Today I’m going to clean my underwear drawer. That’s because I just had a dream in which GC decided to surprise me by inviting everybody over to clean my underwear drawer. I arrived home and found my bedroom full of former bosses, ex-boyfriends, neighbours, relatives, friends, all kinds of people equipped with all kinds of underwear-drawer cleaning supplies, like ladders and buckets of paint and paper towels and power drills. I was mortified because my bedroom is a mess, and my underwear drawer in particular is a disaster. It’s crammed full of socks with no mates, pantyhose I’ll never wear, decrepit underpants, and condoms older than some of the people who read this blog.
I woke up relieved to find my bedroom empty, and vowed to clean my underwear drawer today.
What else? Well, Grace and I are going yarn shopping today! I’m very excited about this. I need more yarn. If I were to completely stop buying yarn but keep knitting at my usual rate, I’d only have enough yarn to last me about five years. So it’s definitely time to replenish the stocks.
However, speaking of replenishing the stocks, something AWFUL happened over the weekend. I ordered some of that Blue Moons Fiber Arts yarn for my Chevron. I couldn’t decide which two colours to get, so I caved and got four colours. Then I read all your comments, and started second guessing my choices, so I ordered two more colours. I had to do some serious rationalizing to justify spending $150 on yarn while I’m unemployed, but I did it.
But wait, that’s not even the awful part. Last night I was suddenly seized by this paralyzing thought – maybe the Chevron requires TWO skeins each of two different colours. I checked, and sure enough, TWO skeins each. FOUR skeins total. So even though I have six skeins on the way, they’re all single colours and I don’t have enough for even one Chevron!
So I did what any of you would have done, I panicked. I fired off a message to Blue Moon and asked them to send me TWO skeins of each of the colours I’d ordered. (For those of you who do not knit, it was imperative that I reach them before they shipped my order, so all skeins would be from the same dye lots.)
Then I sat back and felt slightly ill, having spent $300 on yarn in the last few days. I wasn’t sure I could find any way to justify it, but I immediately launched into Emergency Rationalization Mode: I deserve it! I have had cancer! I’m having surgery! My birthday’s coming up!
Arden suggested I think of it as long-term investment in my own pleasure. GC suggested I call Blue Moon today and cancel part of the order.
Here’s what’s coming. Two skeins each of Farmhouse, Watermelon Tourmeline, Fire on the Mountain, Puck’s Mischief, Waterlilies, and Kalish. (Just to show you I have SOME self discipline though, I did remove Petroglyphs and Gail’s Autumn Joy from my cart at the last minute. It pained me to do so – they’re gorgeous – but it had to be done.)
Anyway, I’m going yarn shopping with Grace today, and I’m going to be very restrained. Seriously.
We’ve all seen those equasions that prove that yarn is a great entertainment value as compared to going to the movies. You know, price per hour, hours of entertainment……Blue Moon is tough to resist.
And underwear drawers are tough to clean out. For some reason, I seem unable to throw away underwear (what if I run out?!) I finally purged the herd and cleaned the drawer and matched up colors and for the moment, it’s all good. Good luck with your clean out.
That “i’ve spent too much now” panic has hit me a few times before. Luckily, the last time it turned out that what I wanted was on backorder and I would have to reorder it in a month if I still wanted it- which I decided was not the best option. Though the money ended up being spent at my LYS, regardless, at least it was better spent supporting local business.
You couldn’t have picked a better store to lose your self-control in.
The yarn will give you hours and hours of pleasure. And you do deserve a present, after all you’ve been through.
You’re welcome. Drop me a line any time you need help rationalizing a yarn purchase. I do shoes, too.
I think if anyone deserves a little yarn splurge… its you
Can you save any little pieces (that you would throw out) of any of all the wool you use for me, please.
WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW
When I read, “and condoms older than some of the people who read this blog”, I visualized used condoms – uggghh – so sorry.
I keep my unpaired socks in a basket that hangs from the ceiling in my kitchen. That way if I’m putting away the laundry and find a single sock, I know exactly where to look for its mate.
– RG>
RG … does anyone every look up expecting to find bananas in that basket? One time I looked up at my kitchen basket and discovered a groundhog eating a banana. Absolutely true. Ask Zoom.
Oma – No, I keep my groundhogs in a drawer in the fridge.
– RG>
You can always sell (did I say that!!!???) the yarn you decide not to keep on Ravelry…I’m sure some of us local knitters would gladly help you…! And where are you yarn shopping? Wool’n things? Knit-Knackers?
Grouchy, old pal! Mind if I drop by your place for a l’il, ummm, snack…?
if it makes you feel better, you can cancel part of your order because you do only need one skein of each BMFA STR colourway for the Chevron – the original instructions are for Koigu KPPM which has half the yardage of STR (i.e. you need 2 skeins for a pair of Koigu socks and one skein for STR socks). But if I were you, I would cancel the doubling and add back in petroglyph and Autumn joy (just the one skein of each mind!) ;o) But what the hell, if you can’t reward yourself with yarn after the year you’ve had, the world is a very sad place indeed!
Kellie! I love you! You have lifted me from the depths of gloom to the pinnacles of joy! Thank you SO much! I feel like I’ve saved $150. It’s even better than not having spent it in the first place.
Also – the rest of you knitters – Donna Lee, Susan, Laurie, Valerie – you made me laugh all day. I loved all the justifications, which are not only soul-soothing and amusing, but absolutely right on too.
Carmen – we went to Wool Tyme. I LOVE that store, but I don’t get there often enough. Grace is a wonderful yarn-shopping companion. She helped choose colours (which is one of my problem areas), she reined me in when I need reining in, she urged me on when I needed urging on, and she’s full of interesting stories too.
Sam, good point about keeping our money in our local yarn stores. So I dropped another $100 at Wool-Tyme today. It was so much fun.
Real Grouchy, the basket makes sense, but why the kitchen? And yes, it’s true about the groundhog in Oma’s basket. There were groundhogs everywhere.
Coyote, is it true what they say about them tasting like chicken (groundhogs, not socks)?
Manny Blue, used condoms? Ewww. But that reminds me of a story. One time I was reading the Articles for Sale column in the Citizen, and I saw Used Safe for sale. It took me a minute…
And Manny Blue, of course I will save my tidbits of yarn for you. Whatcha making? (You should see what Grace is making with leftover sock yarn. OMG. Gorgeous!)
Coyote – no thanks, I have a coyote-free diet.
Zoom – because that’s where the basket is, of course!
– RG>
Grouchy: Obviously, we have communication issues…
Zoom: Ma’am, groundhogs taste more like chicken than chicken does.
And socks taste pretty much like whoever’s feet’s been in ’em most recently. We only eat those in a pinch. And with a pinch of salt…
You know those socks that have no mate? Wear them anyways. Who says socks have to match? If you wear shoes and pants, no one’s going to see them anyways. And I really don’t think people are going to point out that you have non-matching socks.
Take cash, leave the card in the house. Seriously. It keeps me on a budget. And there is nothing wrong with spending $300 on yarn. It happens. And think about how much time you’re going to spend knitting it! See? Not so bad. ^_^
Glad you only need the original amount afterall, that’s got to be a huge relief!
I was tickled to see my suggestion make it into the blog, makes me feel famous or something! LOL