Yarn Diet and Crawl

I've been on a yarn diet since the beginning of the year.  I promised myself that if I made no yarn or fiber purchases by the end of March that I would allow myself a few small purchases.  Well, I successfully made it to the end of March without any purchases.  And a large group of us also went on a yarn crawl yesterday.  How awesome is that!

I'm proud to say that I kept things very controlled.  This is the entirety of my yarn purchase:

That little white skein on the top of the picture is laceweight cotton - over 1500 yards!  Is that incredible or what!?!  The others are beautiful sock yarns.

I also purchased some really beautiful cable needles:

Laptop

Forget the damn Pleo, what I really need is a new laptop - this one is on it's last legs!  I'm changing my prize countdown to indicate laptop instead.

25 FOs to Pleo

I've found my reward!!!  So I've got to finish 25 things (including spinning) to get myself a Pleo!  Starting point is Rhinebeck so I've finished 2 things so far: the granny squares blanket and 1 skein of handspun.

Projects past and next

I am sitting in training today and as usual we began late - about 1/2 hour late.  So, I was killing time on Ravelry and when I went to see what I'd finished in October, I realized I haven't finished a single thing this month!  NOT ONE!!!  I think that explains the BLAH I've been feeling. 

I did finished spinning two skeins of yarn though so that's something. Here they are:

4 oz Tencel/Wool blend by Creatively Dyed, 94 yards, Navajo plied:

 

4 oz Wool/Silk blend, 100 yards thick-thin, andean plied:

 

Here's another skein (finished earlier in the year), 4 oz superwash merino, 400 yards, andean plied:

I was also thinking about the reward system some more and the only things I can think of that I'm "denying" myself are a drum carder and fabric for the flannel pjs.  I can't imagine getting a drum carder even as a reward though because of the space issues.  I would consider renting a carder or borrowing someone's carder so I'll have to explore that some more when I'm ready to start working with the fleeces.  So fabric is looking to be more and more likely as a reward.

Since my post a few days ago about my spinning stash, I've been thinking of all the sweater's worth quantities i have.  I think i should start spinning with the yak roving since that is professionally processed and would be a better way to learn to spin for a sweater.  Spinning from a scoured fleece comes with it's own challenges and I would prefer to tackle one new thing at a time. 

I am thinking of making a cabled yarn for the sweaters.  A cable yarn is a 4 ply yarn (nice and sturdy for sweaters) where you spin a single, 2 ply it, and then 2 ply the 2 ply.  I also think this would be an appropriate yarn because my preference while spinning singles on the wheel is something that turns into fingering weight or heavy fingering weight when 2 plied so when cabled, I think I should get a sport to dk weight yarn which should work out well.

Reward System

I'm a fairly active participant on the Stash Knit Down group on Ravelry which is, as the name may indicate, a group of crafters who are choosing (or attempting) to stash dive as much as possible into their many different stashes (yarn, fiber, fabric, beads, etc.).  I've joined the "100 Skeins in 2009" challenge on this group which I've discussed in the past and am currently tracking on the sidebar of this blog. 

Well, I also like to read threads other than the challenges I'm involved in and have been reading the fabric stash down thread; one of the most recent things being discussed is a reward system.  Now this is certainly not some new system that I've never read about but this particular post struck me because the writer said that she would reward herself after she finished "6 or maybe 10 projects".  Whenever I've read about reward systems its always been an amount of accomplishment that I never felt was sufficient so I would dismiss the whole system or wouldn't stick to it.  DUH!  How obvious is it that you can set how much you would like to accomplish before allowing yourself the reward!  I have no idea why this never clicked in my brain before but it has this time!

I think that at the rate I'm going with my projects, if I tell myself that I will give myself a treat after 10 projects - that's a huge accomplishment!  I can use the Rhinebeck trip as a starting point but I have no idea what my reward would be.  Considering the severe storage space issues I'm running into, I've actually LOST the desire to buy yarn or fiber!  My shopping mojo is gone.  I need Yarn-Viagra!  I suppose though, my reward does not have to a crafting thing, it could be something entirely different.  I'll think about it though and in the mean time, i'll let the reward system motivate my to finish projects.

Speaking of finishing...does this look like two strips of the blanket sewn together?!?  :::gasp:::