Friday, February 6, 2009

Stuffing the Stash

As a knitter I suffer from a well known affliction: Stash Building. Like a quilter or a scrapbooker I get obsessed with collecting tools of the trade without really having room or a project to apply them too. It's pure gluttony. As of now I am trying to enter in all my yarn on Ravelry. I have 48 skeins listed, and probably about 50 or so more to enter. Looking at much of it I see that 30% is about 2 years old, 50% is a year old and the remaining 20% is fairly new. Obviously I have a problem.
Now that my wrists are starting to heal I am pledging to use up what I have. I'd like to get my stash down by 50% this year. This is a bold statement. Can I really do it?
I look at this challenge like weight loss. I've failed so many times before but it's truely necessary for my sanity to get knitting again and to use what I have and quit carrying dead weight from house to house. So what's the key to accomplishing my goals here? I'm not quite sure. I think I need to be sane about my goals but push myself each week to recommit whether or not I need it. It's so easy to let motherhood and household work get in the way of my hobbies and health... I understand that if I'm not healthy and have an outlet then my family will suffer.
Ok, so this rant is turning from yarn into weight loss... sorry. I didn't want to talk about my struggle with weight with anyone this year - my plan was just to hit the ground running and be accountable to only myself. I've lost weight before and did it without any external discussion. That was the only time I was successful. No talk, just action. I think that's how I work best. If I want something I just do it. This is now being applied to my knitting and my weight. Wish me luck. I hope to end the year healthier, happier and with less yarn.

1 comment:

Jessie said...

Yeah, I feel that way, too. The more I talk something up, the less likely I am to truly commit to it. Like you said, it has to be you doing it for you. I do wish you luck, my friend, on both of your goals. Love you, Jess