After a month-long self-imposed no yarn purchase ban, I started obsessing, both about buying yarn and using what I had in my stash. Yes, I can be like that.
This is how the month went, more or less: some days I would get inspired and decide to just buy the yarn I need for the project I had in mind. Simple as that. I would then agonize about using what you have and how that can spark creativity, and mindful buying and stop myself.
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There are contradictory arguments in my head. Hear me out.
You should knit what you feel like knitting when you feel like knitting
Why? Because by the time you finish all your wips and gift-knitting and cast on that project you longed for so dearly, your joy has been reduced to 50%. It had expired. The inspiration has left you. It’s not the same.
So why knit things with 50% of joy, when you can always knit what you feel like? Would that make you less productive? Is being productive in knitting important to you?
Thus, one should go and buy the yarn.
You buy yarn to use it, not to collect it
As a person who doesn’t like to own more than is necessary, having a big stash can be a problem. It causes frustration. I don’t buy yarn as decor, I buy it as a tool for learning and making new things. I have yarn I don’t like so much, so I don’t knit with it. And then I have yarn I love, and I don’t knit with it because it’s too precious.
I have found a solution for both things, but it’s a continuous work in progress.
Solution 1:
I have found that, in most cases, over dyeing yarn can completely transform something blah into something exciting. The proof is my cantaloupe coloured cone of Holstgarn Coast. I tried my best. I almost knit a full jumper with it (minus one sleeve). Frogged it. I crocheted a cardigan and tried to wear it and love it for months. Also frogged it. And then, I started experimenting with over dyeing it, and what do you know? I have used the yarn in a shawl, a short-sleeved tee and still have some left, but in colours I really want to use!
Solution 2:
I don’t buy yarn that feels too precious. I want to wear my knitted things, not baby them around.
Creativity is sparked by using what you have
I know. It’s true. It has worked for me many times. Limit your tools and be amazed by what your brain will come up with.
There is the rush of the EVRIKA moment, and then there is the pride that you came up with it by yourself. It really doesn’t compare with following a pattern in the same yarn and colours as someone else because you just loved it.
Yet sometimes we just want to do that.
Right. So what’s the conclusion?
Now that October is here, my agonizing has made me buy new yarn I know I love 💕 that’s sturdy and lovely, in colours I have identified in my last adventure with autumn colour palettes.
It has stopped me from:
Buying yarn because it was on sale
Buying yarn that is very, very similar to yarn I already have (and have not used)
It has not stopped me from:
Overthinking my yarn purchases
Wanting to buy yarn that is very, very similar to yarn I already own.
So, how’s your knitting going?