Wednesday, April 11, 2007

Half by Half

I really like having an October birthday because it is a great time of year for self-assessment and goal planning for the new year. The changing of seasons always seems accompanied by clothes shifting, decoration changes, and other seasonal adjustments. A perfect time to assess and (hopefully) act.

I'm taking advantage of my half-birthday yesterday to do only half the assessing and to announce a half-baked plan. I have too much yarn. There. I said it out loud. Most have specific projects in mind, but my projects are piling up quicker than my knitting accomplishments. I need to act.

Here's my plan: I'm going to reduce my stash by half by a half-year from now - my birthday, 10/10.

How it'll work : I have two large drawers filled with yarn and a Lantern Moon basket's worth of current projects. I want to be down to one drawer and the basket. This includes all the ends of skeins that I have been saving (for what?!) and yarn I really liked, but plans changed. I'll either knit it or give it away 'til I've reached my goal. No buying yarn until October. I'll be using what I have to accomplish the projects I have. Yikes! That sounds even more harsh in print.

Exceptions: My pastor asked for a hat and I really think that Noro Silk Garden is in order, so I still need to pick that up. But that's it (for now?).

Can I do it? Wanna come along for the ride? I'd love to have some company in this half-baked Half by Half quest.

Up next: inventory!

But first, a little celebratory splurge from today's IKEA run:


I found this in a summer-stuff section and loved the print (declined on the matching napkins). Would look perfect at the beach with a project or two underway, don't you think? Good thing I didn't say I had to stop buying cute bags!

Labels: , ,

6 Comments:

At 7:28 PM, Blogger Suzanne said...

Half stashing! What a good idea. Its a good call to reassess and knit the stash.

I have to admit, I love yarn shopping. But the weight of the stash is overwhelming! I AM going to make a log cabin rug from bits and ends--that should use up some odd balls from the stash, and held 4x its should really eat up the yardage!

I've been listening to this podcast about too much stash:

http://www.stashandburn.com/

It can help to motivate!

 
At 8:16 PM, Blogger Charity said...

This is a great plan! I have to admit, my stash is a bit... ahem, larger than yours, so I don't think I could reduce it by half in six months. But I am working on more out than in! :0) Happy Half Birthday!

 
At 8:37 PM, Blogger Robin said...

You can never have TOO much yarn/fiber...I've just been knitting from my stash! My moto..."She who dies with the most...wins!"

 
At 11:33 AM, Blogger Mary said...

A laudable goal! (I hope I'm around when you start giving yarn away!) ;-)

(Clearly, I'm not half-stashing!)

 
At 8:49 AM, Blogger Pamela said...

I'm in - I'll go with my birthday/half birthday - between 3/24 and 9/24. I will restict purchases to yarn/materials needed for specific project with an definite due date (and attempt to keep that to gifts only) (wow, this is painful in writing). easy way to keep the desired project list under control? Limit my time with Amy!!! Since I'm not willing to do that, this will certainly be a challenge....

 
At 1:14 AM, Blogger Gordon Pruitt said...

i can help you with this. i will buy the yarn for my hat!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home