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10/2/2003 3:47:50 AM
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Fran
Posts 351
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There is a conspiracy afoot, and you heard it first here: Elann is trying to run me bankrupt! I got my subscription yarn samples for the next month and I love ALL of them! What am I going to do? Rob banks? Add on an extra room for all the yarn I don`t have time to knit up??? HELP!!!! (Is there a group for yarnaholics?) I once tentatively broached the subject of opening a yarn store here (the closest one is about 30 miles away), and my husband said it would never work: if a customer wanted to buy a certain yarn, I would throw my arms around it, and say, No, No, it`s MINE, I can`t part with THIS one!!! for all of the yarn...sigh, he`s probably right. LOL
Eileen, how`s the blankie coming? Am thinking about you as I try to eke out a couple of hours a day to knit on anything (3 WIP, 2 to do, and ideas galore
:-( that I don`t have time to even start)...good luck.
PS Hi Gregg...going nuts as usual; getting ready to start work, then daughter and grandkids coming over, then...who knows, something will come up...hope you`re doing at least OK, and preferably better...
Fran
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10/2/2003 7:44:33 AM
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ecasey
Posts 2668
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Hi Fran!
It`s coming along not too badly - I should have allowed myself more time, of course, but I`m always a last-minute just-in-the-nick-of-time person with every deadline. Even if I`d started it months ago, I suspect I`d still be in this position! I`m being held up a little by yarnware.com and their policy of shipping your order 5 years after you make it - but I already complained about that on Gregg`s "ecasey" thread, so I won`t start up again!
I have always known, by the way, that Elann are trying to bankrupt us - they`re evil and something should be done about it, LOL! Actually, though, we really have it so good when you look at what other online shops are charging for the same yarns - there must be people out there who have very little yarn to show for their money. Plus we have our cosy wee family here - it`s great!!! :-)
Days until B-Day: 7
Inches completed: 20
Mood: Buoyant, inexplicably.
--
"We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the STARS!" (Oscar Wilde)
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10/2/2003 9:20:45 PM
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Guest
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Re: Mood, bouyant, inexplicably
I have read that this happens while one is freezing to death...is it possible you have knit yourself into a state of near-otherworldly bliss?
Seriously, I sometimes wonder about people who seem to really enjoy buying very expensive yarn. Some very expensive yarn is really, really nice, but some of it is not nicer enough to be worth 10 times what you`d rather pay for it. I think there is a level of knitting where you are enjoying what you`re doing, but have not yet "become" a knitter. That is to say, not confident enough in oneself, or mature enough in one`s technique, or interested enough, to really have valid strongly held opinions. These are the people who walk into fancy yarnshops and buy $150 of something - which may be a very nice something, mind you - because the salesgirl told them to. I think there are also people who just have a lot of money and can get what they want, but I don`t think most people, even most people who spend a lot of money on yarns are like that.
Our society expresses value in terms of money. If you value yourself, we are constantly told, then we will spend money on ourselves. If this is what is going on, who wants to value themselves at a bargain rate? I think people who really get into hobbies for the creative/productive feeling express value more in terms of finding a way to do what they want, and if that means seeking out sources with good prices, they do it, and if it means buying all their non-creative clothes at thrift stores, they do it, and the sense of self worth comes from having figured out how to get it done.... but then, my mother says I think way, way too much.
Theresa from Queens, who is planning on some of that sock reinforcement yarn on this site, she thinks, for knitting maglia`s
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10/3/2003 5:16:44 AM
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Fran
Posts 351
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Keep going, Eileen...know you`re doing great!
