Lean Year

I have started the year as I mean to go on. When I buy yarn this year, I intend to knit it up straight away. There'll be none of this languishing in a plastic bag in the wardrobe, waiting for me to spend some time with it. It's going to be put to work, and so it should be. This year is the year of scrimping and saving for a house deposit. For those of you not in the know, it's hard to buy a house these days without 10% deposit. That's a lot of money that i can't spend on yarn. This year i need to buy my yarn and use it.

But this throws up the chicken and egg situation that always messes things up. Do you buy the yarn first and then find a suitable pattern? Or do you spot the pattern and buy the yarn? In general i'd say the second approach is more sensible, but if we knitters were sensible there would never be such a thing as a stash would there?

Last week i was very good. I spotted Riding to Avalon on Ravelry and i couldn't get it out of my head, especially after looking at some of the other modded projects that created a more fitted jumper. So there was my mind made up, that was what i was going to knit. I bought the yarn from colourmart.com in a gorgeous olive browny green Merino/Cashmere mix with slubs of burnt orange viscose to give a tweed effect. The delivery came within two days.

I've even swatched.

So how long can this behaviour last? I mean, this is not normal. It's the knitting equivelant of the cabbage soup diet, surely. Well if it is, i have to admit, this is some tasty cabbage soup.