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Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Full Tilt

I have a compulsive personality. When I enjoy something, I'm all in. It's why I own thousands of books and why my To Be Read pile numbered over 1500 before I moved from Minneapolis and donated a ton of books. No exaggeration; I literally donated over 2900 books to my local library.

This is why I have a ridiculous amount of scrapbook paper, enough to create about 50 scrapbooks, even though I haven't done this craft in years. Part of it was because I didn't like taking all my stuff out and putting it back away again, but even after I moved to a place where I didn't have to put anything back, I didn't get back into it. The paper actually hit on two of my areas--number one was the scrapbooking hobby and number two was my love of office supplies.

So I'm sure it's no surprise that I threw myself headlong into my latest hobbies--crochet and knitting--the same way.

I started with crochet because knitting seemed too hard. After all, I'd have to manipulate two sticks instead of just one. I enjoyed it and bought a ton of yarn. I didn't know yet that this was called a stash, but I collected one with gusto anyway. So pretty, must buy more!

And I started to purchase a ton of patterns for sweaters and such that I would make some day, once I was better at what I was doing. The thing was, though, that as I browsed crochet patterns, I'd stumble across knitted items that were just so adorable! And I thought well, why not learn to knit? Then I can make clothes and such no matter if they're crocheted or knitted. Win!

I took a knitting class. I started accumulating needles and patterns and yes, more online knitting classes even though I hadn't finished all the crochet classes I'd already purchased. And ooh, look, this designer is having a pattern sale. And wow! It's a Knit-A-Long (KAL)! The only thing that tempts me more than a Knit-A-Long is a Mystery Knit-A-Long. I don't know what I'm making? Let me buy that pattern right now. Never mind that I can't keep up the pace with more experienced knitters. I want in!

I'm trying to overcome this behavior. I managed to go a good four months or so without buying any new yarn, but the patterns were more difficult, especially when they went on sale. Sale might be the magic word for me, and if it's a Mystery Knit-A-Long pattern that's on sale just for one week? I'm there and trying so hard not to be.

And yes, I recently caved in and bought yarn for a KAL and then made a huge error that was impossible to recover from and didn't have enough yarn to start again, so I had to visit the Local Yarn Store (LYS). While I was waiting for the lady to help the woman in front of me--and it was taking forever--I found more yarn. Yarn I didn't need. But it was pretty! Curbing my compulsive buying habit is clearly a work in progress.