There's gotta be a 12-Step group for this somewhere

[pipi_k]

I'm talking about the compulsion to buy yarn.

Last week I finished up some preemie items for donation and am working on more to ship off later in the year.

I looked with some delight at my bag of baby yarn and said to Mr Pipi, oh great...I'm finally using up that particular stash (meaning I'll have more room for the other yarns I have).

What did I do today?

I checked out Joann Fabrics (online), where there's a 15% off sale going on

And bought more...

BABY YARN


aughhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!


Should we start a Yarnaholics Anonymous meeting here?


Hi, my name is PipiK and I'm a Yarnaholic...


Anyone else caught in the grips of this terrible disease?

[YarnAddict]

1. My name

is Yarn Addict, and I am also a Yarnaholic. However, I am totally enjoying my addiction!

I recently started to go through my stash, and decided to donate a couple of totes to the Senior Center so "the old ladies can knit mittens for poor children." I just can't bring myself to take it over there for them, because now I feel guilty that I am not personally knitting mittens for poor children.

Have you checked out this site? http://www.knitpicks.com/ Wonderful yarn for reasonable prices!

[pipi_k]

9. Giving the yarn to the old ladies

at the senior center is a good thing, though. I'm sure they're tickled pink to knit those mittens for poor children!


I've been to the knitpicks site. In fact, those rainbow crocodile stitch sock-booties I made last year were made from yarn from knitpicks. Really beautiful yarn!

[2banon]

2. LOL! I hear ya, Yarn and FABRIC..

It's starting to be a Serious problem for me... and a client just gave me a $50 gift card for christmas, and what did I spend $10 plus tax on? Yarn and Fabric that was on sale and I couldn't resist! LOL!

[pipi_k]

10. Oh yah,

fabric too!

Back in the olden days when I used to sew (i.e. had an actual sewing room that was convenient) I used to hoard fabric too. You know what doesn't help?

Having relatively close access to a fabric warehouse. A person could spend literally hours in there.


Do you have a dedicated sewing space? I would probably do more sewing myself if I had a space all my own instead of having to use the spare bedroom but not wanting to leave stuff lying around looking a mess.

[2banon]

16. No I don't. I share accommodations (Victorian Flat)...

My "dedicated" space is both my room, which serves as my own personal needs. I have my sewing machine on my desk which is multi-purpose, and it's where I play/practice fiddle and mandolin, and where I hang on the computer when I don't want to deal with organizing my stuff.! LOL!

And really, my experience and level of "expertise" is more on a par just above the "beginner" level, than it ought to be considering my age and many failed attempts in the past to pursue the craft.


I do however have access to a fabulous sewing room at the local Senior Center once a week, located a few blocks from where I live. A 4 hour drop in sewing "class" (no pre-enrollment) for a $5 donation. (that's practically free)

It is equipped with 3 very large work tables cutting boards, several regular sewing machines, a serger, and all manner of other tools, reference books etc.. It's amazing. and the "teacher" is a brilliant artist/seamstress and she's Japanese. Speaks English well enough to manage teaching me, all the other "students" are Japanese too, it makes for an interesting group. She makes an occasional trip back home to Japan and returns with the most amazing fabrics, tools and notions not available here.

I'm slow as molasses in constructing a garment, just finishing up night gowns for my granddaughters, i used two different methods for setting in sleeves, but just learned I have to rip out stitches from one of the sleeves where it joins the side seam of the gown. it's all puckery there. Oh well. Almost there!

But I have all these other fabrics with all these other projects in mind. And every time I walk into a fabric store, I go ape over something so beautiful. A lot of the times, I just want to gaze at them like pieces of art. Maybe I should take to stretching a few on a frame and hang them on my wall! LOL! Thankfully, a fabric store isn't around the corner from me!

[catchnrelease]

3. Oh yes

Not yarn but also a fabric-aholic. I have to NOT go into a couple of stores in particular. Not Joann but there is a sew-vac store where I got my sewing machine that also has a great collection of nice cotton fabrics. Even if I just go in there for vacuum bags I end up buying some beautiful batik fabric. And there is a small chain of fabric stores on the Central Coast of Calif. that are dangerous for me to go in. Not just cotton but everything. It's like heaven! When I die I want to go to Betty's!!!

I don't do quilts but make art dolls so I really don't use a lot of fabric at one time, so I usually just buy in half yard pieces, but it all adds up space wise. This past summer I bought and my husband and I put together a storage shed to house all of my fabric and supplies. Now I can see better what I actually have so I won't be buying the same things over and over.

Definitely a 12 step program is needed!!

[pipi_k]

11. Do you sell

your dolls?

Would you mind posting photos?

I love seeing what others are working on!

[catchnrelease]

19. Not normally

I really just make them for fun, or to give to friends. I put a couple in a local art gallery that was having a 'Frieda' show, and they had to be for sale, so those I did sell sort of by default I guess.

