Stashing Time

We have had a few visitors of late–family and friends. And many have taken a tour of the house (so many repairs over the years! it’s an 1890s house after all) and, inevitably, the “yarn room”. Now, I am proud of the organization in that space: tubs of yarn, tubs of fiber (all sorted); bags of clean fleece hanging on pegs; books grouped and sorted by theme. Yep, I’m totally that person. But these tours have made me realize that my stash is a bit, well, large. I love the vibrancy of it all–I even go and sit in the “yarn room” from time to time just to be with the fiber (yep, I’m also that person). But, it does feel a bit embarrassing–like a queen’s treasure chamber in which beautiful objects remain locked away. And why do I have so much fiber?

My latest theory is that stashing fiber is a way to stash time–or at least our illusion and fantasy of time: time for each project that’s planned; time for the designing of new objects from single skeins that we just had to have; time spent researching, seeking, and finding fiber across the universe; and time spent on ourselves (most precious of all–perhaps): the time we at least fantasize about giving over to our own creative efforts.

Within this metric, I find the stash is overwhelming for a different reason: I really imagine myself having a lot of time that I certainly do not have. The fall semester is over, my sabbatical and now my research leave is coming to an end. I have three book chapters to show for that time (and lots of knitting and spinning creations), but now things ramp up even more as the spring comes upon me.

That said, I like to imagine my stash as a placeholder for all of the ideas, projects, dreams, and–yes–time that I have invested and hope to invest in the future. As the year comes to an end, I am excited by how much the stash has grown! This was, of course, not the plan . . . but, you know what? The stash upstairs tells a nice story of lessons learned, people met, things accomplished, and future potential. This coming year, when I do make the time, all I have to do is wander up to the yarn room, select a project from any number of fibers and yarns, and simply get started. I’ve stashed my time and from here on out, I plan to spend it.