I bet I'm not the only knitter who ever had the thrill of THIS falling out of a birthday card! Problem is--and I'm sure it's not unique to me--that the yarn stash is already too big, and I can't stand the thought of anything--new or old--languishing even longer in there.
So I'm thinking it's time to be practical with a gift card; that is, take inventory of my needles and supplies and fill in any blanks. I knit primarily with circular needles, and I had been knitting long enough before interchangeable needle sets emerged to have "collected" a pretty adequate cache of needle sizes and cable lengths.
As I look at them all together now, I am struck by the distribution of sizes, lengths, and composition--there are six each of US 9s, 8s and 7s, five each of US 6s and 5s. The collection dwindles at the lower and upper size ranges. Why are there so many multiples of some sizes and not a single representative of other sizes?
When I started knitting, I was young and single, and knitting was all about getting it done and being able to wear something no one else had. The 8s and 7s produced all those worsted weight FOs. Then I discovered DK weight yarn and finer-weight sweaters for layering, so the 5s and 6s became the go-to picks, and I slowed down enough to work more intricate stitch patterns and style details.
A few years later, just before the birth of my daughter, I began to feverishly produce baby knits on size 1 and 2. Her going-home sweater was actually bound-off and sewn up from my hospital bed, just a day before its--and her--outside-world debut. Crazy, yes.
I know it's somehow a little more fun to go diving and dreaming in the yarn stash every once in a while, but take a look inside your needle case, too. I bet all those pointy sticks will tell you stories that prove they are more than just the tools that let you manipulate yarn.
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