Does it spark joy?

This is the question most often quoted from Marie Kondo’s book “The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” I’ll admit, when I first heard this term as I was listening to the book a little over a year ago on Audible, I thought to myself “how cheesy.” I wasn’t convinced that this book, was going to change my life, not even a little.

(Psst: in case you've never tried it, Audible is awesome! You can listen to your first book for free! Try it out here.)

But the book stayed in the back of my mind.

Then the show "Tidying Up" came out on Netflix and of course, I had to binge watch the whole thing. Seeing her methods applied in real life actually brought even more clarity to the book and it really sank in.

It’s not really about having this perfect minimalist home. It’s about keeping only that which you love and serves you and getting rid of the rest.

Her basic principles include evaluating everything you own and deciding if you really love it or not. Ask yourself, “does it spark joy?” If it does, keep it. If it doesn't, thank it for serving you and get rid of it.

Trash, donate, whatever feels best. But don’t keep it if it doesn’t make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I love this philosophy because at the end of the day wouldn’t it just be nice to only be surrounded by items in your home that you truly love?

I will admit, I’m not sure I’ll ever fully adopt the KonMari organization methods in my home. I think it takes a lot of ongoing discipline that I’m not sure I have when it comes to organization. But, it has made me much more aware of the things I keep around me and how much value they bring to my life.

Getting down to the KNITTY Gritty.

One afternoon, I decided to take the KonMari method and apply it to my yarn stash.

My stash has been moved several times over the years. With each move, I swear to myself I’ll go through it and really pare it down this time. But I never did. So when we moved to our current house 3 years ago, most of it went into a spare bedroom closet and I've barely touched it since.

I knew I was hanging onto a lot of stuff I didn’t really like simply because it was given to me or I got it on super sale. These “good deals” didn’t really come to me because I chose them, they came to me out of someone else’s generosity that I felt obliged to hang onto.

Not only that but I had yarn selected for old projects I no longer felt compelled to knit. These yarns were specifically chosen in that quantity for that project that I no longer wanted. So what I do I do with that? Repurpose it for something else? Maybe. Maybe not.

These aren’t good reasons to hang onto things and I knew it. I needed to really go through it all and see what I had, see what I could part with and what I still loved.

I also really needed to take inventory of my needles and other knitting notions as well.

So I dove in, and after about 4 hours, 10 unraveled UFOs, lots of sorting and organizing later, and I parred my yarn stash down by nearly HALF!

I went through each and every skein and asked myself if it still sparked joy. If it did, great, I kept it. If not, it went in the donation bin. Yep, I donated it all. A lot of good stuff too. And you know what? It. Felt. AMAZING!

Most people would gasp when they saw some of the stuff I parted with. But you know what? It’s okay. It’s no longer my burden. It no longer takes up four huge boxes in my house. It’s lightened my mental, physical, and emotional load significantly.

Does any of this sound appealing to you?

I feel like as knitters, we often take pride in the size of our yarn stash. It’s a huge badge of honor to hit SABLE (Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy.) I’ve heard knitters brag about how it’s the most valuable thing in their home. Or that they would like to be buried with their yarn because their family would have no idea how much it’s actually worth.

Reality is though, can we really use it all? Or do we really want to use it all? How much of it do you actually love?

I know I was holding onto a lot of yarn that I thought I needed for one project or another, but at the end of the day, I just wasn’t excited I about getting it on my needles. In short, it simply didn’t bring me joy.

So, what about you? Do you have an out-of-control yarn stash? Do you need to thin the herd so to speak?

I urge you to give the KonMari method a try. It really felt so freeing to let go of those skeins that had been weighing me down for so long. Now I have a stash that feels right, that I could go digging through tomorrow and find lots of lovelies I WANT to make sweet, sweet stitches with.

I know the big question is, but what do I do with it all? Here are some options I suggest:

Donate: If you don’t want it to go to Goodwill, donate it to a local charity that knits for a cause like hats for chemo patients or preemies. There are likely lots of groups that would be thrilled to be given free yarn. Maybe you are even part of one of these groups! That makes this even easier.
Sell it: Ebay, Ravelry, Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, Offer up...there are plenty of places you can sell the best stuff in your stash if needed. Ebay is probably the fastest way. Ravelry is always a good option as fellow knitters often recognize the value in what you have, but it can be a slower process to sell stuff there. But it never hurts to try selling off your stash if you have a lot of really good stuff in there.
Have a yarn swap: Host a swap with your favorite yarnie friends. This doesn’t always result in less yarn for you, but it can help you rehome wayward skeins and find some new skeins you love. Anything that people don't want at the end can be donated or go back to the original owner. Remember, this isn’t necessarily about getting rid of everything, but simply just keeping only what you love.

These are just three of my favorite ways to offload yarn. This time I donated it to my mom’s cancer knitting group, but I’ve done some combo of all of these in the past to move out yarn I no longer needed.

What about partial skeins and bits and ends?

This is a bit tougher because sometimes that stuff can be harder to part with. What if you need some of it to mend the project you made with it? What if you really just loved that yarn and can’t bear to part with it?

To that I say keep only what you love or truly might need, donate the rest. And tiny scraps obviously toss or bag up to be donated as bits and ends, but otherwise just get it out. The urge to use every last bit of something someday is strong, but be honest with yourself if you really can’t think of a use for it.

What you do keep, store separately in some kind of container where you can find your scraps easily if needed. I like to store my smaller balls in my “yarn lamps” which are big glass lamps that you can store things in. Most people put shells or sea glass or something really traditional in them. Naturally, I chose yarn.

But really any kind of storage solution will do. If you are the “hide it away” sort of person, storage totes in the closet are perfect. If you prefer to have your stuff on display like I do, opt for clear jars or something that will show them off.

At the end of the day, how you choose to “Tidy up” your yarn stash is really up to you. I really encourage you to give it a try though, and be really honest with yourself about what you love and don’t. The feeling you get when you get rid of things you’ve been holding onto but don’t really love is so freeing, you’ll want to apply it to every room in your home. Promise.

Have you applied the KonMari method to your yarn stash or your home for that matter? I want to hear how it went for you! What did you learn? What did you like and not like? How did you choose to get rid of things? Please leave a comment or share how it was for you. I’d love to hear about it!

And don’t forget you can listen to the Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up for FREE when you try out Audible!

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