Stash Organization

Perhaps it was because we've been in the house for a year and the stash got spread out in bits and balls of yarn all over the place. Perhaps I was nesting. Either way, I felt the need to gather, organize, and put away my stash this week. So I went around searching in closets, under sofas, in rarely used tote bags, and even in the truckster looking for my yarn.

Somehow I'm shocked at the amount of yarn I own. That's it. Right here. Two biggish totes and a small cardboard box. AND THAT'S IT! Well, I do have two pairs of socks, a baby blanket, and a jumper based on Alice Zimmerman's Baby Surprise jacket in progress that are not shown here. But everything else is right in these containers. Somehow I'm surprised that my stash has become so meager. What surprises me even more is that only a bit more than half of the volume of this yarn is actually good stuff.

Observe.
The tote on the left is actually nice yarn. It's stuff I cherish, made of the loveliest wools, linens, alpacas, and such. The tote on the right, however, is filled with stuff I barely want to admit I have. Now, there are remnants of nice yarns in there. But none of the balls is really enough to use for anything. Then there's the skanky yarn like Lion Brand stuff and gobs of single ply silk that I Kool-Aid dyed some years ago. I don't know why I can't let go of this yarn, but I can't. Lastly is the utterly weird. Most of that yarn came in the Cherry Tree Hill Bag O' Crap sales, and includes gigantic hanks of loopy mohair, eye searing pink chenille, and yarn I'm certain was made from the hides of dead Muppets. These yarns I keep because I have a suspicion that someday I'll have a six-year-old who wishes to have toys or scarves that will horrify the yarn snob in me, but that I will knit with glee. Lastly is the small cardboard box. I've had it for a year, and have not started the Luskentyre sweater inside. I'm just waiting for my chance to dive in to that one, believe me.

So now I'm wondering, how did my stash come to this? A three or four cubic feet of nice yarn, and a big bin of crap? Have I become a low stasher by accident? Or is this something more insidious?