Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Step away from the yarn, and put down the credit card

I have never observed Lent; I grew up Southern Baptist and Southern Baptists are into depriving yourself of everything fun all the time, so Lent is sort of beside the point. I didn't discover until just a few years ago that some Protestant denominations do observe Lent, and this year I feel moved to join them.

So I'm giving up buying yarn for Lent.

(Natalia: "Oh honey, are you going to be okay?"
Me: "I thought about giving up booze, but I didn't want to totally set myself up for failure.")

There are spiritual reasons I'm doing this, but I'm not going to bore you with them. Unlike American presidential candidates, I think there's something to be said for keeping one's faith a private matter. But I have practical reasons too (are you allowed to have practical reasons for what you give up during Lent, or does that negate it?):
  • I have made no progress on the Stash Knit Down 2008. In fact, I've bought more yarn in the new year, so I've actually made less than no progress.
  • I'm running out of places to put yarn. Also, I'm running out of the not-really-places I put yarn when I've run out of places to put yarn. It's either this or storing yarn in the sink.
  • Likewise, I do not need to be spending money on yarn. Or anything else, for that matter. I'm going to have to watch myself carefully to make sure I don't fill the yarn-shaped void with BPAL.
But truly, the big one was last week when both the Mad Husband and StringTheory2.0 told me in less than a 24-hour period that I was a slave to instant gratification, I was embarrassed. Not mortally, but enough that it bothered me. I want to prove to myself that I can do this.

I had myself a mini-Mardi Gras of sorts on Monday, when I dropped by Knitch for one last purchase. Tempting though it was to drape myself in beads and go wild, I only got four skeins though, all for projects I'm going to need to finish in the near future. Believe me, I thought about the wild spree, but then thought if I did so I would be quite probably missing the point.

I'll probably chronicle a little bit of this here, and yes, if I fail I will admit it. And I fully acknowledge the irony of the co-mod of lazy, stupid and godless giving up something for Lent. I've already gotten laughed at quite roundly, so I don't mind if you laugh too. It builds character.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not buying yarn?? Oh dear... that is rough! And I think it's perfectly okay to give something up for both religious and practical reasons. But I could just be saying that because I have both for myself :)

I wish you luck in resisting the yarn... does it count if you are "gifted" yarn someone else has purchased?

Michelle said...

I'm on a yarn diet until June 30. I feel your pain. Yesterday I almost bought 12 ply at Bendigo online and had to severly reprimand myself!

I've been documenting which projects I'm dedicated to stash on my blog. It's actually been fun!

String Theory Blog said...

That trip to Knitch is sort of like a big bender right before shipping out on the naval sub for 8 months, hun?
:)You can do it! And what's more, now you can gripe about Lent like us Catholics.
Or severely lapsed, never really was practicing, "yeah my grandma dragged me to mass" kinda Catholics.

Diane said...

I've given up buying an yarn for a month, not because it's Lent, I had enough of that catholic crap when I was a kid. I keep buying yarn and then queueing more things on Ravelry, then buying yarn, the cycle is endless. So I'm bucking up and knitting up some of this yarn. February is a good month to do this . . . it's a short month. Let's see if we can do this.

Tracie said...

I'm with you on the yarn diet. I've been on one since November. I'm trying to tell myself that when I get my taxes done, the refund should be used to pay bills, not to go buy yarn.

I've done pretty well, I've gone through about half of my stash. I need to get it worked down more, so I'm now going to start making a ton of charity stuff. :)

Hang in there, I'm pulling for you!

donnadb said...

Hey, just ran across your blog thanks to your hilarious intro post on the LS&G group on Ravelry. I want to point out that you are the second person I know that played against Ken Jennings. That makes me very proud. :) I'll be reading regularly. Good luck with the stashdown; me, I'm going to knit-along TECHknitter's Pocket Hat which means I suddenly need 5 more balls of DK weight. Funny how that works.

Sally said...

I think we were separated at birth.

I was on a yarn diet last year, and it really helped me to put a ticker at the top of my blog. In fact, I just put another one up today, because I too am on a diet, until December 31.

bwahahahahahaha

Maybe we can encourage each other. ;o)

Melfina said...

You can do it! And just think of all the wonderful things you will make with the yarn you already have...