Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Week 7 - No Scavenger Hunts for Me - I'm on a Yarn Diet

So this week's suggested homework is for a Picture Scavenger Hunt for the Horcruxes. I'm just not in the mood for doing this task this week.

I'm actually going to talk about the Yarn Diet that I'm going to go on. This has actually been inspired by a few events in my life (and financial situation) as well as a fellow Raveler, aKnitOnTheSide. I've never met this person, nor have I actually talked with them, but I found them as one does searching through stashes and/or patterns on Ravelry. The thing that inspired me about aKnitOnTheSide was two fold, her organization and her goal orientated-ness towards her knitting. She's also taken an oath to go on a Yarn Diet for a year which as any lover of fiber knows is a good thing once the stash gets out of hand.

So through her inspiration I will be going on a Yarn Diet for one year. I seriously have enough yarn, I don't even know how much, it's gotten to that point. I need to organize, take pictures, Frog projects that I've left in UFO status for too long, or just plain work on projects in that UFO pile. I want to know just how bad my stash is and I want to work on all those projects that I've been craving to get done or even start.

However, there will be one exception to the No Buying Yarn rule. That will be buying yarn for others, only gifts mind you, not projects I would like to make for someone else. This would include yarn for swaps, birthdays, etc. Basically it is yarn that would not go into my stash.
Also would include yarn received through swaps. This yarn could go into my stash and not count as yarn bought. Given that I'm allowing this loophole of sorts I'm only going to do 1 swap/kit type thing at a time, ie: the HSKS group. I enjoy the people and they have such great tastes in the fiber realm that why not?
Also this would not exclude the purchasing of Notions. No I don't mean stitch markers, I don't want to transition my obsession over to stitch markers. I could see that happening. I can use cut up straws for stitch markers. But if I need a notion and I don't have one already or it's impossible to find the notion I already own, I will allow myself to purchase what I need. But no collecting.

I've decided that I've made my last yarn purchase as of 10/19/2010 from www.discountbrandnameyarn.com. If you are a yarnie and you don't want to make any more purchases on yarn I would not recommend going to this site. The deals on yarn her are REDIKULOUS!!! I must say that my last yarn purchase has been a good one! I bought 4 skeins of Cherry Trill Hill Suri Alpaca Lace, 2 in Hot Cider and 2 in Rustic Runes. OMG!! I seriously wanted to cry seeing and touching this yarn when it arrived it is SOOOOO beautiful. Only another yarnie would understand.

As soon as I work out the numbers for my stash (hopefully by next week) I will be able to make projections of working down on my stash. Finding applicable projects for the yarn that I have. Work on possible Christmas gifts and finishing those UFOs out there. Need to update my blog with yardage wikis.

Also this Yarn Diet will preclude me from making trips to yarn shops. Kind of sad, but necessary and crucial for this Yarn Diet to work. I've been notorious for making special trips to new yarn shops or stopping by shops when I go out of town. And of course I feel bad if I don't buy something from these shops that I go to and I also want a souvenir to remind me of my trip. This needs to be cut down drastically. So to make a loophole that will prevent me from doing this locally but allow me to have souvenirs for trips I will make this concession. Yarn buys as souvenirs from trips outside the state of California will not count towards stash. As I do not have any foreseeable trips planned for out of California (I have two planned for IN California) this should work. But if there were ever the day I get out of Cali in the next year, I think I should be able to buy 1, and only 1 skein of yarn in 1 yarn store per trip where ever I may end up. Got to think of all possibilities. :D

So lets see how I do. I'm going to have the full dates of this year long Yarn Diet up when I get my numbers. So it will obviously be next year November.

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