Yarn Diet

Ok, so in the mammoth moth stash-hunt and de-infestation programme, I came across a lot of yarn I'd totally forgotten about, and a lot of unfinished projects (UFOs). This prompted some soul-searching (and the brief idea that I could hide it all from my hubby... but no, I can't hide a freezer full of yarn for 2 weeks! The house simply isn't big enough. I got to thinking about all of this gorgeous yarn that I had bought because I simply loved it to bits, then put in a drawer and forgotten about. Once the yarn went into the stash it simply became background to whatever new gem was added to the stash next time - Every time I pulled out a drawer, I saw nothing I wanted to knit, and bought more yarn. All those once-loved skeins and balls of wool, now sad and forgotten, sitting there unloved at the mercy of marauding moths made me sad. (I know, I probaby need my head read. Never mind). So I'm going to do something about it: I am hereby imposing upon myself a strict yarn diet, with rules as follows:

1. No more yarn to be bought AT ALL until the stash fits easily back into the eight wire basket drawers under my desk. No extra boxes or bags allowed!


2. No more fibre to be bought or acquired AT ALL until the fibre stash fits easily back into the one big IVAR drawer under the shelves where it started out (except unwashed fleece: this is stored separately).


3. No more craft books to be bought AT ALL until after Christmas. (I know books aren't yarn or fibre, but I've been buying too many, Amazon is shockingly easy to buy through).


4. No new projects to be cast on AT ALL until the 6 UFOs specified below are finished.

Notes:

• yarn, books and fibre I've already paid for and haven't been delivered yet don't count (I could hardly cancel them) - but I must not cast on new projects.


• I must knit 1 hat for my SIL for xmas, I promised a year ago, no matter what else is done. I am allowed to knit that hat.


• Any yarn I spin (using up fibre stash) may be stored in one 35l box extra, and does not have to conform to yarn-stash storage (otherwise reducing both stashes at once is impossible).

This yarn diet is for my own good. It will save me money, give me back much-needed space, allow me to rediscover yarn that I loved, reduce the psychic weight of knowing that I have sad forgotten yarn, give me lots of new socks to replace all the ones I seem to have walked holes in, and reduce the risk of moths. I am writing this here to remind myself, because I will undoubtedly want to break this diet. You've got to stop me.

The six projects I must finish are:

1. The Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl.


2. The JJJ socks


3. koigu monkey socks


4. jaywalkers from my own 'parrot' handspun


5. Hubby's blue and yellow socks


6. Brother's felted dreadlocks ski hat.

If you see me knitting or blogging about any other knitting project than these (until they're finished), or see evidence that I have bought yarn, fibre or books, or broken any of these rules, I give you permission to poke me with your pointiest needles until I come to my senses. OK?

I'll leave you with this picture of some of the UFOs I found in the stash, now neatly bagged up to keep them organised and discourage nasty moths (although I hear they can chew through these bags). See? I need help!