G. Knerd

This holiday season, I had not one, not two, not even three, but four family Christmas celebrations to go to.  Luckily, they were spread out over the course of a week – I’m not sure how I would have survived otherwise.

Also luckily, the people in my family know what I like: yarn and knitting stuff.

I indeed get some sock blockers, which will serve me well with all the socks I’ve managed to create over the years.  Not that I actually block socks – I’m way too impatient for that, just like I can’t stand sock yarn that’s hand-wash only.  However, I think these will go a long way towards helping me take better pictures of my socks, and really, that’s what it’s all about, right?

The yarn deserves it’s own close up – first some yarn from my step-sister-in-law:

It’s Woodland yarn in some gorgeous, subdued colors.  The yarn is part wool and part nettle (but the good part, not the stinging part) and entirely scrumptious.  I don’t know what I’ll be making with it yet, but I’m kind of leaning towards hat & glove (dare I stretch to scarf?) set.

My new mother-in-law got me a very different kind of yarn:

The colors are super bright, and there are all different colors of flecks throughout the yarn.  Plus, the yarn is apparently dyed somewhere close to where my parents-in-law live – it’s super dangerous for me to know that there’s a yarn making operation anywhere near their house, so I’m going to do my best to forget that as soon as possible.

As lovely as the yarn and sock blockers are (and they are, indeed, quite lovely), they pale in comparison to the last knitting gift I received, the one you can’t see in the first picture because it’s in this box:

Can you guess what that is?  That, my friends, is a circular needle case.  I’ve been wanting something exactly like this for years – I knit almost exclusively with circular needles (and by “almost exclusively”, I mean that the last time I knit with something that didn’t have a cable was probably in 2009), and I’ve never had an adequate sorting mechanism for them.

But now?

I feel more organized just looking at it.  It’s so trim, so smart, so perfect for me.

(It might have helped that I slipped the ad for it into the Blanket Thief‘s pocket…and told him which color to get me…)

Now, if only I could find all of my circulars to put into the different pockets, I’d be set…so far, I’ve only got one in there.

In other news, happy new year!  Here’s hoping your holidays were great, and that your 2011 is even better.

Although we asked for nothing (or, to be completely accurate, asked to not be given any presents), I can’t say I’m upset that my new Mother in Law decided to get us a few wedding gifts anyway.  After all, she’s a lovely knitter and she understands that, sometimes, you just have to give a girl some yarn.

I’ve never actually used Lorna’s Laces before, as I’ve always considered it just a shade too luxurious to buy for myself, but as a wedding present?  Perfect.  I can’t wait to try it.

The neat thing?  She knows exactly what color to get me, too.  In fact, I already have similar colors from two other yarn brands – I can’t wait to figure out what kind of lovely patterns to put on all of these beautiful yarns.

I’m sure my new husband is thrilled about this proof of the constancy of my affections.  Because there’s no other way for him to interpret it, right?  It’s not like it means I have a yarn problem, or anything like that…

So, I might have mentioned earlier that I’ve been on a yarn diet for the past 4-5 years or so.  Not, mind you, that it’s had much of a slimming effect on my stash (although had I not been on a yarn diet for that period, I likely would need to buy a new house right now to hold it all).  But I’ve declared loudly and to anyone that would listen that I was not buying new yarn.  Not at all.  Not any.  Not even if I had a project in mind for what I was about to buy.

How, then, did I end up buying this a few weeks ago?

Well, actually, I’m not sure either.  I could try justifying it by saying that it’s only 9.2 oz, and really soft Faulkland Merino Top, and, anyway, fiber spins down into a much denser yarn, so 9.2 oz really isn’t that much to add to the stash, really.  And, even if I were to accept that horrible excuse – which I don’t – it doesn’t explain the next thing.

That’s 22 oz of Merino Top stretched to 19 microns (or something – all I know is it’s lusciously soft and squishable).  Even accounting for shrinkage, 22 oz of fiber is a significant addition to the stash.  I could argue that fiber doesn’t count – although it totally does – except for the one other thing I bought that day.

Seriously, lead me not into temptation, for I will buy.  At least, somehow, I’m resisting the temptation to dye the fiber and cast on for the socks.  I’m still clinging to the hope that I’ll manage to get the wedding blanket finished in time for the big day.  (Yes, I know it’s crazy too, but you don’t have to laugh at me…)

So there was a sale at my favorite yarn store last weekend (starting on Thursday).  If it had just been me, I likely would have been strong enough to stay away from the building altogether.

