Wishin for spring

By -


These are my forsythia LAST spring. Sharp contrast to the grey skies and grey snow around here now. I need some color out there.....

Answer anonymously if you want. My question : Is the economy influencing your yarn purchases?

I'll go first: anonymously: YES. I am working on using up stash. I am not buying from overeseas right now b/c of the value of the dollar. I am going to the library for my Knit Magazines and books right now. Truthfully, I don't mind at all right now.

Happy Birthday Chicago.

Comments

Bianca said…
Same here. The Euro is expensive at the moment...and I have a small home, so that is a very good reason to use up stash before I buy something new
10:16 AM
Anonymous said…
It is not, but it should. However, I am buying unique yarns - or yarn that I need to have for a specific project. Not major purchases; but small, special projects. No sweater amount purchases more like scarf, hat, mitten purchases. And, if gas goes to $4 a gallon or more, even that will stop.
11:38 AM
Grace said…
i got the Misti Alpaca today, i completely forgot why you would be sending it to me but I browsed your blog again and remembered, boy I am in another world lately

Now that you ask I have stopped buying without thinking, in fact today I was on sarahs yarns page, ready to buy a pattern and some lace weight and I thought about the thousands of skeins in the yarnoire and all the patterns I have waiting and I got out of the page as fast as I could!!!
11:40 AM
Deb said…
No; but we are eating a lot of buttered noodles for dinner!!
11:45 AM
Karen said…
Okay, anonymously . . . I'm not sure. I have been on a stash diet because 1)I have a lot (A LOT) of yarn and 2) I have no job. But me not having a job is not really an issue of the economy. However, our fear of Pea losing his job is curbing all of our spending, and that is an issue of the economy. So, I guess my answer is Yes and No.
12:52 PM
Elaine said…
I'm also on a yarn diet - I'm knitting solely from my stash and from some gift credit I got at Elann (which has reasonable prices) and once in a while I get something in my LYS's "orphan bin" which are mostly $1.

My stash was getting out of control and my income is not. I do have a good job, but I also have a kid in a very expensive Ivy League school. Just think of the sweaters I could knit with her tuition!
10:04 PM
evergreenknits said…
I hear you on the stash and library use! I still buy yarn for special projects, but I'm definitely trying to be more frugal.

I could keep spending on yarn by cutting corners in other ways. But, I think the downturn has encouraged me to really think about what I get out of consumerism. And I'll probably try to keep up this simpler way even when the economy picks up again.
10:49 PM
Anonymous said…
I normally buy like a crazy woman but lately I've stuck with my fiber club and very occasional sock yarn purchases. I couldn't resist the Oceanwind Knits last week.

I might have a big purchase I'm kind of saving money for.
2:37 AM
Anonymous said…
It's not so much the general economy, but my personal economy that is influencing my yarn purchases. Did you know that a package of 80 diapers costs about as much as a hank of sock yarn?

It's kind of sad that I evaluate purchases based on the the value of the Sock Yarn Index.
5:03 AM
Anonymous said…
Maybe a little. Lately I have noticed that I go to the stash when I have an idea for a project, instead of looking online for a new and exciting yarn. It may, however, have something to do with the fact that we are being taken over by the stash. I'm talking move-out-of-the-house taken over.

Good discussion!
9:13 AM
Anonymous said…
Like Karen, I am mostly using stash yarn because a: my stash is way too big and b: I too am currenly unemployed. The good thing about having a fairly large stash is that I can usually find something to knit or crochet if I put my mind to it and I don't have to spend extra money to do it. I do check the internet for free patterns and I find this also saves quite a bit of cash. Perhaps I will do what you're doing and check the local library for free patterns. Have a great day!
12:28 PM
Anonymous said…
I think so... yes. It is harder to hide a little yarn purchase from the DH when groceries cost so much more (the fuel to deliver them?) Grocery bill for 2 adults, 21 yr old and 14 yr old (those kids can EAT) is up at least 30%. My problem is that stash is big, but not much of any one thing. I always read my books thru the local library or from friends.
islanding
PS - love love love the blue lace
5:13 PM
Kate said…
Heya Kathy. Sorry for the delayed response on my blog - I missed your comment!

