In vain, I have struggled.....

Thank you Meg and Neki for your encouragement but I failed dismally and it became a total implosion of yarn consumption.

I had a need for retail therapy, so I bought yarn.
I was not tempted by chocolate nor hot cross buns over Easter, but I bought yarn.
I needed to get mother's day present, so I bought yarn.
I was on Ravelry and discovered this thing called destashing, and I bought yarn.
The Australian dollar has been strong, so I bought yarn.
I discovered Madeline Tosh yarns, so I bought yarn.

However, I am happy to say that production rate was up and I have results to show for them.

From stash, I finally made/finished these:


Twisted Rib Cowl, hand knitted - a belated birthday present.
Used up 2.4 balls of yarn, Morris and Sons Quartet 8ply.

  

The Irish Scarf, handwoven - a birthday present received on time.
Used up 1.5 balls of each colour, Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.

  

The Noro Stripey scarf, handwoven - an early birthday present.
Used up 2 balls of Noro Silk Garden Lite and
some odds and ends of 2/28 cashmere yarn.

Rooftop Cowl, hand knitted - onto my 6th one!
To be gifted and I think that this one will stay in Melbourne.
This will finally use up all the alpaca.

From new purchases, I made these:

Another Twisted Rib Cowl, hand knitted.
Madeline Tosh pashmina - an one skein project.
Gorgeous feel and drape. For myself.

The part circular shawl, machine knitting. Mother's day present.
3 Skeins of Madeline Tosh Light from detash on Ravelry.

A crochet edge to the shawl.
I think that this took longer to do than all of the machine knitting!

I love the detail when all the eyelets converging at the top.

Confessions of a yarnaholic

Is it possible to save the world economy one ball/skein of yarn at a time? I wonder if each knitter, weaver, crafter, etc went out and bought some yarn, what difference would it make.

It sure does feel like that at times. Stocktake sales, art and craft expos and shows, online shops, the temptation is all around and I have had a few moments of weakness lately. In addition, there are all these ideas floating around. New things I want to try but I don't seem to have the right yarn in my stash........
Or should I design my projects around yarns that I have in my stash?

Do you buy yarn with a project in mind or do you buy it just because you like the feel/look of it?

I had a conversation with a friend from Japan recently and she imagines that there are a lot of sheep in Australia and therefore we should have an abundance of choices with woollen yarn. Sadly, I told her that most of the wool/fleece are exported and processed and milled abroad, and that I have to buy 'Australian' yarn from the US or other countries.

So when I went to Avril, I totally lost control. I visited the retail stores, the one in Shinsaibashi, Osaka (level 2 in Daimaru) and the one in Sanjo St, Kyoto. Look at those beautiful cones on the wall. The colours, the textures. I was like a kid in a lolly shop.

At each store, they have displays of Setsuko Torii's designs. You can feel them and try them on. They are beautiful. There are people doing hand knitting workshops, and learning how to weave on knitter's looms.

However, my favourite one is the head office. I roamed along the corridor, shopping for yarn like I am at the supermarket shopping for grocery. Each type of yarn, in various colours neatly stacked on shelves. Large cones and skeins. At the end, the quantity I wanted is wound off onto cones. Usually when I have too much choice, I can't make a decision and I don't buy anything. For some reason, it was the opposite at Avril. I can look at each cone and think of a project for it. My imagination goes wild. I am inspired, I am giddy with excitement. I was there for hours.

I bought a bit of everything: linen, silk, wool and cotton. I bought for weaving on the Saori loom. I bought for a few projects I have seen in the Vav magazine.
Thank you Masumi for your patience with me. Avril truly is my favourite yarn store in the world!
Now I just have to weave, knit and make some beautiful things with my stash!

Shopping

There are some things of which you can never have enough. For a while, it had been fabric. I once saw a sign in a fabric shop that said "She who dies with the most fabric wins." Since I took up weaving, it has been weaving equipment and yarn.

We went to Nagoya, Japan for a family holiday. My mum and I caught the Shinkensan from Nagoya to Kyoto for the day to visit Avril and this other shop. Now who can go to Japan and not make the effort to get there especially when they have this!

We went to the main office/shop in Kyoto and just like the middle picture. There were just shelves of yarn. It was like a supermarket of yarn - room after room piled high. I also met the lady who looks after all the email orders. It is nice to have a real-life connection.

I didn't really go crazy but you do have to make the most of the opportunity. As the website suggested, I did the research beforehand and got an order together with some of my friends. Yes, there is more than 3 kg of yarn in this photo and we spent 4 hours there.

From left to right: silk/stainless steel core, cotton paper, washi linen with cotton cores, fine linen (grey) and bamboo.

From left to right: natural dyed cashmere (mum is a knitter and the cashmere belongs in her stash), wool/silk mix (white)

Close up of the cotton paper yarn. Yarn from Pine fibre (white cone).

From top to bottom: merino wool/stainless steel core, silk/stainless steel core (black and pale grey)

I don't think there is a name in English for the weaving supply shop. It was in an older area of Kyoto and the shop owner spoke limited English. I got by with pointing (politely of course), very limited amount of japanese and the ability to read kanji from the price list. We were there for more than an hour, looking at different types of boat shuttles: apparently, there are different shapes for use with cotton, silk, wool, etc.

From top to bottom (in pairs): all purpose boat shuttles (with rollers and these beautiful copper tips. The tips are not weighted as fly shuttles. I think that they are there to protect the ends.), medium size shuttle suitable for pick up, small size shuttle for pick up. Note that there is a small hole on one side and a slot on the other of each shuttle. The small round hole is for fine silk and the slot is for thicker yarn.

I think that I will not have to buy yarn for a while now. (You have yet to see what I got when Edith (from Cloth Haven) took me to the wholesale places in Hong Kong! ) It will take me a long time to use up all this yarn. I am hoping that my yarn will not go the same 'obese' way as my fabric stash. My output needs to catch up with the input, and I am a slow weaver......