Yarn Addiction

I’m a true yarn addict. I don’t even have to look up the word addict, I know I define it. Because I have not mortgaged the house or gone without food because of yarn, I tell myself all is OK. But is it?

Here is a sample process. I just received an online yarn purchase. It includes yarn I wanted for a project which I start immediately.

DSC_0002Never mind all the unfinished projects around the house, including the socks started yesterday.

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A little time goes by, I finish this project and the socks, and find myself on the computer again looking at yarn. Remember, I don’t need any yarn. I have wonderful, delicious, expensive yarn already. Lots of it. And you know why I have that much? Yes, I want that free shipping, an excuse to buy more than needed and it builds a stash.

But how about that shawl, I would like to make it but don’t have the perfect yarn for it. Let me see if the perfect skein is out there. Oh wow, look at that one. And look at the sale going on here. Free shipping if I order over $x, well, no problem, I always could use more sock yarn.

Trouble starts now, and if I ever was concerned about reaching the free shipping quantity, come on, I know better.

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Holidays are already looming for knitters. This is a period of time where no excuses to buy yarn are needed. Or a baby on the way? Buy away! No baby on the way? Just in case your kids will ever have them, knit in advance, you never know how long you’ll live.

The reasons are endless, probably as long as the reasons for having that next drink. Except our reasons make more sense because we produce. We can do a show and tell without stumbling around embarrassed.

But really, do I need all the shawls I’m knitting? I never wear any, so who are they for? I just don’t want to be saved from my addiction. Not yet.

What stage am I? I admit to being an addict, yet don’t see a need to change that. It’s not that bad, I say. I’m not hurting anyone.

Or here are some other reasons to keep buying yarn. Knitting reduces my stress, it relaxes. I only buy when I need to make gifts. A yarn addiction is much safer than using drugs or alcohol, though some of us knit with that glass of wine next to us. I don’t buy everything I like. My stash is much smaller than so-and-so’s. I don’t buy the most expensive yarns. Add your own here….

The excuses are mostly true, not so with a drug addict’s excuses. Does that make me a better addict?

If I get hung up on a yarn, I need to buy it or obsess on it until I buy it or another yarn comes along. There is always this other yarn. There are so many choices today.

OK, here is what I told my husband and actually believed at the time these words were spoken. I think I have now tried about every sock yarn there is, except perhaps one or two and once I try those, I’m done. I’ll only have to buy sock yarn when I actually need it and then know what kind to buy.

Two sock yarns I haven’t tried? And I believed that? True addiction. I have bought two different kinds since then and have many more on my waiting list. What else is going to come out of my mouth?

Edit: I’m reminded of a friend who knits. She wants to make a pair of socks, she goes out buys the yarn and makes those socks. She feels on solid ground to me. Realistic. I live in the land of possibility. I live on a cloud surrounded by soft, squishy yarn and many ideas swirling around of patterns I could knit up. Dreamer. There are times I would rather be in control, but not that much.

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