Be prepared

I've been keeping a migraine at bay for the last couple of days, so decided not to go to my usual exercise class and have a quiet evening at home instead.  It started by listening to the radio while I cut all the buttons off a t-shirt I'm getting rid of...

There were quite a few!  I just couldn't bring myself to put them in the bin though, and the t-shirt wasn't really suitable for passing on to a charity shop.  They're so pretty!

I've been thinking a little about my yarn stash and why it's there, and I think the root is that I like to be prepared.  You just never know when I'll need that particular colour and weight of yarn, or when I'll want to rustle up a quick novelty scarf (ok - perhaps not the scarf!)

I also have a small library of books I might want to read again, CDs I may listen to, and countless other sets of craft materials which may come in handy.  The buttons are the same.  I know many people will have bigger button boxes than me (women mainly, since of course men collect nails and washers instead) but I still have a collection of buttons which I don't know I'll ever use.  But that's just it - I don't know... and if I throw them out then I know I'll need to use them the very next day.

So I spent a relaxed half hour this evening painstakingly snipping away each of these pretty buttons to save them from the bin.  Now I just need to find a project to make use of them... and hope I've got the yarn to match!

As far as the stash-busting goes though... the BSJ is coming on well:

Although it seemed to be going for my eyes when I was working on it at the weekend, so I've put it aside for now.  I'm still a bit undecided what I think of this one - I love the pattern of course, but I'm not convinced by the yarn.  I've got a 100g ball still to start, but I probably won't keep the remaining bit once this is finished.  I'll see what I feel when the time comes though.

But I am enjoying the Chinook Scarf:

I weighed the remaining yarn this evening and there was 75g, so that means I'm about a quarter of the way in to this.  The colour's somewhere between these two pictures, but I guess that's the joy of taking photos during a Cumbrian winter.  No daylight to be had!