Confessions of a Yarnaholic

I'm addicted to yarn. Alpaca, wool, mohair, angora... the softer, the better. Natural colours, bright colours, heathers, stripes, hand dyed... the list goes on. My stash seems to be expanding by the day, and there is no end in sight. At first I started out buying only what I needed for whatever project I planned to start immediately. That quickly turned into buying yarn for projects I tentatively had in my queue. Now? I'm *thisclose* to buying yarn just for the sake of buying yarn. Eeeeee! Somebody stop me!

A few nights ago I decided to make a trip to my local yarn store. As soon as I walked in, I knew it was a mistake to actually go into the store instead of ordering online. There was shelft after shelf of beautiful, luxurious yarn in every fiber, weight, and colour you could ever imagine. It took some serious effort to buy only the three skeins of wool that I intended to use in the near future, and not stock up on piles of beautiful yarn. What would I do with it? Who knows... it just looks like it would be fun to pet. Or maybe buy enough to fill a ball pit, and roll around in it. I did it though, I bought only what I "needed". Which, incidentally, is three skeins of lovely 85% wool 15% mohair from Lamb's Pride:

The first one is Kiwi, the second is Grey Heather, and the third is Blue Magic. I'm hoping to knit some fingerless mitts for myself, my mother-in-law and my mother respectively. I just have to learn to knit in the round with double-pointed needles, since this project is too small for circulars!

For anyone reading this that's interested in yet another place to pad your yarn stash, check out Make 1 Yarn Studio. They're located fairly centrally here in Calgary if you actually want to go in, but the website has all their yarns for sale, and they offer free shipping on orders over $50. Wow!

Stealing part of my inheritance

Visiting with grandma is always fun, but visiting and bringing home a stash of yarn? Even better. My grandmother used to be an avid crocheter back in the day, but claims she hasn't touched a project in several years. My last visit involved stealing two boxes of fabric scraps for quilting, and this time she pulled out a huge (and I mean huge) box of yarn from her closet, and shoving it in my direction. She would have been plenty happy for me to just take it all, but limited space in the vehicle on the way home meant that I was only able to snag a couple bags full on this trip. No one else in the family knits or crochets, so if I don't take it, no one else ever will. I know it makes my grandmother happy that at least someone is continuing the hand-crafting tradition.

Most of her yarn is acrylics and acrylic/wool blends, and a great deal of it in small balls of leftovers from projects long past. This stuff is absolutely perfect for toys and other small-ish projects that I would like to work on. I was particularly inspired to do a crazy granny-square afghan for my daughter, with no real colour scheme, just a hodge-podge of whatever I decide to throw together. I love cuddling up under a hand-made blanket with a bowl of popcorn and a movie, and I think it would be a lovely heirloom to hand down to her when she's old enough to appreciate it - an afghan from her great-grandmother's stash.