You might know I did a series about stash monsters early in the life of this newsletter and I thought it might be interesting to add a few more. Today we are going to meet the Yarn Goblins.
Hidden in Plain Sight
You think your yarn stash is under control - those rascally stash monsters have been banished and your precious yarn stowed safely away. That is until you spot a few errant leftover yarn balls laying boldly in the middle of the coffee table floor. Like a trail of breadcrumbs, you know the mischievous goblins have struck again in the night.
The Scavenger Hunt Begins
You follow the haphazard yarn trail under the sofa, where more bits of yarn and tiny, dusty goblin footprints await. One goblin seems to have got carried away, leaving an entire sweater quantity's worth of jewel-toned treasures behind the settee in a carrier bag. Hang on…this was no isolated incident - it's the start of a fully fledged stash attack!
Before you know it, you're hot on the goblins' trail, scouring every nook and cranny for yarn caches. A kaleidoscope of partial balls surfaces from behind the bookcase like goblin droppings. The beastly fiends have even brazenly stashed away skeins in that kitchen drawer! We all have that drawer, right? 😉
Oh wait, is that a partially opened squishy parcel beside the coats in the hall?
With each new yarn discovery, you can practically hear the goblins' mocking laughter echoing through the rooms. They delight in upending your meticulously curated yarn collection and stashing away the skeins in ever more outlandish hiding spots when your back is turned. Opening a little used handbag reveals a project bag complete with sock yarn and needles.
Embracing Stash Maximalism
At this point, you have a choice - head or heart. Either heed the pragmatic sidekick whispering to banish these unruly goblins and return to minimalist stash order.
Or indulge the goblin king beckoning you into the depths of stash maximalism.
Which will you choose?
You know the lure is strong as you gaze upon each rediscovered treasure - this one reminds you of the last yarn show you visited; this one is from that luxury alpaca farm so far away you’ll never get there again and this silky beauty cost more per gram than your annual fashion budget. Who are you to deny these precious gems a loving home and second chance at life?
Creating a Woolly Goblin Realm
So you decide to lean into the chaos and transform your home into the goblins' cozy lair. You will need plenty of pretty baskets, bowls and bins that can be stuffed to overflowing with their filched fibre troves. The corner by your knitting chair becomes the centrepiece - an explosion of technicolour goblin treasures awaiting reincarnation as the goblin queen’s crowning dreamscape.
Fuzzy mohair and silken confections dangle from every baskets like Rapunzel's tresses. An abundance of luscious cobweb Shetland spills across the coffee table in a creamy luxuriant pool, beckoning your fingers to dive in and indulge like a goblin at play.
As you lovingly sort through and reorganize the goblins' burgeoning yarn menagerie, you can almost hear their contented purrs. Your home has become their woolly lair - a mystical fibre dominion where no skein will be forgotten or abandoned to the ravages of age and moths again. At least until the next attack of guilty minimalism upends it all once more!
PS These are AI images and I will explain more about how I made them in my next post for AI Knitting.
What a fun essay! I love your illustrations and look forward to reading about how you made them. I would love to give in to the goblin, but … cats …. I have cats so my yarns (for their own safety) stay hidden in my cedar chest.
Fabulous! What fun this is to read Linda :)