Do you walk the aisles and pick up and put down many skeins of yarn before the right one jumps into your shopping basket? I do.
When I shop for yarn, both on line and in the store, I have a hard time sticking to what I had in mind to shop for. Each skein I pass becomes a new project, some great and beautiful something that begs to run through my fingers with needles or hook. Often it is just too soft or textured or fuzzy or silky or colourful to ignore and, even though the project isn’t planned, it jumps into my basket and is adopted.
The practical part of my brain, the part I try to ignore, tells me no, no, no put that down and just pick up the number of skeins that you need for project X. Remember project X, the one you just had to make, the one that you promised yourself that you were going to start as soon as you bought just the right yarn? The creative side of my brain says, just a couple please, please, please. I just know that if they come home with me they will speak to me and tell me what they want to be.
I rarely make these random buys because that gorgeous skein is wool or silk or acrylic or cotton but just because it is too beautiful to languish on a shelf all alone. Am I crazy or foolish? Probably both, but I know I am not alone.
I have random skeins of yarn that came home with me a long time ago. I have random skeins that I inherited from other family members, picked up at garage sales, and even saved from deconstructed sweaters. Every once in a while, I break down and go through my stash to try to eliminate some of the single (but so lovely) skeins and I end up finding forgotten beauty and actually never get rid of a thing.
I have, however, assigned some of my yarn to patterns and made a resolution not to buy until I have used a significant amount of my existing yarn. I wonder how long that resolution will last? Probably about as long as that diet and exercise program did!