Stash accidents not withstanding, I have to admit that the economy is affecting my yarn purchasing. It's not hte cost of the yarn so much but so many other daily expenses are so much more expensive now. For example, petrol (0.26 gallon) is about $1.40/litre on a good day (ie about USD$6/gallon). Even before Til had arrived and I became a SAHM, I had already decided that I'd have to scale back my purchasing simply so that I could still save for little things like Christmas!
8:32 PM
Unknown said…
I think my situation rather than the economy is effecting my yarn purchases. Since I'm unemployed, I shouldn't be buying. Besides, I'm trying to cut down on my consumerism overall.
11:45 AM
Anonymous said…
A little bit. I'm not purchasing anything outside the U.S. and I am trying to focus on buying what I need, and not what I want. That doesn't always work though. ;-)
2:39 PM
Beverly said…
'm almost ashamed to say that it hasn't. I'm not in the habit of purchasing a lot of clothes are anything, but when the shop discounts $29.00 yarn to $10.00 or
$7.00 yarn to $2.00 or $3.00 I can hardly resist the temptation. If I had a yarn budget in mind I spent over half it in the first 2 1/2 months.

That being said I'm pretty much a homebody so all my other expenses are extremely low.
4:41 PM
catsmum said…
I tried the whole Knit From Your Stash 07 thing but the rules were too easy to 'bend' so I don't think the stash went down all that much.
This year I'm just trying to be more mindful about purchases of yarn and fabric.

Having said that, you read the blog so you probably saw the fruits of my little visit to the Woollen Mill last week.
6:59 PM
Ilix said…
I would be lying if I didn't say that I prefer to buy local, althought somthimes the on-line sale is a big pull. But I don't think that it is the economy so much as the enviroment that I find myself considering.
I was at the local Fiberfest this weekend, where I can get amazing things from people who import it in only the quantities they need, and are very good about the new fibers that are easy to re-new like bamboo.
I love supporting them.... we all have to be in this together... corperations are somthing I avoid at the moment. They will bring it in wether they sell out or not, so they are always using fuel.... sorry this is a bit of a rant, but I guess it boils down to, Local helps the economy and the enviroment as far as I can see.
7:40 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The nearly Thousandth post Contest

By -
Image
(just another baby legging in the image. Using my socks yarns a little differently) I think that blogger may not have correctly counted all the posts I've written. I've been posting since 2004 so I guess it is possible. I'm not going to go back and count them all. It says this is post 987. So we'll go with it. Im having a little contest for the milestone, but I have had writer's block since I decided on the 1000th post contest. So to take the pressure off, we are just going to do this now. :) I get crazy with pressure around events of all kinds. I just do. To enter: Please please please only leave a comment about this post on this post. Im much too flakey to search around differnt posts, afterall there are nearly a thousand (did I mention that number already? sorry....) Leave a comment telling me anything about Lace. If you dn't know anything about Lace, ask someone and share their knowledge. Do tell us who gave you this lace advice, to make it f...
Read more

Every Once in a While I Might Post

By -
Image
 Is that vague enough for you?  It has been a too busy complicated Spring.  I had no energy to blog.  All is well now, so I can share some things with you:   1. When I shoot photos of the moon I think of Dear Teresa.  Gone too soon. She took fabulous moon pictures.  2. I did not see one shooting star last night.  I only got up for a few moments around 3 a.m.  The local weather guy said he saw a few quick faint ones.   3. How can I can have one grown child in Oklahoma under flood watch, and One Child in Mexico under hurricane watch?  On the same day.  Tis true.  4. What have I knitted lately?  I am pretty sure I've ripped more than I've knit.  I ripped out a shawl that I was making up.  It was cotton and pretty.  I need to follow a pattern.  5. I was trying to make socks and decided to make mittens instead.  I haven't worked a thumb in a long time.  I may have to frog it too.  So I ha...
Read more

Insufficient Information

By -
Image
Dear buddy nurse and spay neuter pal Linda, came to visit yesterday.  We knitted. We laughed.  We shared books we are reading. She Showed me her scarf.  It looks like a shawl but it is a scarf. Here is her yarn choice. And the( OUCH) price.   It makes her happy to knit.  If Linda's happy I'm happy.  I dont' know the pattern and neither does she.  Her dog literally shredded her pattern.  She was at a point where she had memorized the easy part and she's nearly finished.  So there you go, anyone know the pattern? You are all so sweet about the move and the house. This morning I got my cuppa joe and headed to the porch to write you.  In the distance, my nearest neighbor, whom I can see through some trees.... well one of their teens came out, stretched, peed on their lawn casually, and then laid in his hammock for 5 minutes.  I'm sure he's not the first boy to do this.  I'm not even sure he's the...
Read more