little bit of crazy leaking out

Over at Diary of a Sewing Fanatic it was asked: Are you ashamed of your fabric collection?  She goes on to state that she doesn’t understand this or the possible thinking behind it.  I do.  I understand. 

This was my comment on her blog:

Yes, I am ashamed of my fabric stash.

Now, let me say I have no problem with other people’s fabric stash, heck, have at it.  It’s your life, your money, your fabric.

I am frustrated because mine has gotten to the point that it has paralized me.  I look and all this fabric and don’t know where to start. 

I tend to be a perfectionist and instead of doing things and getting them done I get into the mindset of it has to be perfect.  Can’t use this fabric because I don’t have the right pattern for it.  Can’t use this fabric because I need to make a muslin first and I don’t have time to do it right.  Can’t. Can’t. Can’t. 

It is a horrible mindset to get into.  Why do you think FlyLady has so many subscribers to her list?

I guess, just because you do not understand another’s feelings does not mean that they are not valid and shouldn’t be respected.

Let me just add that most of the time I appreciate my fabric stash.  In 2005 I sewed very little from it, I think a actualy sewed two things.  Two.  All this fabric, which I will be showing for Flash Your Stash 2006 (I know FYS is originally for yarn stash but, hey, stash is stash) and I only made two items.  To my thinking this is so wrong.  I am trying to get back to sewing this year and will be using some of my fabric collection, and no, I have now plans on adding to my fabric stash in the near future.

Now, I am sure this will make quite a few people uncomfortable or defensive or just plain mad.  I am sorry for that.  I’m just another person comming to terms with the phrase ‘embarassment of riches’.

I went to the library this morning and picked up a few books for daughter and a couple for myself; Men in Knits, Fair Isle Sweaters Simplified, and The Secret Life of a Knitter.  As I got home the mail was arriving and my order from The Knitting Zone arrived.  Woohoo!

One of the LYS is having a storewide sale, 30% off this week and 40% off next week.  I decided to go and have a look, maybe pick up a couple of patterns.  Really, I can be strong, I can delay gratification.  Shut up! I can too . . . umm . . . just not today. 

That is seven skeins of wonderful Mission Falls 1824 wool, purchased at 30% off, so I can make this sweater for my daughter.

My Stashalong days have come to an end.  I will try again starting April 1st, I love the Stashalong and love the idea of knitting from my stash, but I just couldn’t resist the sale. 

Here are some out-takes from today’s photoshoot, Son wanted to be in the pictures.

   

I am ready to cast on Odessa.  I threaded the beads on last night while watching House of Sand and Fog, what an amazing movie.  Hey, and it’s pink too, watch out project spectrum, here I come.

pattern:  Corrugated Dulann Hat from Mason-Dixon Knitting
yarn:  Cascade 220 in red and light pink
needles:  Clover Bamboo US7 16″ circ and US6 DPNs
started:  March 8th        finished:  March 9th
notes:  Corrugated ribbing is a new technique for me, and I love it.  I use the pick and throw method rathen than slipping the stitches and haveing to make two passes for each round.  It went rather smoothly but my picked stitches were a bit tighter than the thrown ones.  I know it will just take time and practice to get them more even.   

I cast on the largest size, 72sts, since I was using a lighter wool than called for in the pattern and ended up with a baby/small child’s hat.  Next time, if I use Cascade 220, I will double up the yarn for a larger size hat.

This hat will be donated to the Dulann Project and is in pink and red for Project Spectrum.

Over at artsy-crafty babe, Beki posted about being a fabric-a-holic, something I am well acquainted with.  Here was my response:

I understand what you are going thru completely.  I have many, many bins of fabric in various places around my house.  Some I bought to make diapers for my son, who is now almost 4yo and the diapers did not get made, I just bought prefolds.  Some was purchased for me, so I could make clothes for me that fit correctly, I am plus size and find a good fit is almost impossible.  I have made 2 shirts for myself.  Some was bought for quilting, I see very few finished quilts laying around my home.  Ok, I have made several for baby gifts, but not enough to justify the stash.  I bought quite a bit to sew clothes for my children, and now whenever they need clothes and I end up buying them because I don’t have time to sew, I feel guilty. 

Earlier this year I started going thru my fabric with the intention of selling some of it.  I actually felt like I was going to have a panic attack a couple of times and had to call a friend to talk me down. I did actually sell some fabric, tho I need to get rid of more.

It can be a slippery slope, there will always be more fabric.  The world is not going to have a fabric shortage.  The fabric stores are not going to all go out of business.  There will always be more fabric, yarn, scrapbooking supplies, etc., it just doesn’t need to be in your house.

This is something I am learning slowly.

Well, last night I watched the Oscars . . . and . . . knitted.  I know, such a surprise!  Here on the left coast the Oscars are on early so while the kids played on the computer (educational game site) I made dinner, during the comercial breaks and then shuffeled them off to bed.  Hubby has to work really early on Monday mornings (4am) so he headed off to bed at 8p, and I finished watching the last half hour with my knitting, and the dog.

I enjoyed the Academy Awards this year.  No big surprises, but most of the categories had several nominees I would have liked to see win.  Ok, I take that back, Best Original Song surprised me.  I love the song from Crash and I loved the performance, the slow motion thing was a bit strange - but the singing was beautiful, and I wanted it to win.  It didn’t and we got to see a very Grammy-esque acceptance speach from the homeys.  I will never understand the whole singing about drugs, killing, pimping, and disrespecting women then ‘giving it up to Jesus’ in the acceptance yelling and talking over each other speach.  I guess I just don’t get it.

I liked John Stewart as a host, funny but not over the top.  I loved the opening with all the past hosts turning it down, too funny.  I didn’t see too many fashion disasters, I mean real ‘who let you out of the house looking like that’ disasters, that’s too bad because being a bit catty is half the fun.

Since the show was over at 8:30p here, and I wasn’t ready for bed, I put in House of Flying Daggers.  I tried to watch it in english, I just couldn’t do it, had to switch to subtitles, the dubbing was just too silly.  When I finished knitting for the night Branching Out was half done . . . woohoo!