Stash Issues. A New Years Resolution.

This year I have a few resolutions that are not my usual "go on a diet", "get in shape", "fix a budget" types. This year I'm going to try to rein in the yarn consumption. I mean when I was working on the "fix my budget" resolution I found some months I spent a bunch of money!! And that's not including my precious knitting books. And no, I will not disclose how much. Although..... somewhere there's a third world country that I could have fully-funded for a year!

Last year, I gave up yarn purchasing for Lent. It was about that time one of my fav LYS went out of business. I was on the edge! Do I break my fast or do I run to the great sale???? I was deeply torn. I would get in the car and drive by...sit and watch the happy shoppers with their bags of discounted yarns, and pout. Even now the memory is painful. BUT I stayed the course and didn't buy a single skein of yarn. Not a needle or a notion. Nothing. And yes, if I had that kind of willpower on a diet I'd be a size two!
Seriously, I went all the way to JUNE before buying anything at all that year! It was insane! My family wanted to know who I was and where Kelly had gone! Smart alecks! Hummph!

THIS year I'm continuing my stashbusting by joining Stashalong. I'm hoping to finish some UFOs and get rid of some of the large stash I've accumulated over the years. After all, when you have yarn that is older then your child (who BTW is 20!) it's time to do some "use it up or toss it out" thinking. So far, I've cleaned out my yarn closets and reorganized them, put the yarn I won't use into two piles (stuff to give away and fiber to trade), brought out the swift and ball winder to wind the skeins into balls for mobility/convenience and have dug out UFOs.

And speaking of UFOs? No, I'm NOT going to tell you how many I found. It's embarrassing to have more the 25 separate projects in the works! And when I say "MORE THEN" I mean MORE! The next two days I have off? Yep! Visits to the frog pond. The sounds of Rippit Rippit will fill the air. I'm just wondering how many different sets of needles I will reclaim out of all this.

And last but not least? I'm going to save up some of the money I would have used for yarn to buy a CAMERA (that works) so you guys can see what I'm up to!