Slump...

Today is a blue funk day. It's one of those days where all you feel is pressure and your backbone gives out causing a slump to happen to you. This is my day today. I'm stressing over stupid stuff, clamming up, and the pressure is so high I feel depressed. It's just one of those days. I'm normally a happy-go-lucky person and as such I have passion for things fiber-y and non-fiber-y. But today is not one of those days. How to fix this? No clue. It just happens. It's as if one is on a roller coaster and going down the first hill, when BAM! Your day turns back up the next slope. So how am I dealing with this? Well, for one thing I'm writing this blog post (albeit a very down-in-the-mouth post) and working on my fiber stash re-boot. I have literally pulled all of my yarn and fiber (excluding my current WIPs and yarn for them) and piled it all into the massive mound of fiber-y goodness! It's almost a bit shameful to think how much I stashed where and when and why. Things from all corners of the room and things from all places. Yet with each skein there is a connection of some sort. Be it the acrylic worsted weight yarn that my grandmother gave me or the yarn bought with Stephen West from Steven Be's or the yarn I just picked up a week or so ago when I met Amy and Megan and Jeanette and Mandy and all sorts of friends at Yarnover. Whatever the yarn content, whatever the yarn color, weight, or yardage, it all has a story. Which, of course, makes one want to hold onto it all forever and that it WILL be perfect for something in the near future. (codeword for I'm probably not going to use it, but I could... meaning that I'm feeling hoarder-esque) But the reality is this: what do I enjoy doing with my sticks and string and will this yarn get me there? If the answer is no, then perhaps it should find a new home. If it is yes, but I can't at the moment, keep it and save it. I have stash that is specifically for designs and shawls and things like that, but I also have the fun stash for those spur-of-the-moment ideas and projects and gifts. I have stash that I honestly haven't touched for a year and will probably never use. It is this yarn that I wish to purge from my stash's life and move onto a more minimalistic stash (which is much more "stuff-driven" then it sounds.) that I LOVE and WILL use and will WANT to use. But be realistic here, do you think that I will actually get rid of some of this? Honestly, I will most likely get rid of a couple of things, but retain the stash. The other thing with stash diving is that you are touching all the things and they spur you to cast on something (Wow! I forgot I had this skein of random worsted weight! It is a hat. saves for later, which never actually comes...) So the thing with detoxing the stash and your life is to ignore the little voices. It will get better and life will still go on. However, don't get rid of the blanket's worth of yarn that you've had for three years waiting for the perfect project as it will come, trust me. I know these things! Now I'm going back to tackle this slump monster and vanquish all the gloom and pressure from my life! Cheers to you, my reader, and may your day simply be brighter and your life better and your needles bold!