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Sick days in which to knit. However, my arms and armpits are very sore from hobbling around on crutches, so I'm not sure this is actually a reasonable goal. Maybe reading a couple of books from my TBR pile is a better one.
I figured I'd do a year end wrap up because I've kept some additional statistics that I haven't kept here. Annnnddd, it's now four hours after I wrote the previous sentence. I discovered a couple of inconsistencies in totals and had to track them down. Everything now balances. Woohoo!! I'm not going to bother going back and adjusting the individual monthly reports, but know that these are the final statistics.
This was obviously a stash building year for me. After seeing how much I've spent on yarn, I am going to work on stash busting during 2009. After talking with some friends, I don't feel like I overspent on yarn at all as they've talked about spending 2-3 times more at times in their lives. I'm very lucky that I can afford to spend this kind of money on a very fulfilling hobby. What I'll most remember about this process is not really how much money went through my hands as much as the time spent with friends bonding over yarn and patterns while spending time in fun and welcoming stores.
Number of yarn transactions: 36
Number of locations where yarn was purchased: 13
Number of skeins purchased: 168
Range of price per skein: $1.48 to $44.25
Range of total prices: $4.00 to $179.00
Total: $1,785.23
Average price per skein: $10.63
General statistics:
Yarn by Brand
| Brand | Skeins | Percentage | |
| Araucania | 2 | 1.19 | |
| ArtYarns | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Be Sweet | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Berroco | 5 | 2.98 | |
| Blackberry Ridge | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Blue Heron | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Blue Sky | 4 | 2.38 | |
| Cascade | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Classic Elite Yarns | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Crystal Palace | 38 | 22.62 | |
| Ester Bitran | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Gossamer | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Handmaiden | 1 | 0.6 | |
| Jade Sapphire | 1 | 0.6 | |
| King Tut | 5 | 2.98 | |
| Kollage Yarns | 6 | 3.57 | |
| Kraemer Yarns | 6 | 3.57 | |
| Lana Knits | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Malabrigo | 15 | 8.93 | |
| Mirasol | 4 | 2.38 | |
| Pear Tree | 4 | 2.38 | |
| Plymouth | 31 | 18.45 | |
| Rowan | 10 | 5.95 | |
| Schaefer Yarn Co. | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Shokay | 3 | 1.79 | |
| Stacy Charles | 1 | 0.6 | |
| The Fibre Co. | 9 | 5.36 | |
| Vanna's Choice | 2 | 1.19 | |
| Wool in the Woods | 4 | 2.38 | |
| The Great Adirondack Yarn Co. | 1 | 0.6 |
Summary: I'm not really surprised that Plymouth and Crystal Palace are the leaders. They're the companies that my LYS carries the most variety in and Crystal Palace was frequently on sale at a darn good price.
Monthly Purchases
| Month | Total Purchase | Percentage | ||||||||||||||||||
| January | $267.20 | 14.97 | ||||||||||||||||||
| March | $64.25 | 3.6 | ||||||||||||||||||
| April | $252.40 | 14.14 | ||||||||||||||||||
| May | $63.40 | 3.55 | ||||||||||||||||||
| June | $327.90 | 18.37 | ||||||||||||||||||
| July | $176.51 | 9.89 | ||||||||||||||||||
| August | $193.50 | 10.84 | ||||||||||||||||||
| September | $48.47 | 2.72 | ||||||||||||||||||
| October | $320.95 | 17.98 | ||||||||||||||||||
| November | $31.65 | 1.77 | ||||||||||||||||||
| December | $39.00 | 2.18 |
Summary: June came out ahead because that's the month where I had misrecorded one purchase and that's the month I was out in California. October's not far behind as that's when my SnB group did our yarn crawl through Chicago. I do find it kind of interesting that I either spent more than $150 or less than $75 per month if I bought anything at all.
