I Don't Stash - I Collect.

Some of you may have felt a slight tremor in the force (that would be the Jedi knitting force) in the last few weeks. It was the result of setting my personal expectation bar just a tad too high. I foolishly revealed in a previous blog that one of my two New's Year's resolutions, was to use the yarn I have without purchasing more. My road to ruin began with the purchase of a set of interchangeable knitting needles - not against the rules because it wasn't yarn. Unfortunately that purchase led to a box full of this:

Which was swiftly followed by a box of this:

I then purchased a pattern by Kate Davies, called Rams and Yowes - here's a link if you'd like to take a gander:

http://katedaviesdesigns.com/designs/rams-and-yowes/

So now I have a cool new knitting challenge in front of me, daring me to purchase Shetland yarn, straight from the Shetland Isles. Why oh why can't I just knit the damn sheep in the stripey hand painted stuff that arrived in the mail yesterday? Why am I now craving the natural shades that come straight off Mary's little lamb? Do I make a total mockery of my 1st New Year's resolution and send away to Great Britain? Or do I show even a tad of restraint and wait a couple of days and place the order anyway? Thank goodness for my 2nd New Year's resolution or I would have ordered the yarn last night. The 2nd Resolution, is the hard and fast resolution, the one I've nearly broken but has thus far remained intact. Resolution: No online purchases after 8:00pm at night - and no playing silly bugger with time zones etc. So far so good.

While I consider the Shetland purchase and to assuage some of my buyers remorse, I've returned to my pile of projects on-the-go and pretty much finished one and nearly finished another. I know, I know, pretty much finished and nearly finished aren't the same as totally finished. As I write this blog post the on-the-go projects in baskets around my chair include: a dishcloth, a sock, the Irish Chain afghan blocks, a tea cosy (pretty much finished) and a Fair Isle fish and anchors pillow (nearly finished - okay, half finished). Meanwhile the new yarn beckons, enticing me a way from the current work and insisting that it is time to start something new. Ballwinder!

Really, it was more of a suggestion than a resolution. I knew I'd need to purchase more yarn to complete the ongoing saga of the Irish Chain Afghan - that would have been a planned break and therefore okay because most of the yarn was from my current collection. I seldom use the word the 'stash' in reference to my yarn because it envisions a small amount of an illegal substance - I don't have one of those - a yarn habit is quite sufficient thank-you very much.

Besides how do you stash a room full of yarn? I don't stash, I collect. In my mind a collection is something you purchase because you have some but you want more. Also, you primarily just look at your collection, you don't necessarily use it a whole lot. That would describe my room full of yarn. I have some, I want more, I like to look at it and I don't use it very often. That's not completely right, I do knit everyday. The problem is that my knitting speed is slower than my purchasing speed, I think the calculation is Y= KS/$2'd (Yarn = Knitting Speed over Dollars squared). Essentially it means that when I die, my children will receive a large amount yarn and very little cash. In the meantime I'll try to maximize my knitting, and minimize my collecting - for at least a few more days...

Join the Prince Rupert Library Knitters. Teens (and a few adults) meet every Wednesday at 3:30 pm and the adults meet every other Thursday evening at 7:00pm. The next adult meeting is Thursday, April 5th, 2012.