Tuesday, February 2, 2010

New Year's Resolutions

I haven't posted in ages, but that doesn't mean I haven't been knitting. My excuse is that I've been far busier with volunteer work than I was two years ago -- I now work one day a week at Justin's school, have moved from Treasurer to Board Chairman of Kids in Common, and spend much more time and effort with SV2. The real reason is that with more limited free time, I'd generally rather knit than write.

Every January, I make a few resolutions. Along with some general platitudes about losing a few pounds and exercising more regularly, I usually have something about getting my stash under control. I have tried "knit more", but didn't necessarily have more completed projects to show for my efforts. I tried "complete more projects", but I seemed to buy faster than I knit, so that didn't help much either. Last year I tried "complete more projects than I buy", but I bought mostly yarn in quantities for sweaters and finished mostly smaller projects. Yarn diets haven't worked for me either (just like starvation diets, there is an overwhelming tendency to binge).

This year, I have a new approach. My goal is to end the year having completed more projects than I bought AND to use up more balls of yarn in those completed projects than I buy. Partially completed projects won't count toward my yarn use goal, since that yarn hasn't yet moved completely out of storage. Balls of yarn used are counted in half ball increments.

I've made the decision not to go out of my way to control the book/pattern portion of my stash, at least not this year. I did weed out a number of books and magazines last fall, and will probably do the same again at some point in 2010.

One month into 2010: where am I?

Bought: 8 projects, 22 balls of yarn

Completed: 8 projects, 21.5 balls of yarn

Close, but not quite where I want to be. The January shipment from Blue Moon's Rockin' Sock Club put me over.

One of the completed projects took a January purchase (one ball, meant for a lace scarf) and combined it with 2 balls from stash (meant for a hat) and repurposed the yarn for a cowl for Kerry. I counted it as one project and 3 balls, but seriously considered cheating and taking credit for another project completed or subtracting a project from the "bought" column. This is the same logic I can use with food diets...

I should finish a 3 ball scarf for my friend Sloan today which will put me back in the plus column for both measures (hooray!).

I have a lot more knitting to complete in the next few weeks if I want to attend the Stitches Market with a reasonably clear conscience. Wish me luck!

PS: I will post photos again soon.

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