Monthly Skeins
| Month | Total Skeins | Percentage | |
| January | 11 | 6.55 | |
| March | 7 | 4.17 | |
| April | 30 | 17.86 | |
| May | 7 | 4.17 | |
| June | 43 | 25.6 | |
| July | 18 | 10.71 | |
| August | 14 | 8.33 | |
| September | 5 | 2.98 | |
| October | 28 | 16.67 | |
| November | 1 | 0.6 | |
| December | 4 | 2.38 |
Summary: I find it a bit funny that April jumped ahead of October and January here when compared to how much I spent per month. I think it was a combination of buying more expensive yarns some months and getting some pretty darn good sales in April.
Ravelry contribution to date: $17.85, but I'll be rounding it up to $20.00.
I
ended up buying yarn this month. I had resisted until almost the end of the month, but my LYS was having a sale of 25% off cash purchases. I also have a specific project in mind for this yarn, so it wasn't an impulse purchase by any means.
Number of yarn transactions: 1
Locations where yarn was purchased:
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
Number of skeins purchased: 4
Range of price per skein: $9.75
Range of total prices: $39.00
Total: $39.00
Average price per skein: $9.75
Yarn purchased:
Kraemer Yarns Fountain Hill Brushed Mohair - I'm planning on making a cardigan for myself out of this for this year's wedding festivities. As those are creeping up on me fast, this is going to be my next project once I finish all of the gifts that are currently overdue.
Ravelry contribution to date: $17.29
Gakked from seemingly everyone.
THE 99 THINGS MEME
Things you’ve already done: bold
Things you want to do: italicize
Things you haven’t done and don’t want to - leave in plain font
1. Started your own blog.
2. Slept under the stars.
3. Played in a band.
4. Visited Hawaii.
5. Watched a meteor shower.
6. Given more than you can afford to charity.
7. Been to Disneyland/world. (Both)
8. Climbed a mountain.
9. Held a praying mantis.
10. Sang a solo.
11. Bungee jumped.
12. Visited Paris.
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea.
14. Taught yourself an art from scratch.
15. Adopted a child. (Maybe.)
16. Had food poisoning.
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty.
18. Grown your own vegetables.
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France.
20. Slept on an overnight train.
21. Had a pillow fight.
22. Hitch hiked.
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill.
24. Built a snow fort.
25. Held a lamb.
26. Gone skinny dipping.
27. Run a marathon.
28. Ridden a gondola in Venice.
29. Seen a total eclipse.
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset.
31. Hit a home run.
32. Been on a cruise.
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person.
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors.
35. Seen an Amish community.
36. Taught yourself a new language.
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied.
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person.
39. Gone rock climbing.
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David in person.
41. Sung Karaoke.
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt.
43. Bought a stranger a meal in a restaurant.
44. Visited Africa.
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight.
46. Been transported in an ambulance.
47. Had your portrait painted.
48. Gone deep sea fishing.
49. Seen the Sistine chapel in person.
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. (Have only made it to the second tier so far.)
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling.
52. Kissed in the rain.
53. Played in the mud.
54. Gone to a drive-in theater.
55. Been in a movie.
56. Visited the Great Wall of China.
57. Started a business.
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia.
60. Served at a soup kitchen.
61. Sold Girl Scout cookies.
62. Gone whale watching.
63. Gotten flowers for no reason.
64. Donated blood.
65. Gone sky diving.
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp.
67. Bounced a check.
68. Flown in a helicopter.
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy.
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial.
71. Eaten Caviar.
72. Pieced a quilt.
73. Stood in Times Square.
74. Toured the Everglades.
75. Been fired from a job.
76. Seen the Changing of the Guard in London.
77. Broken a bone.
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle.
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person.
80. Published a book.
81. Visited the Vatican.
82. Bought a brand new car.
83. Walked in Jerusalem.
84. Had your picture in the newspaper.
85. Read the entire Bible.
86. Visited the White House.
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating.
88. Had chickenpox.
89. Saved someone’s life.
90. Sat on a jury.
91. Met someone famous.
92. Joined a book club.
93. Lost a loved one.
94. Had a baby.
95. Seen the Alamo in person.
96. Swum in the Great Salt Lake.
97. Been involved in a law suit.
98. Owned a cell phone.
99. Been stung by a bee.
I'm not really one for New Year's Resolutions, but I was just thinking about all the various projects I want to take on this upcoming year. Running the gamut from moving apartments to designing a knitted garment to writing more stories that I can potentially sell to my publishers back to plain old knitting to travel to just vegging out. I really need to sit down one of these days and figure out my schedule for the year and work out what's reasonable without wanting to blow my brains out. Number one thing getting struck from my agenda: holiday knitting. I love it, but I always am scrambling at the last minute so that it's no longer any fun. Well, enough thoughts for the night. I need sleep. Stay warm everyone!
