Account for 2015

I bought a lot of yarn in 2015.  I have my guidelines, and somehow all yarn can be made to fit the guidelines.  Storage is a severe problem.  In November I woke up one morning with a strong feeling that I must stop buying yarn because I have run out of places to store it.

I actually went around practising not buying yarn, and I managed it for several weeks.  But now I'm back again.  I'm surprised that price has turned out to be the deciding factor.  I will buy at 10 - 15% of full woolshop price.  I think this is low, but it can still be managed, especially if I bargain.  I wish all wool had an obvious price label.  Once I have to ask how much it is it is very difficult to walk away.  I can't walk away without knowing the price.

On the other hand I have refined my system for deciding what yarn to knit next.  I have my standard blankets, and they are no problem at all.  I enjoy knitting them so much, and the yarn or knitted items that I buy for them disappears soon enough.  Now I go through my spreadsheet of yarn acquisitions and I will use each item in turn.  If a yarn is not suitable for special projects they must go into standard blankets however nice they are.  And I have my waiting list of blankets to knit.

It is just such a long term plan.  And the group of yarn meant for garments make me feel stressed.  I look at patterns and there are plenty that I would like to knit and I have suitable yarn, but knitting a garment takes so long because when it comes down it I prefer to knit blankets.

The good news is that I knitted a lot in 2015, a total of 22.2kg.  This is the most I have ever knitted in one year.  I noticed that my standard blankets were finished more quickly than before and I did several special ones.  I hope I will be able to keep this rate up in 2016, but I do have plans for at least one intricate special blanket which will take a long time.

To add a picture - this was my first purchase after I decided to stop buying yarn.  I have a nice collection of Rowan Summer Tweed.