Yarn, Yarn and more Yarn

Recently I was asked by a new knitter “what’s the difference in Yarn and are there some brands better than others? That got me thinking, I know gasp, thinking what a concept. So I took a look in my stash. Well, I had to work my way into the room; it meant I had to pick up the sock yarn basket, the heavy cotton bag stuffed with natural cotton yarn of course. I realized that my stash consist of many different types of yarn. It really depends on what I’m making. In my case I have lots and lots of left over yarn cause I always over buy. Hey, what if I run out and can’t get the dye lot? I have baby yarn (mostly English Snuggly as I love the way it feels). I have some sock yarn (I got on a sock kick awhile back). Did you catch that sock/kick? Ok so not much of a joke, but I tried. When I pick out yarn, it depends on who I’m making the item for. Example, a sweater for a football preteen boy living in the mountains will be different yarn than that for his cousin living in Florida.
I looked through my stuff and realized I had lots and lots of bits and pieces of yarn. You know, half a skein of a dozen different weight blues and I still don’t know where all the green worsted weight came from. Trina hates green, so it couldn’t have been for her. Could it?
Then there’s the lace yarn I got from the kids for my birthday. It’s beautiful and so very soft. I’ve knitted myself a shawl, my mother in law a shawl and I still have half of it left. I’m saving it for something special, but just haven’t picked out the right thing yet.
Then there’s the knitting machine yarn. Did you know that stuff breeds when you put it in a closet? I know there’s no way I could have 26 cones of yarn. Yes, I did buy some last year for Christmas stockings. But I knitted over 2 dozen socks and who knows how many scarf’s out of the yarn and there seems to be just as much left as there was when I started. How does that happen?
Thinking about all this yarn has made me want to go to the yarn shop. Anyone see a pattern here? Talk yarn, want yarn, buy yarn….