The Stuff of Dreams
January 31, 2007
Yesterday, 1/30/2007 in SALT LAKE CITY, UT: 35 high, 17 low (Above freezing AND clearer, cleaner air on the horizon?)
I have quite a love affair with sock yarn. When I think of my rich, ripe stash a bit of Shakespeare pops into my head. This is "…such stuff as dreams are made on…” a big pile of yarn is truly the stuff of dreams, but it’s the stuff of dreams that come true. A bin of sock yarn isn’t just sock yarn or the potential for socks. It is fingering weight yarn in luscious color mixes that can become hats, mitts, gloves, shawls, baby sweaters, ...anything! Stash is full of potential, full of promise and good things to come. In an effort to lift the mood, as we deal with the last days of gray smog, I decided a bit of redecorating was in order.
It's been some time since we've bought anything new for our home. A collection of yarn shouldn't be hidden away in bins when it is so full of life, color and potential. Color and texture add a bit of brightness to the drab, smoggy days.
The best way to enjoy any collection is to add it to your daily surroundings. It shouldn't be locked away in the safety deposit box or hidden from sight in closets and drawers. With this lovely collection of yarn in plain sight, ideas and inspiration should abound. Yarn is longer lasting than flowers and more inspiring than any tchotchke.
In this gloomy, long lasting, gray winter, it is best to bring bright color into ones home and to sit in front of it daily as a way to get rid of the blues. Another way to enjoy this new look in your home is to pick up a set of needles, wind somthing colorful and beautiful into a ball and knit it up. This way you can have your yarn and knit it too. Fiber is very good for the soul.
Not to mention that daylight and frequent handling (how can you not fondle yarn?) discourage moths! Someone, somewhere suggested storing knitted shawls in kilner/jam jars so the colours could be admired. That would work for roving, too (although you might need larger jars :-)
Posted by: sarah | January 31, 2007 at 03:53 AM
How pretty! I just like looking at the sock yarn. It brightens my mood.
Posted by: Vera | January 31, 2007 at 04:19 AM
STOP ME from casting on a third sock!
Posted by: Laurie | January 31, 2007 at 04:30 AM
Great idea. Of course, Mason would have a field day if yarn was everywhere like that!
Posted by: Carole | January 31, 2007 at 04:37 AM
Still life with yarn. Lovely.
Posted by: Ann | January 31, 2007 at 04:38 AM
Great pictures! I have bits of yarn, sometimes project leftovers and sometimes the next project out in my living room and kitchen in bowls. On gray days, just a glimpse of the bright pink from a sweater or the green from some socks makes me smile.
Posted by: Shanti | January 31, 2007 at 05:00 AM
How pretty! I love your displays. Last fall I was trying to come up with a centerpiece for our Rosh Hashanah feast and my dad suggested using my yarn. I took out a large hurricane lamp and filled it with yarn. It's been that way ever since but I change out the yarn from time to time.
Posted by: Hillary | January 31, 2007 at 05:59 AM
How bright and cheery!
Posted by: Kathy | January 31, 2007 at 06:21 AM
My sock yarn is all over the house, but certainly not as nicely displayed as yours!
(Still cheers me up when I pass by)
Posted by: Pat | January 31, 2007 at 06:25 AM
I organized my yarn room with a glass-front cabinet, and my sock yarn spills from a felt box. I love to look at it, to rearrange the hanks to highlight certain yarns or color combinations. It reminds me of the abudance with which I am blessed.
I love those pics -- you're right. We should live with our inspiration out of display!
Posted by: Liz K. | January 31, 2007 at 06:26 AM
First Ann with the shayna punin, now you with the tchotchkes. Oy gevalt! You two have me all fertummelt!
Posted by: Cara | January 31, 2007 at 06:40 AM
Wise words, dear grrl. Fiber *is* very good for the soul, indeed. Isn't it wonderful to have such a passion?
xoxo
Posted by: Kim | January 31, 2007 at 06:46 AM
Love these pictures!! Boy, with those colors, they would make dynamite watercolor paintings! You should make a Yarn-A-Day calendar for 2008.
Posted by: Robin | January 31, 2007 at 06:56 AM
glad to know I am not the only one! ;) thanks for sharing the pictures. :)
Posted by: jess | January 31, 2007 at 06:56 AM
Love it! I just started my, um, fifth sock. :)
Posted by: Paula | January 31, 2007 at 06:59 AM
I love it!
Posted by: Rachel H | January 31, 2007 at 07:32 AM
That sure blows away the grays and blues of winter! Very nice.
Posted by: Vicki | January 31, 2007 at 07:34 AM
Beautiful! Eye candy that is all good for you! What delightful inspiration you are. Wonder how many homes will be showing vases full of yarn this week?
Posted by: Roxie | January 31, 2007 at 07:36 AM
A decorating tip every knitter can appreciate!
Posted by: Wool Winder | January 31, 2007 at 07:37 AM
Yarn is an accessory, even before it's knitted! I love to show mine off, in the limited space I have .. everyone should!
Posted by: Tania A | January 31, 2007 at 07:41 AM
Great idea...and great photos! I have a big glass crock in my foyer that I use to hold bits of leftover yarn that has been wound into balls, some small, some fairly large. It cheers me when I pass. As for your weather, add the times of sunrise and sunset, and you are our answer to Alda Kalda! (The Iceland Weather Report.)
Posted by: Marcia | January 31, 2007 at 07:42 AM
*sigh* Lovely!
Posted by: Jennifer | January 31, 2007 at 07:45 AM
What terrific photos! I love the idea of "decorating" with fiber...
(((hugs)))
Posted by: Knitnana | January 31, 2007 at 07:49 AM
apples and grapes...fun*tastic
Posted by: marie in florida | January 31, 2007 at 08:09 AM
Pretty! What a fun idea :-)
Unfortunately, my cat would have too much fun with the yarn if I stored it out like that...
Posted by: Lauri | January 31, 2007 at 08:11 AM