Otherwise I just see a pattern I like and make it or the doll club I belong to will have a challenge and I come up with something for that. I'm kind of all over the map with subject matter, lol.

Years ago I did graphite and colored pencil drawings of animals, and really just since I retired in 2010 I started working on the dolls. I love that I can use so many different materials--fabric, clay, embellishments, etc in these dolls, it's not just limited to one medium.

I'll see if I can figure out how to post a few pics to give you an idea of what I'm doing.

[SheilaT]

4. This might help.

http://www.amusingyarns.com/AYpdfs/Should%20I%20Buy%20This%20Yarn.pdf

[classykaren]

7. That was great

[pipi_k]

12. hahahah!!!

I think most of us would probably fudge the answers just a bit just to get to the part that says, "Buy more yarn"

[csziggy]

5. I'm not a yarhaholic, but a threadaholic

My needlework stash is immense. I've come up with an excuse, though.

I can't die until I have stitched my entire stash. So far I will have to live to 150 to do so - and that is only if I never sign up for another class or plan another project.

This year I am already committed to two seminars where I am taking three classes, and a correspondence course. My list of "projects to be stitched" is now two pages long - I had it whittled down on less than one page!

[pipi_k]

13. I like your excuse!

It would be inconsiderate for us to up and drop dead leaving all our supplies for people to deal with, not to mention unfinished projects.

So it sounds like you do cross-stitching?

[csziggy]

18. I do just about any kind of needlework but cross stitch!

I have done cross stitch, but I really don't like it. My first needlework love was needlepoint. Then I joined Embroiderer's Guild of America and learned all kinds of other needlework. I took Japanese Embroidery for five years, have done a lot of silk and metal stitchery, pulled and withdrawn thread, and recently got into stumpwork.

EGA has a nice notice on their web page right now about what to do with stitching supplies when you no longer need them:

What To Do With Those Needlework Leftovers
By Sue Hacker Nelson, Director, Marketing

In follow up to the article I wrote for Needle Arts v. 45, n. 2 (June 2014) on planning for your stash once you're gone, I received a nice note from Jenny Ewing form the Desert Threaders Chapter about a unique way they address this issue:

"At last we have a way to keep our leftovers and extras out of the town landfill! We now donate these odds and ends to Charlene Reeder of Paraclete Designs located in Phoenix, Arizona. Besides designing original cross stitch patterns, she organizes and ships multiple boxes of our leftovers to orphanages and schools in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Russia, South Africa, New York State, Ohio, and Oklahoma. She donates her own time to sort and reorganize our leftovers into boxes that are shipped and used in poor areas where children are being taught to cross stitch."

If you'd like to learn more, you can find it here (http://www.paracletedesigns.com/projects.aspx).
http://www.egausa.org/index.php/resources/ega-blog/747-leftovers

I've appointed one of our EGA chapter members to be my needlework executor. If she's still around when I kick the bucket, she will be responsible for disposing of my stash and needlework library. I'll have to update that every so often since I may be like my mother and outlive everyone in every group she belonged to. But it's in my will right now just in case!

[PADemD]

6. Hi

My name is PADemD, and I just received my new third project in the mail today.

[pipi_k]

14. I think only a dedicated crafter

would truly understand the feelings that whole process invokes in us.

From ordering to waiting, then seeing that package in the mail...

I swear, it's like being on a prolonged "high"

[Warpy]

8. The disease is called SABLE

as in "Stash Acquired Beyond Life Expectancy."

Think of fiber arts as a post apocalyptic skill set and stash as money in the bank.

[pipi_k]

15. Another poster and I

have decided we're going to live to be at least 150 years old.

Can't have other people getting the benefits of our stashes, you know...

[pipi_k]

17. OK an update on the yarn

I just added to my stash...


Red Heart Gumdrop.


Amazing. I love it. Worsted weight, suitable for baby items and super-soft afghans or sweaters.

It has a beautiful silky feel to it. Wouldn't recommend to a beginning knitter or crocheter because the yarn ply has a tendency to "split".


I don't remember ever using the Red Heart Classic before, but compared to the Gumdrop, it's like using twine.

I tried it in a couple of preemie hats (Orange and Navy blue for the tiniest Denver Bronco fans, since I send them to a hospital in Colorado...hee hee). It feels sort of coarse, and I'm hoping that issue goes away when I wash and dry the hats before sending them.


Then there's the Red Heart "Heart and Sole" sock yarn. A bit more fine than baby yarn, but not lace weight. Soft enough for baby items even though it's part wool. I mainly use it for making the burial gowns and bonnets, and the Angel Afghans since possible wool irritation isn't going to be an issue there. The gown I'm making now has a lacy skirt, and the yarn is well suited for that.



PS...oh, and here is a list of things never to say to a knitter...


https://www.yahoo.com/makers/never-say-this-to-a-knitter-really-just-dont-do-108914213375.html