Let The Yarn Lust Begin!

So, there are 57 days left in the year.....which means I can buy yarn in 58 days.  Of course, since I have only used up 57 skeins of yarn so far this year, there hasn't been much of a dent in the stash overall, so the question is.........

Do I Continue Cold Sheeping in 2010?

I'd like to say I have grown & matured enough to be trusted with the option of buying yarn without going on a total free-for-all with the Visa, but I'd like to be taller too, and that hasn't happened either.

My original plan was to buy yarn for one sweater each for Andy & I, then go back to cold sheep, but that little naggy voice in the back of my mind that is always SUCH a kill-joy has nicely reminded me that I still haven't finished the Kauni cardigan, which was my reward yarn for LAST year.  I'll probably just Beginend up ignoring Little Miss Buzz-Kill, but that does raise an interesting point.

Before I started the FIRST year of Cold Sheeping, I bought--well, and insane amount of yarn to be honest--and part of it was the yarn for the January Aran, which I just finished this year.  To start the SECOND year of Cold Sheeping, I bought the yarn for the Kauni Cardigan, which I will hopefully finish next year.  So maybe I'm just taking longer than I think. 

So that means I could buy yarn, right? 

Comments

Anonymous said…
Of course you can buy yarn. Personally, I think that denying a knitter the opportunity to buy yarn should be reported to Amnesty. Apart from that, you do actually finish the garments you bought the yarn for. And you know what they say - better late than never. Or let me rephrase that - you make the most of the pleasure of the knitting process, so thus it takes a little longer to finish, but hey, it's a hobby, not a race, isn't it?
November 4, 2009 at 10:01 AM
Gaidig said…
You should definitely keep going. Just imagine how much bigger your stash would be if you weren't doing it. Plus, you have certainly made your stash smaller. The problem is that you are pulling yarns from all different parts of your stash, so the decrease isn't as visible as if you had knit up all 57 balls from the same bin, for example. Also, I bet that now that the gardening season is coming to a close, you'll have more knitting time.

Here's my situation:
Last year I bought or requested and received for the holidays as much yarn as I had knitted since I started cold sheeping the August before. Then my planned fiber festival exception and the couple of stumbles I have made from my cold sheeping this year have meant that I have about the same amount of yarn I started the year with, even after ten months of knitting. (Man, I wish I was a faster knitter!) I have decided not to buy or ask for any yarn for myself for Christmas or my birthday, and not to attend a fiber festival next year. If I can do that, I can halve the amount of yarn in my stash by the end of next year's cold sheeping, even if I fall once or twice next year. I will continue to make exceptions for books, tools, and yarn needed to complete projects started in good faith. I still want to support my LYS that way.

If I were to apply the same logic to your situation, I would say that you should further limit the amount you buy at the beginning of the year. Pick a smaller project, perhaps with an extra fancy yarn to reward yourself, rather than an entire sweater.

I would also concentrate on finishing the Kauni cardigan to kill that guilt voice.
November 4, 2009 at 11:02 AM
tinebeest said…
Perhaps you could put 57 balls of yarn on the bed, take a picture, and remind yourself you knit that much this year. Then add on what you knit last year, and take another picture. You will feel better to see how much you have knit up!

If you don't have enough stash to do that, you're entitled not to cold-sheep next year.

'm cruel. I know... Ask my students...
November 4, 2009 at 1:50 PM
Alice said…
You could mail your stash to a neutral 3rd party who would create a website catalog of every ball of yarn you own and only provide the url to you. When you feel the urge to shop, you could 'order' it from them. Then you wouldn't be adding to your stash, and you'd have the thrill of knowing there's yarn in the mail!!
November 4, 2009 at 2:50 PM
bittenbyknittin said…
If yarn brings you joy, why deny yourself? Life is short!
November 4, 2009 at 3:32 PM
RobinH said…
Alice's idea is pretty keen, I think. Except that your neutral third party cannot be a knitter, because your stash is darned nice, and they might not give it back. And if you asked a non-knitter to do this for you, they will think you are crazy...

So. Cold sheep or no cold sheep- let's ask a few questions:

1) How much stash space has your dedicated knitting for the last two years freed up? Do you have empty bins that you could use to store your new purchases?

2) Could you cast on a brand new sweater each for you and Andy from yarn that is already in your stash? (If the answer is no, you have no suitable yarn, your case for buying more gets better.)

3) Do you own any yarn you have forgotten buying? (That's almost as good as new yarn, right?)

I think that whatever you decide will be the right thing for you-- but you might want to consider pulling out your whole stash, (yes, all of it!), looking it over, reminding yourself what you have/how much you have before you make a decision.

And if you decide you must continue with cold sheep- an alternative idea: Celebrate the new year with a casting-on frenzy- anything you want, as many as you want, all using stash yarn. C'mon. You know you want to!
November 5, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Qutecowgirl said…
Buy a little. Like what you did last year, maybe not as much.

Oh and you have been Tagged with an award. Read my blog when you get a minute
November 5, 2009 at 2:33 PM
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