Theresa,
Some seminal thoughts in your send...I must love myself a LOT, judging by the beautiful yarns I buy...I want them for the pure joy of working with them, their colors, textures, and of course the overall beauty of the finished projects...most of which get given to friends and relatives (:-)). The other sides of the coins (really strange multisided coins) are that my mind works a lot faster than my fingers, coming up with oodles of ideas and plans; and that I am still working part-time, am almost 60, and have limits on the energy I have (even to sit and knit) due to other demands (husband, dogs, MIL, daughter, grandkids) that slow me down almost impossibly. I keep planning for the day(s) that I can just knit and knit and knit, and life keeps getting in the way! (I`m not a knit 20 minutes at a time kind of person; more like two or more hours before I settle in, so maybe that`s part of the problem.) Also, I would consider myself a "journeyman" knitter...better than beginner, probably intermediate-plus, but nowhere in the category of others on the line like Gregg, Eileen, yourself, Bets, et al. Be patient with me...you folks are a constant source of encouragement and information for me...my sincere thanks!
Fran
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10/3/2003 9:29:24 PM
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bets
Posts 18976
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Hi all-
Fran, I am nowhere NEAR anything...just someone who likes to play with string. And owns a ton of it.
Although I am dying to buy some of that recycled sari silk at 48.00 a hank, I think I`ll ask Santa for one. I`m semi-interested in getting a bunch of yarn together to make my OWN skein of Cool Stuff, and not for 48.00, thanks!
I think I inherited the frugality from my war bride Japanese mother (and if anyone has ever seen the wickedly funny Margaret Cho, you know what I mean "You like? I got it for 5.00 at Walgreens!" and I find myself bragging on bargains a lot. So what, I think it was because I was born in the year of the Rat-famous cheapskate hoarders, we are (that`s my story and I`m sticking to it!) But I work with people who are up to their necks in mortgage payments but have a fabulous house, and my little modest house will be paid off in 48 months-but I`d love a bigger house. Who`s right???? Who can judge that?
But I have taken myself firmly by the shoulder-and REALLY tried to get some projects DONE. I think it`s the saddest thing in the world to go onto e-bay and see TONS of estate sale yarn-that means someone`s dream yarn is going for .50 on the dollar. So quit saving your perfume for good (unless it`s discontinued, then you`d better hunt it down) and light your candles because you like the way they smell. Quit saving your treasures for good-you ARE good enough NOW!
Adore having yarn buddies!
betsy
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10/4/2003 5:02:10 AM
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Fran
Posts 351
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Bets...
You made my day, and maybe helped me with the rest of my life...I let myself go hog-wild on accumulating yarn because I figured someday I wouldn`t be able to afford it (fully retired)...but like you pointed out, "someday" sometimes doesn`t get there...so the WIPs for other people are going to get done, and then I`m going to work on some stuff for ME, like gorgeous mohair scarves in many colors, thick and warm wool blankies, etc...I think I needed a wake-up call - Thanks!
Fran
P.S. Not that I`m not going to use up my acrylic yarn stash on practice pieces (try outs of new patterns); most of these are warm, practical things that I donate to my local church to keep others warm, too. :-} And I get the warm fuzzy that they are appreciated, even if anonymous.
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10/4/2003 6:10:33 AM
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bets
Posts 18976
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And while you`re at it, get out the good dishes and have some dessert and coffee. Your dishes are gorgeous, don`t you need to have a fancy snack for those who are really important to you?
My 18 year old daughter decided a few weeks back that it had been a while since we`d had our last tea party, so we made pecan pie and marshmallow puffs, got out my good china, and she made her boyfriend sit down to the tea party. He was fussing about what he`d tell his friends, and I told him "Shut up, your girlfriend made you pecan pie from scratch (his favorite), and now she`s making you eat it. Poor thing!" Point is, there`s more than one way to see things, so try for the good side!
I do have to make a hat that I`ve promised, and I have a few baby patterns to work up. I think I`ll take a break from adult sweaters for two weeks or so. It`s charity time, and I could stand to turn in a hat. THEN I`d like to make a sweater out of the new Adrienne Vittadini book with the GGH L`amour I bought here during the spring. I think it`ll be fab!
