Funny thing about hobbies: We tend to accumulate more hobby-related stuff than we can use. Even the most avid reader, for example, seems to have at least a shelf full of books bought but not yet read. And every serious knitter seems to have a big drawer full of yarn, acquired but unused.

Even funnier is the fact that hobbyists will often fret about how they really must deal with these accumulations — right before going out to buy more stuff to add to the shelf or drawer!

Yep, I’m both a reader and a knitter — and totally guilty of buying books and yarn when I’ve already got stuff to work with at home. To my credit, I’ve at least gotten my unread book stash down to half a shelf….

With the recession, however, many people are starting to dig into their existing hobby-troves at home. For quilters, the blogosphere even has a challenge going to encourage this money-saving unconsumerist move! Judy Laquidara of Patchwork Times has drafted up a Stash Buster’s Pledge for 2009,** which already has 50+ signers-on. Pledge takers have to promise to “shop the stash” whenever possible and to get creative about using fabric pieces they already own, resisting the temptation to buy new stuff.

Inspired by Patchwork Times, Deb Roby of A Stitch in Time’s made a similar pledge — but with stash busting her knitting yarn.** To help fellow knitters stash bust too, Deb gives some invaluable advice: “Find patterns that use small amounts of yarn. This allows us to use the remaining yard from larger finished projects or that single skein or two we just had to pick up at a YS sometime.”

I suppose this tip’s a rather obvious one. But as someone who often runs out of yarn mid-project — then abandons the project altogether to sit in my stash — I’m newly motivated to start new, smaller projects to create something new out of the detritus of my past knitting failures. There’s an added bonus to taking on small projects as well: I can finish them more quickly!

Deb’s put together a Flickr page** for would-be stash busters — so you can expect to see lots of pictures of baby booties and knitted mice (cat toys) from me there soon!

How do you plan to stash bust your hobby in 2009?

Top photo by sultmhoor;** bottom photo by Siel

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