Wednesday, January 27, 2010

A new year's resolution

Or not.

January is almost over and I have yet to come up with a new year's resolution or two.

But then again, why bother?

This year I am going to take a new approach. I read earlier that for the first time in a long time the number one new year resolution for Americans for this year is not to lose weight but to save money. Well, I am doing okay in the weight department and I am financially responsible, I believe.

My Achilles' heels, as we well know, is yarn.

My name is Aporanee and I am a yarnaholic.


There. I said it.

I have more yarn than I can knit in my lifetime. Worse, I cannot stop buying more.

However, this year I am determined to do something about it. No I am not going to stop buying yarn. That is a hopeless cause. It will never happen.

Since I joined the "stashdown" effort in the Yarn Snob group on Ravelry last year I have been looking at my stash differently. It is not that I have way too much yarn. I have way too much yarn that I will never knit. It just sits there. It doesn't call out to me. It doesn't inspire me. It just sits.

Those yarns need to go. And they have been going. I have been selling them on Ravelry at cut rate prices. I couldn't care less. Somebody else wants them. Somebody will enjoy them all the more because they are getting a good deal and I am getting rid of them.


I am stashing down. And it is working. I have been sorting out yarn and setting aside those I will keep. A lot I will try to sell. A lot I will give away. Like this:

And this:


They are going to Interim House knitting group in Philadelphia. A short-term facility that treat women with drug and alcohol problems. They have a great knitting program. Read about their knitting program here. Boxes of yarns are going their way.

Now that's the yarn. Then there is a second problem

I keep casting on a new project. A bad case of startitis shall we say.

Here is the solution. I have been looking at my work in progress (WIPs) and sorting them. Those that are more than half done are set aside for serious consideration. Do I still want this? I look at them again and again. If for two weeks they still don't inspir me they will be set aside for the frog pond and the yarns reclaimed. I have no problem frogging at all. Rip, rip, rip. Those that I still like will get knitted. One by one. As I cast on a new project I will work on a WIP at the same time.

So far so good. I finished a blanket for my stepdaughter that was meant to be her Christmas present.


And I have not even cast on a new project, as I have two pairs of socks I need to finish within the next two weeks. I am swatching though.

Next to finish up is my Cassidy cardigan. This also was meant to be a Christmas cardigan. It will now be a Valentine cardigan. It will be done. I have the back, fronts and the sleeves done and blocked. I will now put the pieces together and do the band and collar. I don't have enough yarn for the hood so it will have a collar instead.

Then I will cast on.

1 comment:

lala said...

oh i envy you:(
here in the philippines finding a decent store carrying yarn is like stumbling on a gold mine:(