Cripes!

Hmmmm, here are the Yarn Diet for 2007 rules as posted yesterday:

1. ALL of 2007.
2. NO yarn UNLESS for a specific gift, it's a fiber fest, you can't finish without it, or it's your birthday.
3. Yarn gifts are allowed!
4. You can have as much unspun stuff as you can lift.

I'd forgotten about the possible demise of a yarn store in our area. Not that it will happen, but signs point to yes. Also, one of my favorite yarn stores has a 30% off EVERYTHING the day after Christmas every year. Starts at 8:00am and goes to 5:00pm. It's worth my getting up at 6:00am and driving an hour to there for the sales. Usually, I go with a list, and I've not knitted up the stuff I bought last year, thus, the diet.

However, I think rule 2, because it's the exceptions rule, needs a modification. First is the long version, second is the simple one.

2. We will not buy any yarn during that period, with the following exceptions:
2.a. If someone asks for a specific knitted gift that we really and truly do not have the yarn for, and we can't talk them out of it, THEN we may buy yarn to knit that gift. No giving them the evil eye and saying they WANT a huge sweater that may not use all the yarn we need to buy.
2.b. Fiber festivals and store-wide sales of 30% or more are exempt because very few of the people I know in real life go to more than one or two a year. There aren't many events in the midwest, not like on the coasts. Plus, our group does a yarn crawl to Yarn Barn once a year. THAT'S exempt. I mean, once a year for a few hours at most?
2.c. If we are knitting something and run out of yarn, we may purchase enough to complete the project. No need to be silly about it.
2.d. Birthday yarn is an exception, emphasis on birthDAY, not birthMONTH, or birthYEAR, or even birthDECADE. BirthCENTURY is right out.

Simply put, it's
2. NO yarn UNLESS for a specific gift, it's a fiber fest or 30% sale storewide, you can't finish without it, or it's your birthday.

I think that should cover the once a year supersales or the store closings. Like Wendy said about the sock yarn, we aren't made of stone. I'd thought about making the rule: When knitters go in groups of three or more (like to possible store closing), all yarn is allowed. Do you see the downside? I'm sure someone in the group has a minivan, and even that won't contain the knitters AND the yarn they'll binge with. The bed of our pickup is covered and can hold at least 6 people in the cab if we all shower. (insert snicker here)

Now onto water softeners. Susan, you are so right! Day one and already we had a toilet act goofy. The upper tank hose thingy started spewing like a fire hose. Poor Fry flushed and ran downstairs in a panic. Just water and clean water at that, so it's good. There is one leak that's going to get worse, but it's a faucet marked for replacement already. We have the countertops, the faucets, so on Christmas break, Hubs and I are going to bond over plumber's tape.

This year's Red Scarf for the Red Scarf project is off the needles. It feels yummy, and was a TV knit, no thought allowed. Next up are Caps to the Capitol.