Yarn Karma

So I have this theory that karma exists, at least to some small degree; and while I'm a generally unlucky person, I believe in Yarn Karma.

What is Yarn Karma you ask?  Well, quite simply out, it is the belief that if you do a good turn with your yarn, a good turn will come back to you.  From knitting charity hats to prayer shawls to packaging up some of your stash and sending it off in the mail as a special present, sharing yarn means good luck.

Yup.  I said 'sharing yarn.'

I know, there are alot of teriffic knitters out there that can not bear to part with thier stash in the least.  I'm not one of them.  

Now I'm not rich.  Far from it.  I knit with what I can come by, and I don't buy much yarn.  I did win several hundred dollars worth of yarn from a drawing earlier in the year, but by and large alot of my stash comes from donation.  Not that I solicit donations, mind you.  No.  People just give me the yarn.

To date I have gotten: a bag of Firenze from a contest, a garbage bag of Cascade 220 and Lamb's Pride.  A shopping bag of Lamb's Pride bulky, a Wal Mart bag of Lite Lopi, a few skeins of Lime Green Cascade,  two large unlabeled balls of white wool, a gigantic cone of green wool (and I mean gigantic.) and a mystery cone of white fingering weight god knows what fiber.

Why?  you ask.  What makes me so special?  Well, nothing, really.  But way up north in snowy Vermont I belong to a knitting guild.  I am the youngest regular member of the guild by at least 25 years.  I entertain them.  While they knit drop dead gorgeous fair isle sweaters and things straight from the pages of Elizabeth Zimmerman's lovely classic books, I knit devil hats, police tape scarves and crochet beanises.  They find me unusual and amusing.  But I also knit enough difficult things that they have grown to respect my knitting.  They like giving me tips and tricks, passing on wisdom, and gifting me yarn.

I don't know quite why, but I think it has to do with the idea that for many of them thier daughters are my age and they don't knit.  I'm the new hope for the next generation of knitters for them, and because I'm not in a big city, there aren't many other young knitters around.  So they think that I need to keep on knitting, and at swaps or destashing events they just keep handing stuff to me.  Sometimes they even bring small bags of yarn by the local LYS I hang out at.

The problem here?  I work in Vermont seasonally.  In May I have to haul all my crap 1200 miles back to Wisconsin in a 1993 Ford Taurus.

There is only so much yarn that fits into a '93 Ford Taurus.

So I sort through it.  I knit up alot of it.  And I give it to other knitters, too.  I particularly like putting a skein or two into the mail to a friend or acquaintance.  Because snail mail is highly underloved in this day in age, and let's face it.  Everyone loves getting something in the mail that isn't junk or a bill.

And the really funny thing?  Almost every time I send something off, someone gives me yet more yarn!

This teaches me two things: 1. Yarn Karma is real
2. I need more addresses

Yarn Karma: pass it on!!