I am in the red.  

BUT.

I still feel optimistic about the process.  My stash out/in ratio was slightly larger this year than the previous two and while red, my stash in number was significantly smaller than the year before.  (And this time it included not one, but two, blanket quantities!)  For me, Stashdown has always been about the process and the opportunity to collect data about my crafting and stashing habits.  I’ve learned so much about myself during this exercise.  I know it would be crushing for some, but I still feel encouraged and plan to keep going.  I am not an All-or-Nothing person.  

I am feeling quite certain that 2014 is the year that I will finally see a stash reduction overall for the year.  Bring it on.