Wool/yarn addiction

[Purlywhites]

I haven't been knitting long but I LOVe knitting flowers and crafty bits.
I can't stop buying wool (£1-2 here and there) I spend around £20-30 per month.
My new found hobby is taking over!
Is anyone else a compulsive wool purchaser? No one warned me buying wool would become an obsession!

I used to hide my stashes around the house. Then DH and I went on a huge decluttering and sorting project and he saw how much I had in one place - oops!

I promised to finish 3 projects with stash wool before buying just one new projects worth I have broken this several times including today

He knows

Hello - my name is SDTG and I am a yarnaholic.

I have two of those little sets of wicker drawers, 4 drawers each, all full, plus a hatbox full, plus 10 x 100g balls in a bag on top of the fridge, and I have won a yarn stash from a knitting magazine - 66 balls of yarn - no idea where they are going to go.

And yet I am still eying up yarn online and in stores, and I've entered a competition to win 17 x 100g balls of yarn (fingers crossed that I win those too).

You are not alone! I am shocking for this. I have been knitting for about 8 years & have accumulated a fair collection of it, probably a few hundred quid. It's like buying sweets without the calories isn't it. If you really can't help it, I have 2 strategies to help me cope: 1) only buy really lovely wool, ie buy more expensive, but smaller amounts, & 2) make something with it! At least then you will have some gorgeous clothes, scarves, blankets etc. I gave up buying the cheaper stuff as I couldn't keep up with the stash behind the sofa.

Dh, bless his innocent little heart, thinks I should use up all the yarn I have before I buy more.

Oh - and I bought 6 x 100g balls of bright coloured yarn, because I want to crochet a granny square scarf like Ann wore on episode 3 of the Great British Sewing Bee. And I have fabric to make three skirts and at least two cushion covers. One lot of fabric moved house with us up to Scotland and not only have I not made the skirt, but I am not entirely sure where the fabric is.

Oh yes OP, you are doomed. Your spending should drop off when your house is full though.

Use up the yarn you have SDT, what is your DH thinking! I have a couple of large boxes on top of a wardrobe, many bags stuffed at the side of the wardrobe in DS's bedroom and a bag or two behind the sofa. I won't even mention the various other crafty items secreted about the house.

Today I sacrificed some cheap yarn for the DC to build a complex cable car system in the living room. This was after explaining why they couldn't use the pure merino wool for their project.

Me!! Does anyone know anywhere online that does good deals in wool? Cheapest Ican get DK is £1.30 a roll but I fancy some cotton and it's eye wateringly dear!!!

Try these, they do a variety of things. Some apparently comes from their own mill so it's a bit cheaper than branded yarns.

www.texere-yarns.co.uk/

I am an absolute yarn addict. I would happily spend days googling yarn,looking up yarn on ravelry, skulking round the local craft shop....

saycheeeeeese, I don't know if this is any use but deramores have an offer on cotton this weekend: 'Morning all! Don't miss out on a fab 15% off ALL cotton yarn this weekend! Just enter coupon code COTTON at the shopping basket page! Enjoy!'

SDTG I hope you have re educated in the art of hoarding wool

I have rather a lot of wool hanging around dh got me a voucher for the local wool shop, I'm trying really hard not to spend it yet until I have a project in mind

Me too. I love to go and look at it in my study, all those lovely colours and textures waiting to be turned into something beautiful.
DH recently commented that he was glad that as a household we were well prepared for any imminent world yarn shortage.

That's a relief!

I buy bamboo, silk, cotton balls directly from china on eBay, beautiful stuff and I often win the bid for 99p- £1.04 for a 50g ball.
It takes weeks to get here but is a lovely surprise when you've forgotten about it.
I've made some lovely flowers with it,
I love Sirdar Calico, a dream to knit with but limited choice of colours.
I'm knitting a colourful blanket for a friend so I have an excuse to buy little bits here and there.

I had a look through a chest of stuff I had forgotten about today - I was looking for a red velvet dress I want to take apart and make a skirt with. Not only did I find the dress and a skirt length of needlecord I thought I had lost, but I also found a dress length of red corduroy I had totally forgotten I'd got, and 7 balls of Debbie Bliss yarn I'd also forgotten!

Happy days!!

I don't know what you are all talking about.

I certainly haven't got three vacuum bags of wool under the bed. Plus many carrier bags of it in the wardrobe.
And about 10 hanks of Wollmeise that DH must never see the receipts for
And Hobbycraft bags full of bargains in the dresser where the cookware lives.

I'd best not introduce you to Kemps, then

And it's a good thing you weren't at Wonderwool Wales. I've been a good girl all year (not been able to knit much, which makes it easier) but I'm saving myself for Woolfest, at the end of June :o

Your secret is safe with us!

I once got talking to an american lady whilst we were browsing the yarn in the oxfam shop (now there's a lady after my own heart - visiting a country on the other side of the world, and sightseeing in yarn shops), and she told me that she and her friends (all yarnaholics) have a pact that if one of them dies suddenly, the others will go in and rescue clear out their yarn stash before their dh finds out how much they actually had!

I'm with Ouryve - don't go near anywhere with high end yarns.

I am too far from Woolfest (phew) but around here we have Unravel in February. There isn't a ball of Patons or Stylecraft in the whole place, just mounds of expensive stuff.

That said I only bought one £12 skein of fine mohair/silk mix this year but that was only because I still haven't used all the stuff I bought last year or the year before. It is all very lovely to get out and stroke from time to time.

I won't mention all the other not so expensive yarn I have secreted about the place or the many part finished projects.

I know Kemps already I'm afraid.

It shouldn't be allowed

Me and my fellow knitting friend have decided we have 2 hobbies - hobby a is buying yarn, hobby b is knitting. One enables the other, obvs.

Actually, some bastard from here told me about Kemps. I think it was Soupy.

I blame you. All of you.

and today is Sunday so check out the Posh Yarn update, it is usually around 7pm but I can't look because I bought some last week. Wollmeise updates on Fridays and the COLOURS, OMG the COLOURS

Just remember, we may have to admit to the number of units of alcohol we drink but nothing can compel us to reveal the size of the stash.

Stop it! I am drooling!

It's frustrating knowing there are so many kinds of wool waiting for me to buy, but I'm pretty skint. It depresses me. I want to be rich so I can dedicate a whole room to storing wool.

Is it sad that I actually fantasise about that daily?

Not at all - I do too!

I'm a frustrated yarnoholic - we have no disposable income for yarn right now so I have to avoid a anywhere that sells it! I do have 3 projects to finish before I run out entirely though.

Ebay? Aileens Wool Shop on Ebay is brilliant.

See, I can't stop it.

I've got stash beyond life expectancy. I spin as well and have a massive, wooden chest full of spinning fibre. I belong to a fibre club (get sent a 4oz bump of hand dyed fibre each month) ... and I may have just signed up to another one (well, was on waiting list for 2 years!! so seemed rude to refuse)

its an illness, I tell ya ... thats my excuse, anyhows

SABLE - stash acquired beyond life expectancy

Yes, I'm there too. I just need to live for another 100 years then it will all be fine.