What is stash yarn?

I have good intentions of not buying yarn for a while and knitting from my stash. I fail miserably, but hey, I have good intentions, right?

As I was knitting my clapotis the other day I felt a sense of accomplishment because I was using 4 skeins of yarn from my stash to make the clapotis. Yay for destashing!

But, was I really destashing? Because I bought that yarn specifically to make the clapotis. Sure, it’s been sitting in my stash for four years, but was it really stash yarn since I bought it to make a specific project? Several times throughout the years I considered using the yarn to make something else, but I always chose something else, leaving this yarn for the clapotis as I had intended.

On Saturday I bought yarn for 3 (well, 2.5 really) projects. I have added to the yarn collective in my home knows as stash. But is it really stash yarn? As with the clapotis yarn, I guess there is always the possibility to make something else with said yarn, but if I end up making the planned projects, was this yarn ever stash yarn?

I say no. I can’t say that yarn that was purchased for a specific project, and ultimately ends up being used for said project, is stash yarn. But what if I make something else out of it. Then was it stash yarn? It’s the same yarn!

I sort of like this-is-not-stash-yarn idea. That means I don’t have to feel as guilty about the shear volume of yarn I own. Much of it already has projects attached to it! Yay!