Confessions of a Yarn Addict! (And No, I’m Not Looking for Help — Just More Shelving)

Let’s set the scene: you own a yarn shop. You crochet professionally. You design your own amigurumi. You’re surrounded by literal walls of yarn, all day, every day. People think you must be the picture of restraint. Organised. Disciplined. Someone who has it all under control.

LOL.

Let me be very honest with you — as someone who used to be a lawyer, I thought I knew a thing or two about discipline. But then I picked up a skein of chenille and the only thing I’ve been disciplined about since is justifying my purchases with “It’s for the shop.”

So here we go. Grab a cuppa (or a cocktail), pull up a WIP, and let me take you on a journey of my yarny confessions.

My Actual Stash? Technically Small. Emotionally Massive.

People assume I have a mountain of yarn at home. Like a wall-to-wall, colour-coded yarn explosion in every room of the house. The reality is, my actual personal stash only takes up eight small Kallax cubes.  Most of the yarn you see in my lives is shop TikTok or website stock.  Its not actually for me to use (sigh).

BUT.......

I also own a yarn shop, website and TikTok shop. Which means technically, my stash is ALL OF IT HAHAHA!  I’m like a kid whose bedroom is tidy but if you open the right (or is it wrong) wardrobe everything will come crashing out!  Its hoarding at best haha!  I might only have eight cubes at home — but if I need something? I’ve got a full buffet to choose from. It’s a “take what you need, and then some” system.

I’m constantly ferrying yarn between the shop and home like some sort of squishy yarn smuggler. My WIPs come to work with me, get worked on behind the counter, and then come back home again to work on some more. It’s a good job my Colin (husband) is as supportive as he is — he’s never once questioned my need for another ball of teal.

The real challenge? Yarn deliveries to the shop that I have no space for. I’ve had to get extremely creative. You haven’t lived until you’ve hidden a wholesale box of baby pink chenille behind a plant or under the counter.  The top of the toilet tank is starting to look like prime real estate at this point LOL!

Fluffy, Squishy, and Slightly Obsessive

My number one yarn love? Chenille yarn.

It’s soft, it’s squishy, it crochets like a dream, and most importantly — it doesn’t murder my joints the way cotton sometimes does when I’m churning out plushies like a woman possessed.

My go-to brands?

For chenille its always Wolans Bunny Baby & Cygnet Jelly Baby.  I know I haven't tried every chenille brand known to man but I'm working on it with my Chenille Chronicles series on TikTok - seriously if you want the low down on chenille yarns, keep your eyes peeled!

I dont do Acrylic yarn often but if I am then its usually Wendy Giggles or James C Brett Aurora!  Papatya Batik and Bloom have recently become a firm favourite, and this summer I have also really loved Stylecraft Colour Burst too.  

When it comes to colours, I’m an emotional shopper. My favourites change depending on the weather, my mood, or what I’ve had for breakfast. Right now, I’m obsessed with pastel-to-mid-tone variegated yarns, especially in pinks and teals - hello Papatya Bloom in colourway 09 (Yes, I know. On brand.)

And for those “too pretty to touch” yarns?

I’ve got a skein of Boho Spirit that I’m basically saving for my second marriage, and some Papatya Bloom in a pinky-bluey-teal I refuse to waste on an average pattern. The right project will come. I believe in yarn soulmates.

Spontaneous Shopper? Moi?

Oh yes.

Do I check stock before ordering more yarn for the shop? Absolutely not. I see an empty spot on the shelf and panic-order three packs of Wendy Supreme DK like my life depends on it. And I do this regularly. So now I have enough of one particular colour to knit a blanket for every seagull in Plymouth.

When it comes to personal projects, I don’t even buy yarn anymore — I just take from the shop like a soft-handed thief with very good taste. I spot something on the shelf, have a little internal flirtation with it, and next thing you know, it’s in my project bag and we’re spending the weekend together.

Impulse purchases? Oh, I’ve made them. My recent favourite was a “double knit cotton-feel acrylic” I was sold on — until it arrived and turned out to be three-ply. You could floss your teeth with it. I dropped a chunk of cash on that mistake, too. So yes — I’ve been burned. But I still keep going back for more. (Yarn and bad decisions. A classic combo.)

Storage Situation: Dangerously Close to Needing a Warehouse

At home, I store my yarn neatly in Kallax cubes and boxes — in my main office space, which also doubles as my live-streaming studio and creative den. It’s functional. It was aesthetic (insert another yarn order I had no room for). 

…And then there’s the spare room.

The spare room is floor-to-ceiling boxes. Yarn, kits, components, mystery fluff, things I forgot I owned — it’s like Narnia for crafters. I couldn’t tell you what’s in half those boxes. Occasionally I go in to find something and emerge three hours later, blinking into the sunlight and holding a forgotten skein like I'm Gollum holding "My Precious"

Has Owning a Shop Made Me Better? Or Worse?

Both.

I now have a legitimate business reason to spend money on yarn — which makes me feel better about doing it. I just label every order as “stock”, whether it’s for the shop… or secretly for that duck plushie I’m planning to make after hours.

I do still buy with my taste in mind, though. I go for colour. Bold, cheerful, unapologetic colour. Luckily, my customers tend to be exactly the kind of people who are also magnetically drawn to vibrant yarns. (You know who you are. I see you. You’ve got glitter in your soul.)

Final Confession? I Throw Away Scraps.

There, I said it.

I’ll use up most of a ball, but when it gets down to the fiddly scraps and scraggly ends — it’s bin time. I know some people love stash-busting. They make magic out of leftovers. They crochet rainbows of patchwork and joy.

Not me.

Too many tails. Too much faff. Not enough energy to weave in ends like a saint. I’d rather yeet the fluff and start fresh. (Let the judging commence.)

Are You Like Me? Let’s Be Yarn Addicts Together.

So yes — I am, without question, a yarn addict.

Do I want help?

Only if it comes in the form of a discount code and a new storage unit.

Owning a yarn shop hasn’t cured my addiction. It’s just made me better at hiding it in plain sight. But honestly? Yarn brings me joy. It brings my customers joy. It’s soft, colourful, comforting, creative — and occasionally makes me say inappropriate things about how squeezable it is on live streams. (I know I’m not the only one.)

Your Turn! Share the Yarn Love

Are you a yarn hoarder too? Do you have colour obsessions, a stash so full it might qualify as insulation, or impulse buys you’ve never used but still can’t part with?

Tell me your funniest, craziest, or most relatable yarn confession!

👉 Tag me @thebrightstitch on TikTok, Instagram or Facebook

👉 Leave a comment on the blog

👉 Or just slide into the DMs and admit you also throw away scraps because tails are the devil.

We’re all in this together. Hooked, hoarding, and happy. 

Remember to Stay Bright and Keep Stitching <3