my secret addiction

I've not been real quiet about how healthy my yarn stash is. While I won't be posting photos of it on the blog anytime soon (that would require me wrangling it all into one spot and that would take more fortitude then I have right now), I'm often asked what I plan to do with all of it.

My normal response is: knit it.

Obvious enough. But what I don't say is that I plan to indulge my biggest secret addiction with all that wooly goodness.

I have one neck, but enough scarves to cover dozens.

I can't help it, I love them. Long and flowy, short and sweet, woven, knit, crocheted, sewn, handmade, store bought - it doesn't matter. I make them, people gift them to me, some have even randomly shown up in the mail from internet buddies. They must all be mine.

I don't know where this obsession came from. But I became accutely aware of it yesterday when I was wandering around a department store with a gift card leftover from the holidays that I was hoping to spend on a new watch. (The watches were disappointing, mostly because I have a small wrist and it seems that the current trend is watch faces that are about two inches in diameter. Seeing as how its almost like strapping a clock to my arm, I decided to pass.)

It didn't take me long to discover that this department store has a large selection of scarves. In fact, they have an entire department dedicated to them. (Can anyone say heaven?) I ended up coming home with these:


You would think that I would be adverse to purchasing commercially knitted scarves since that is my item of choice when I am knitting but you'd be terribly wrong. If I dig it and it doesn't cost a small fortune, it comes home to live in my scarf museum.

I was tidying my room today and noticed that I even seem to decorate with them:


You can't see it that well in the photo above but on the top of the dresser is a large flat bowl and it has two scarves in knitting progress in it. (They're everywhere.)

And if you look inside the drawers? Even more:


Most of them are of the wooly variety. I'm not a huge silk fan although there are one or two in there.

I got to wondering at what point the scarf thing would end. I mean seriously, how many scarves can one person have? Sure, I wear most of them and they are different weights and seeing as I live in Michigan, they are in rotation for the majority of the year.

I came to realize that I like them because they are comforting. Like a hug. I enjoy the time that it takes for me to make them and I enjoy the ones I find in the store because there are combinations there that I wouldn't ever think of.

I guess there are worse things in life to be addicted to...

Anyone need to borrow a scarf?