Friday, January 28, 2011

Keepin' it Honest

Sereknitty here again.

I started my yarn diet like I said I would. I'm going cold sheep (with a few exceptions, of course.)  Here are my current stats:  Yardage:  24359.68.  Yards used: 385.1

This will change, obviously, as I have some yarn coming in the mail that I needed for a sweater (I already had half the yarn so I needed the rest) and as I hope to get a few things off my needles soon. Also, despite my best efforts, I still don't think I've cataloged my entire stash. I know there's more hiding out there!  And there are some random bits I have to figure out. What are they/how much is there, etc. etc. But, the bulk of my stash is accounted for. The goal for this year is to use up 15,000 this year, (And to DEFINITELY use up more than I bring in) and I think I can do it, especially if I can get some felted projects going.

Wish me luck!

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Knitting New Year's Resolutions

Sereknitty again!

I decided that this year I need to go on a yarn diet to shrink my stash a bit. It's not that my stash is overly large, it's that it's primarily made up of three things:  sock yarn, kitchen cotton and felting yarn.  Which I guess says a lot about my knitting habits.  I think I figured out today that I have enough sock yarn to make 15-20 pairs of socks.  At least! I want to shrink my stash so I can build it up with other stuff. Like a sweater's worth of Malabrigo, or some really awesome Etsy hand dyes.  Plus, I bought all this yarn with projects in mind, projects that keep getting shoved aside for other things.  I want to get those projects knit!  So, my big New Year's Resolution this year is the Yarn Diet.  But, as with all things, there are some exceptions:

1.  Baby yarn.   Several people in my life are either pregnant, trying to adopt or trying to get pregnant and all those babies need nice things so I'm allowed to buy yarn to make baby gifts. One of my goals this year is to keep one baby item on the needles at all times and to build up a stash of gifts to pull from when necessary.  I want to use stuff from my stash first, but I don't have the yarn to knit a stuffed giraffe or a whole baby blanket and I need to remedy that.
2.  Yarn to finish projects. I have half a sweater's worth of Cascade 220 and I want to get the rest of the yarn I need so I can make the sweater.  If I already have the yarn in my stash and just need to add to it, that's ok.
3.  Knitting Requests/Gifts.  If someone asks me to make them something or if I want to make a gift for someone and I don't have the right yarn in my stash, I'm allowed to buy it.  As long as it's not for myself.
4.  Bare Yarn/Roving to sell. I'm allowed to buy bare yarn to dye or roving to dye/spin.   You know, as soon as I start making any money off our Etsy shop.

I think those are my only exceptions.

Do you have a knitting/fibre related resolution?  I'd love to hear about it!