I have known weavers who buy yarns only for the project at hand and are careful to use what they have before buying more yarn. Then there are the rest of us. I have a friend who, as a new weaver, bought a cone of every color of 5/2 cotton UKI sold. How many of us have the Tubular Spectrum from Lunatic Fringe Yarns that we keep together in its original state just because the colors are so beautiful? Guilty. I even bought an additional cone of one of the colors just to avoid breaking up my set.
I could weave one of these beautiful gamps using my Tubular Spectrum yarns from Lunatic Fringe Yarns, but then I would just buy another set! Photo by Matt Graves
My own stash ebbs and flows, although truthfully, flows is probably the more appropriate description. I’ve tried stash-busting projects only to find myself runnning out of a yarn and buying another full cone. In the end, I’ve come to realize that for me, there is no value in stash busting. I love having a full selection of yarns to choose from when I’m starting a project, and as I heard one weaver explain to a group of nonweavers, a stash is to a weaver as a selection of paints is to a painter. We can’t really work without some sort of stash.
Because everyone has a different relationship with their stash, we have decided to look at them in more detail for the January/February 2022 issue of Handwoven. Here is the official issue theme:
Deep Stash We all have yarn stashes, but have we ever looked at them critically? What yarns should be in a stash? How should you care for a stash? Is there really such a thing as a stash-busting project? Should you have every color of cotton, or just the ones you always turn to? This issue will feature projects and articles that are all about using, adding to, and improving your stash, whether that means adding specialty art yarns or workhorse staples.
Check out the palette for the issue here.
Please note that we have changed our submission process and are also using a new submission form. We base our project selections for each issue on contributor photographs. We will review the proposals and ask for additional photographs if needed, to be sent in at the beginning of May for this issue. After the project-selection meeting, we will contact everyone whose project is accepted and ask that it be submitted along with the project paperwork.
Proposals for projects and articles due: 03/08/2021
Submissions in form of photographs and article outlines due: 05/03/2021
Final submissions including projects and paperwork due: 06/07/2021
If you would like to get a head start on the paperwork, look here to choose the one that fits your project.
Please use our Handwoven submission form for proposals. Submission guidelines can be found here.
Please use the address below for inquiries that won’t fit into our submission form. Please contact us and ask for a physical address to send any pieces of your proposal that cannot be emailed.
Editorial email
[email protected]
We are looking forward to seeing your proposals for projects and articles that explore one of our most treasured collections, our yarn stash.
Weave well,
Susan