And yes, it was Flavor-Aid and not Kool-Aid. I bought this over my lunch break:
My initial impression is that it's very slick and user-friendly. Of course, I did pay for the Geek Squad to do the optimized initialization, or whatever the heck it is they do, for me.
Some things to get used to:
- The hard edge where my wrists land - I may need to look into some kind of thin support for this.
- The lack of the "home" and "end" buttons - I've gotten very used to incorporating those into my keystrokes.
- The working window doesn't take up the whole screen - I think I remember this being the case when I used Macs in college, but it's been long enough ago, I can't swear to it.
- Using CMD instead of CTRL, especially as there's a "control" button on the keyboard.
I bought one skein this month. One. Honestly, it was more of a souvenir than anything else. After how much yarn I've bought this year, I really wanted to limit my buying for the remaining two months. I think I succeeded fairly well in November. I was greatly tempted a number of times, but I resisted. Here's to December being a yarn purchase-free month.
Number of yarn transactions: 1
Locations where yarn was purchased:
Juniper Fiberworks - Bend, OR
Number of skeins purchased: 1
Range of price per skein: $31.65
Range of total prices: $31.65
Total: $31.65
Average price per skein: $31.65
Yarn purchased:
The Great Adirondack Yarn Co. Montana - Again, more of a souvenir, but it's 550 yards of worsted weight yarn, so I could probably do a shawl.
Ravelry contribution to date: $16.90
Happy Thanksgiving my fellow Americans! Everyone else in the world, Happy Thursday! May your day be filled with family, friends, fun, and food.
For those who work with tape yarns and want to use every inch possible, here's a little technique I figured out when I first started on the Juliet cardigan:
While not #1 in terms of skeins purchased, this was definitely #1 in money spent. But that's because I got suckered in by a 25% off sale of some yarn I'd had my eye on for quite a while. Otherwise, I had been expecting this to be an expensive month because my knitting group went on a yarn retreat to Chicago. We hit four stores in 3 days. The original plan was 5 stores, but I think we were all glad we decided to cut out the 5th store.
Number of yarn transactions: 5
Locations where yarn was purchased:
Wool and Company - Geneva, IL
Loopy Yarns - Chicago, IL
My Sister's Knits - Chicago, IL
Knitche - Downers Grove, IL
The Yarn Shoppe - Davenport, IA
Number of skeins purchased: 28
Range of price per skein: $8.00 to $29.70
Range of total prices: $46.00 to $89.70
Total: $320.95
Average price per skein: $11.46
Yarn purchased:
Araucania Atacama - No reason other than it was Alpaca and the color was interesting.
Berroco Quest - I'll probably use it for a scarf of some sort. The color's silver and it reminded me of something you'd wear on New Year's Eve.
Blackberry Ridge Fuzzy Mohair - Nothing in mind for it. It's dark green and from England.
Mirasol Miski - Again, no idea, but I loved how soft it was. Probably a scarf, though.
Malabrigo Worsted - I got seven skeins of this in two different colors. Probably a shawl that almost my entire knitting group is working on. And yes, one in each color.
Berroco Ultra Alpaca - I got two skeins in two different colors to do test swatches for the Susie Hoodie.
Be Sweet Magic Ball - A thin scarf.
The Fibre Co. Road to China - Fricking on sale, baby!! I got six skeins in a gorgeous green, so I may again do the shawl mentioned above. A friend of mine gave me four skeins of it in a really pretty caramel/bronze color for being the trip's sherpa, so I may try to think of something to do using the two of them.
Wool in the Woods Gold Dust - Again, on sale, but I got 4 skeins of it for 800 yards, so I may do a slightly short Clapotis.
Ravelry contribution to date: $16.59
