It's been a while since I bought much yarn (well, with the exception of the Longview trip last month, and even then, it was only two small projects' worth).
But I've ordered some recently, probably because I'm counting the chickens of my chapter-reimbursements a bit before they hatch. (But they will hatch. I'm working on the third chapter and have marked the other deadlines out on my calendar so I am sure to get to them. And yeah, I'm making more off this than I made for the summer teaching....)
First up: some dk weight yarn in a "masala" (a slightly orangey brown) from KnitPicks for one of the several dk weight cardigans I've seen recently and want to make. I tend to have a shortage of that weight of yarn - in the US, it seems "worsted" is the common default for patterns and for readily-available yarn (I have some Paton's Classic Wool bought on a v. good sale at JoAnn's and just need to figure out the "best" pattern). It seems UK patterns more commonly use dk as the standard weight, and it IS a lighter weight and therefore better for me because (a) hotter climate and (b) bigger person so finer-gauge knits look better on me.
There are a couple of lace cardigans in the recent Brit-Knit magazines I've seen and I just have to decide which one I want to use it for. (The yarn was on sale, and anyway, I wanted to buy a second set of blocking squares for bigger items, and by ordering yarn, too, I got free shipping).
And now today, Webs- they had a lovely "oxblood" color tweedy yarn on a v. good sale. This one is a worsted weight but I am sure I will find a pattern I want to make of it - bought a bit over 1500 yards which is enough for a plain cardigan or a lace cardigan (cables take a lot more). And yeah, it's a similar color to the masala I just ordered but when I saw it, I liked it so well I wanted it.
And I admit - sometimes I slap my forehead and look at ALL the yarn I have ahead (definitely SABLE, and I will have to hope either my niece becomes a knitter, crocheter, or weaver, or that I find a younger friend who could inherit, because I'm pretty darned sure that I've got more yarn now than I will knit up in my life time, just as I have more books than I will read)
And why DO I do this? Why can't I just "shop the stash" and be content with what I already have? I think part of it is, as I've said before, I'm somehow promising myself, "Yes, you will have time to make this thing you want to make" never mind that I mostly don't work on the ongoing projects I have NOW, and I have I-don't-know how many sweaters' worth of yarn ahead. Part of it is a desire for "fun" mail - it's depressing to me to come home, day after day, and open the mailbox and find nothing but a water bill or an ad from a payday-loan place (which I would never use) or a flier from some political candidate I actually plan to vote AGAINST in November....very little fun or inspiring. And so I often order stuff I don't actually need just for that little bit of pleasure, some afternoon, of coming home to a package. (The problem is, they come in waves: I'll order a few items, and darned if they don't come ALL on the same day, instead of, as I would prefer, spaced out over a week or two).
Though I admit there's another factor coming in to play, similar to when I first moved here and there was NOTHING in town and trips to Sherman were few and far between, and so I'd buy all kinds of crazy stuff while there because "who knows when I'm getting back" - it's that old feeling of "scarcity" cropping up again. (I wonder if kids raised in the 1970s recession era - especially in more-frugal homes - share some feelings in common with kids of the Depression?). The local quilt shop/yarn store closed up in January, and yes, I miss it terribly. I would sometimes go down there just to get out of the house/campus/grocery store rut, even if I only bought a package of quilting needles or a half-yard of fabric. And I read the other day that Colinette - a yarn supplier in the UK - is closing up shop, and I've heard rumors about Rowan (I hope those are wrong, even as I cannot afford most Rowan yarn). And you hear the rumors about "big bad economic times coming" and you read about the prepper-types and all. And I'm definitely not a "prepper" for the "end of the world as we know it" (if civilization genuinely collapses and isn't coming back within 25 years or so, I wouldn't mind being one of the early casualties....I'm honest here. If hot water on demand and toilet paper and chocolate and feeling even marginally safe to sleep without a whole tribe around you to guard you are things of the past, I'm not sure I want to keep on going. Also, I am unsure I could even find a "tribe" that would take me in, if it came to having to "buddy up" to survive in some Mad Max future).
But in some ways, I kind of have that same mindset. I have a shelf full of canned goods (which I need to remember to rotate so the older stuff gets used up) though I can fool myself by saying, "That's for the weeks I can't get out to the store easily" and the food DOES by and large get used up and replaced. But I know I have more than two weeks' supplies on hand, and not just two weeks' worth of dry beans or something like that, either.
And I hear the little hints of "bad economic times a-comin'" and I read stories about places like Hastings' going belly up (though Hastings was never my favorite place to shop as I felt the "local" ones gave books short shrift compared to other media, and books are mainly what I want a bookstore for), and even Nordstrom's is suffering, and as I said the other day, my fear of a future where we can choose to go to a Wal-mart to buy stuff, or we can order it from Amazon and wait (and maybe have to drive to some "package distribution center" to pick up) and that's it....and I admit, I go a little "prepper" over the things that are important to me. Like yarn. And books. And fabric. (And also the idea of inflation: isn't it better for me to buy a $25 skein of sockyarn now and hang on to it until I can knit it up, instead of doing a buying moratorium until I NEED yarn, and then finding that sockyarn is now $50 a skein?)
I don't know. That's a pretty morose speculation there. All of it. (I admit, I prefer the: "I see this as promising myself I will take time to knit this up into a sweater I want" idea instead). But I wonder if a wee bit of that isn't operating for me.
(Stay healthy, Rowan. Stay healthy, Brown Sheep. Stay healthy, Classic Elite and Noro and Paton's and Lion Brand. Keep going, all you indie dyers out there. We need you.)
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