With a little help from my friends....

Thank you for the great feedback on my yarn "diet".

When I first though about doing this, my friend Renee (Froggiemeanie) was right there and volunteered to join me in this great adventure - thanks Renee!  As a "Guest Contributor" Renee - I expect you to step in here every once in a while for a pep talk ok?

Louise is thinking along similar lines - looking at her blog she does extraordinary needlework - check it out at NEEDLEPRINT VIERLANDE STITCH ALONG.  Poor Louise.  She is planning a trip to Wollmeise, er Munich which is near where the Wollmeise shop is and thinks that it may be hard to resist:)!

Cindi (Cynthiabrumpton) is already on a yarn diet and hopes to continue in 2012.  I met Cindi on the Eucalan Scotland/England tour in September.  Although Cindi has not one but TWO knitting trips planned for this year - her "diet" is to knit more than she buys!  Way to go Cindi! Cindi blogs at Purl One and also is the author of  Purl Peterborough a "web-based newsletter to celebrate the diversity and depth of Peterborough's knitting community."

So in aid of these two travelling knitters (and I've been known to do a bit of knit related travel myself) - another guideline needs to be added....


When on Vacation, you are granted special dispensation. 
Just try to buy with good conscience!




It seems that a lot of knitters are, in their own way, yarn dieting this year.


I've been reading Harpa's blog from Iceland for a while now - lovely photos, beautiful fibre projects and Harpa is an author....and Cindi - you need to read this is you are going to Iceland this year!

Taphophile from Canberra, Australia signed the pledge (with Lochie and Peggy her two Westies) - you can read what she's up to on her blog Unravelled.  I too want to Focus this year!

Rebecca (Socksformum) in Colorado is rewarding herself every ten projects knit from stash - a great idea Rebecca.  Rebecca blogs at Socks for Mum, and she has a Westie named Kenzie!

Libby (Libbyuk) was right there to join this yarn adventure too.......and she recently started blogging at Libby's Blog - great start Libby - we want more! (Although this blog is in French, it is easy to put it into one of those web translation pages and read what Libby is up to - along with knitting, she cooks too!)

Vall started knitting from her stash a few months ago - and her blog is devoted to her stash busting - Vall's Yarn Stash & Stuff.

Terry commented not once but twice - to say just knit one project at a time LOL!!!  Terry is my neighbour - she breeds absolutely beautiful Westies - and she knits.  Terry has total control when it comes to knitting - she buys the yarn, knits the project, finishes it (or has me do the finishing) and goes on to the next project.  THIS IS VERY UNUSUAL BEHAVIOUR FOR A KNITTER - right fellow knitters? Although I admire this self control - I know that knitting from my stash will be enough of a struggle - I will need variety to keep my going - so I'm sticking to my 3 projects at a time rule - sorry Terry LOL!!!

Ros (aka Cartshed) agrees with me. She likes the idea of three projects - we think alike Ros.  DH and I met Ros on our recent Norway trip. Ros doesn't blog, but she does keep bees.  You have to admire someone who knits and keeps bees - really, think about it!

I've left Candice to the last.  Originally Candice wasn't interested.....I think it was the word "diet".  When the focus changed to Consciousness...well, I think it rang a bell with Candice.  With her permission, here's what she wrote to me in an e-mail....

"You have had a big influence on me to start 2012 PROPERLY. D excavated 5 bins of wool from downstairs and I purged. I was able to reduce it to one bin which now holds three bags of roving (which I forgot I had) and three unfinished sweaters. All the rest will go to SA - bits of left over Noro, Rowan, Mission Falls, icky eyelash scarf kits I received as presents and . . . ready?  . . . Paton's! Bye bye! I plan to bring the empty bins up and have them organize my wool cupboard. So much to do! I also went into my stash and tried to locate wool to make the three patterns I am obsessing over from Vogue 2012. Not a great deal of luck, but may be able to do one of the sweaters from wool I already have. See? Such an influence. Oh, yeah, I'm also going to begin a knitting log/journal (Moleskin, of course) of what I've done with all the specs included. I remember the Stephen West neckerchef because I did it not too long ago, but if I wanted to do it three years from now, would I remember what it required? So, there is another bit of Feats-fluence."

Candice and her Hubby D LOVE playing around with words - and they refer to me as Feats.....at their suggestion our hardy little group of stash busting knitters will officially be called "Feats Fleece Fighters".  I'll make up a page here on Shades of Shetland with links to all of us so that we can keep an eye on what the others are doing.

Special thank you to Juliet (Jzblue) who got me thinking about a yarn diet.  Juliet put herself on a yarn diet in 2011.  Juliet was on our Norway trip and she was surrounded by us all shopping for yarn.  I did see her fondling a few balls of Drops Alpaca......but she resisted.  This was a Herculean feat when you consider that Juliet is the Editor of "The Knitter" magazine - surrounded by yarn and patterns, and she shopped her stash for a full year.  I bow down to you Juliet.  Juliet's personal blog is Juliet's MindFull.

It's not too late to join up if you want to - as I said, you don't have to follow my guidelines, you just need to buy yarn with good conscience!

So, in honour of 2012 being a Fleece Fighting year, here's my first project.....

Boreal by Kate Davies

I shopped the stash - check!
Found some Jamieson's Shetland Heather that just might work....
I swatched - check!
It works - check!
So I will be casting on later today........

Yup, Santa was good to me this year - he didn't bring me any yarn LOL!!!