I think I am a Yarnaholic!!

I have put away my Knitmaster 580 machine as it is not so easy to learn as a punchcard machine. My dining room/knitting room is now a quarantine room, so I have rescued my Knitmaster 700 machine and set it up in the space on my upstairs landing. My camera is now working again so I can take pictures for my blog.

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So, I am ready to knit again and I have a few stitch patterns and techniques that I want to learn and practice before I try a whole garment. Therefore, I need suitable yarn to play with. Luckily I have a good stash of yarn to search through.

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Current Yarn Stash

I look at my stashes of yarn. A wonderful feeling of joy and excitement comes over me when I see them all. Just looking at them makes me happy. They are full of potential and possibility.

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My spare bedroom and bed are full of boxes of yarn that I have managed to accumulate. Often from bundles of yarn that I have got locally. Most is a strange mix of thin yarn originally for practice on my fine gauge machine. However, since it is currently out of action, I need to find yarns that I mix together on my standard gauge machine.

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I had it all nicely laid out by colour, but I found it difficult to match yarns of the same type. The yarns are now sorted out the yarns by type and put in a boxes. My search does not reveal anything suitable for practice. Either they are too nice to use for practice, or they too fine, or the colours are not inspiring.

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I also have another stash of yarn, more suitable, nicer colours. But again I find it difficult to pick one for practice. They are too nice to use! Am I crazy? Or do you also recognise this feeling?

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What a dilemma. I need more yarn!

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No I tell myself. You have LOTS of yarn and you do not need any more. Just choose some yarn and do some practice.

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Again I go through my boxes of yarn. I do not want to use 3 or more strands of 1 ply and I do not want to practice with boucle yarn. The nice yarn is set aside for making a proper garment. I have a dilemma.

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There is another stash of BSK clearance yarn. This is the best solution, although it was ear-marked for finished garments and I may not be able to replace it at a good price. I need to check to see if I can buy some more.

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Yes I believe I have a strong case to buy more yarn!

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My next step is to search BSK for their clearance yarn. I want to see what colours they may have that might inspire me. Perhaps I need to buy a bargain yarn pack from Yeoman Yarns, although I don’t always know what will turn up.

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A reality check is needed as I have a LOT of yarn already. So, it may not be the right type of yarn or the right colour, but there is more than enough to practice with. I try telling myself this over and over again. No matter how much I tell myself that I do not need more yarn, that I have enough yarn already, it does not work.

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There is a strong urge to get more yarn!

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I am a Yarnaholic

Surely I have a strong case to get more yarn? But what type of yarn? The answer that comes makes me realise something. I am not, as previously thought, a machine knitaholic. Instead, I am a YARNAHOLIC. This is someone who likes having lots of yarn. They do not need to use it. Just having lots of yarn is enough. In fact they it does not need to be of high quality, just look and feel nice!

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As a yarnaholic I often get the urge to get more yarn. Right now I have not acquired any yarn for several months and I feel a strong urge to get more yarn that is more suitable for my practice sessions. But I am on a tight budget so I need to search for bargains.

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eBay and Gumtree are good places to see if I can find some bargains. I like to find a good mix of cones that are being sold locally. Yarn is not much of a bargain if you have to keep paying postage costs. I am not able to find any locally.

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It does not work. Another, stronger, voice keeps talking. BSK has some bargain prices of nice blue yarn. They have REALLY cheap prices. You may not get the chance to buy them again. There is some birthday money left over. Your newly set up knitting machine deserves suitable practice yarn…. etc, etc… Next year you can save up for buying some really nice yarn once you have improved your skills.

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I know I should save up to get the perfect yarn. But right now I feel that I need to practice with cheaper yarn. A lot of practice to try out different stitch patterns and techniques rather than create finished garments. Ergo, I need some more bargain yarn that will inspire me in my practice.

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And this argument wins the day.

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I need more yarn!!!!!! Yes I really am a yarnaholic. Is there a cure? Do I want a cure? Imagine the yarn I could buy if I won the lottery? My heart has palpitations just thinking about it.

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Are you a yarnaholic? Do you recognise any of these thoughts?

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I would love to know if you do. It would be nice to know that I am not alone.

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And do I buy more yarn? You will need to come back and find out.

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Happy Knitting!

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Carol

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