Have a good day Fran and all!
B
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10/4/2003 1:35:05 PM
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Guest
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Hi Bets,
Just what I was thinking (good dishes). My Mom brought me a load of gifts I`d given her over the years, cool mugs, hand-blown glasses. "Here, I`m too afraid to use these." Since they`ve come into my possession, several have broken, but my kids all got a kick out of using them. Stuff comes and goes. Share the pretties and dainties. And so what if they break. I`m even using my hand-spun angora for the lining of my son-the-hunter`s mittens!
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10/6/2003 8:52:57 PM
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Guest
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Fran, buying because you Love it is the best reason to buy anything, in my opinion. If you buy things because you love them, and find ways to knit them up, then you are def. in the category of Mature and Mystic knitters, whatever your own modest assumptions about yourself may be. To me, this is the opposite of buying it because it is expensive. If you can`t be a fool for love, what`s the point of foolishness existing.
I, too, have what my mom calls "eyes bigger than my stomach" and way too much yarn, especially considering that knitting is not my only hobby. I don`t think I`m saving it for a perfect something - I think I`m just too busy knitting some things to knit other things, if that makes sense...
If your head is full of oddles of plans and ideas, I wouldn`t put you in anything but an "Inspired" category.. Don`t sell youself short.
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10/6/2003 9:09:12 PM
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Guest
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I am also a cheapskate and a hoarder and I thought I was born in the year of the rat, but I was 1960 and I may have my rodents wrong. I also brag about my bargains - especially to my teenage students who think people curl up and die if they can`t buy name -brand junk. I am up to my neck in Mortgage payments, but that`s because I live in NYC. My little 2 bedroom 1 bath just over 900 square foot house on a 40by 100 plot would probably sell for enough to buy a small ranch somewhere out West, but DH has to live in NYC for his job - it`s the law- so here I am. I could use a slightly bigger house - it would make my stash seem smaller.
I guess I sounded a little judgemental - it wasn`t about spending money on yarns so much as it was on WHY some people do. Love is Love - if you love the yarn, go for it. Around here I run into a lot of people who really can`t knit and who buy really expensive yarn because it has a name brand label - not because they love it, in other words. My local yarn store had a frequent buyer package that rewarded you after you`d spent $1500 during the year, and thereafter during the same year at, I think, 500 dollar intervals. There were apparantly quite a number of people who fit into this category. Not that I`d mind spentding that kind of money, but I`d probably spend it all here and Smileys and so forth and end up really needing that ranch...like, one barn for the yarn, one for whatever else...
Wellington won the war against Napoleon and went to tea parties and probably never got a decent peice of pecan pie, either. I think the young man was very lucky.
By the way, would not be working on my grey sweater without your encouragement - come on, Fran, get on board - I`m sure Bets will keep us all going
Theresa in Queens, sorry if anyone was hurt by her post.
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10/7/2003 2:13:23 AM
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Fran
Posts 351
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T -
I think you`re great! Good attitude, wise words, and loving thoughts behind it all...please consider me, and I think all of us, your friends and compatriots! Let us know how the grey sweater comes out!
BTW, I was just sitting on the edge of my bed this morning (my thinking time, while my joints realign to the vertical, lol) realizing that I had made just about everything everybody else needed, except ME...I type for a living and it gets very cool overnight in my big family room where I work (I am often up before the heat comes on) and I NEED a Faroese WOOL shawl to keep me warm...I`m asking for everyone`s nudges, pushes and shoves to get me on that track...I have never made one, have the great Myrna Stahman book on thse with several I`d like to try, and as we all know, oodles of yarn...now just to get it together! as the kids used to say (I saw on TV that high school kids now have a really complicated jargon/argot that they use, at least in California). I know Christmas (arggh!) is fast approaching, but each of us ought to give ourselves at least one present...time for that special project for ourselves that is always getting put off...Best to all, and thanks for being there!
Fran
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