Clara Parkes, editor, Abrams Press, New York, 2017, ISBN: 978-1-4197-2704-7, $22.99

As long-time readers of this blog know, I have been in love with fiber, thread, and yarn since childhood. I will stitch with anything, and have. I even took up knitting largely to feed that addiction. I stopped knitting because that stash quickly got out of control. But I continued to stitch and, like knitters (but less celebrated), stitchers have stashes.
Stitchers are different from knitters in one respect though, our stashes include canvases as well as threads. As reading this book and nodding my head I felt that wenoever one of the contributors talked about having yarn for a sweater, I was thinking “canvas and threads.”
While we’re less connected on-line than knitters (thanks to Ravelry) our relationship to our stashes is equally complex. If we think our own stashes are under control, we know people whose stashes rival shops. Last week I helped clean up the stash of a deceased woman whose Kreiniks filled two DMC cabinets. And I’ve seen worse. Clearly knitters have nothing on us. Their relationships to their stashes does a wonderful job of showing us how to reconcile ourselves to our own stashes and helps us understand our stashing.
I loved this book because although it spoke often to the joys of knitting and spinning, it also speaks to anyone who loves needlework of any kind, especially those who struggle with the issues of stash.
It certainly helped me think about my stash, why it has grown, and how I might deal with it better. Reading and reflecting on it will help you too.
Oh, by the way, with that stash I looked at last week: Most of the threads and unstitched canvases came home with me, my ANG chapter will have the chance to buy them next month. The stitched canvases are going to ANG National to be finished for future auctions. The cross stitch, crewel, and ornament canvases are going to her stitching group for them to use. The books, stretcher bars, hanks of Persian wool, and Sudberry items are going to the Needlepoint Millennials.
Her stitching group is still deciding where the money raised will go and what to do with what is left over.
About Janet M Perry
Janet Perry is the Internet's leading authority on needlepoint. She designs, teaches and writes, getting raves from her fans for her innovative techniques, extensive knowledge and generous teaching style. A leading writer of stitch guides, she blogs here and lives on an island in the northeast corner of the SF Bay with her family
Leave a Reply