But I also have friends, and these friends are wonderfully effective enablers.

My goal was to go with them to the store, support their yarn choices, help them figure out how much yarn they would need and whether it would work for whatever pattern they were picturing.  Maybe, maybe, pick up some fiber to use with my spinning wheel (because I actually don’t have any fiber at home, having spun it all into yarn I haven’t used yet).  And then we were going to go out to a fabulous dinner.

That…didn’t exactly happen.  Well, the fabulous dinner happened, with great company of course, and I did give some assistance with yarn choices.  But the part where I abstained from the yarn…

Not so much.

That’s right, I managed to buy ten – ten! – balls of yarn.  When I was trying to buy zero.  I’m still unclear about how, exactly that happened.  I think I might have had the proverbial falling-down-and-magically-swiping-my-credit-card-on-the-way-down experience.  Just about the only thing I have figured out about all of this?

I really just can’t go to yarn stores anymore.  The wool fumes are too strong, I just can’t help myself.

Considering I just graduated from college a few years ago (thus giving you some idea of how young I am), I have a relatively impressive yarn stash.  In volumetric terms, it’s about 18 cubic feet (roughly half a cubic meter, for you metric types), and that’s under pretty heavy compression.  The only reason it’s not double that size is because over the last few years I’ve done a few systematic cullings of synthetic or crappy yarn, so everything that’s left is at least Cascade 220 quality or higher, and I’ve also been on a yarn diet for more than three years.

Of course, “yarn diet” is a very flexible term when I  use it.  In theory, it was supposed to mean “knit from stash and stop buying new yarn, stupid”, but what it ends up meaning is “don’t go to the yarn store by yourself, but when someone invites you to come with them then you probably will end up buying something there.”  Or if you’re at a yarn store you’ve never been to.  Or if there’s a sale.  Or if you’re sure you know what you’re going to do with it.  Or if you need a reward to motivate you to get through something really crappy at work.

The end result is that it’s unclear whether my stash has grown or shrunk over the last few years.  Given that I’ve given away bags of yarn in that time frame, that realization alone is rather disturbing.

So on Saturday, I was forced to understand why the “yarn diet” wasn’t really working.  It started with this box from Knit Picks…

Which when opened up revealed  30 balls of the gorgeously soft and squishy yarn (Simply Cotton Organic Sport in Marshmallow) for my friend’s wedding blanket.  When I ordered it, I figured 30 balls would be enough (it’s 4,920 yards, for goodness sake!), but now I’m wondering if maybe I shouldn’t order 10-20 more…you know, just in case…

But then, upon taking that yarn out of the box, I also found the Elegant Edibles kit, with it’s own set of 14 balls.

This kit is my reward for surviving March.  Remember how I posted maybe twice the whole month?  I’m counting myself lucky that my head didn’t turn around backwards while my eyes imploded and my insides were sucked into a black hole.

…that’s just a lovely image, isn’t it?  Here, why don’t you look at the picture of the knitted fruit and vegetable bags instead of imagining that other thing:

All told, though, that’s 44 balls of yarn acquired in one day.  And, sure, I didn’t buy any yarn in the month or two before, so maybe that averages to less than one per day.  Except that, I went to the yarn store a few weeks ago with a couple friends, where there was also a sale, and may have walked out with some yarn for an imaginary sweater.  But even if we forget that particular purchase of yarn, and even if the things in the box were justified because it’s for a gift and a reward respectively, well…

…that still doesn’t explain this:

That’s right, the day after that box arrived I found myself in a yarn store, and I managed to pick up 5 skeins of Cascade 220 (and a pom-pom maker, inspired by the Yarn Harlot’s post).  And as soon as I walked out of the store, I realized…I have a problem.

So here it is – I’m really committed this time.  I’m on a yarn diet, and yes, that really does mean that I will not be buying any more yarn.  If that means I can’t go to any more yarn stores, so be it.  If that means I have to find different rewards for my difficult projects, oh well.  Until my stash is of a reasonable size – which we’ll say is roughly 12 cubic feet, when it will fit in the one giant tub I have without overflow or major compression – I will not buy any more yarn.

Unless, you know, I need more yarn for the wedding blanket.  Because I’m actually really worried that five thousand yards might not be enough…