Yes, I’m going on another “yarn ban,” if you define “yarn ban” as “not buying yarn because you already have too much of the freaking stuff but you’re still going to do stuff with your current yarn and not ban yourself from touching yarn because you would probably first freak out and then most certainly die if you banned yourself completely from all yarn.” I mean, that’s just one possible definition.

We’ve already gone over how I have a rather large stash of yarn and how I use a rather large amount of yarn rather quickly. I managed to make it to my goal of using up a “Marathon of Yarn” (26 miles) well before the end of the year. We’ve also already gone over how the first “trial” of a 30-day “yarn ban” went “well.” (I can’t explain why I have a fondness for quotation marks tonight; it just happens sometimes, I don’t question the writing.) That being said, here is what led to my decision to commit to a 100-day “yarn ban.”

So I was making a list of projects I wanted to finish by the end of the year. As I was making my list, I noticed how for every project on my list I already had most of the necessary yarn in my stash. And as the list got longer, I felt first shock and then shame and then a certain prideful awe at how many projects I had in mind and how much yarn I truly had tucked away in my room. Then I reverted back to shame, after more than 20 projects rounded out the list; I’m sure I could have though of more, but I just couldn’t think of any more once I reached the bottom of the page. (Mom and Dad, if you are reading this, please do not hyperventilate or plan my death, for I promise that I will move out someday and all of my yarn will go with me and will then become someone else’s problem).

This is when I decided to go on my “100 Days of No New Yarn Acquisition for Unnecessary Reasons,” which I will also refer to as my “100-Days.” Of course, all bans must have rules, so here are the rules for my “100-Days”:

• Must work planned projects from current yarn stash

• Can only buy yarn on two conditions:
• If I run out of yarn on a project and have to buy yarn to complete the project. I don’t want to pile up on WIPs during the course of my 100-Days.
• If I have a paid customer request through my etsy shop or through other means of communication. Hey, I’m a starving artist, and starving artists never turn down cash flow!

• If I manage to work through my list of planned projects, I must continue to work only from stash until either the 100 days are up or I run out of yarn (yeah, right).

My 100-Days officially started Wednesday, September 24, 2008 and will officially end January 2, 2009. About half of my planned projects are for other people and half are for myself, so I will at least be making space as I work through my stash.

I’m already on Day 5 of my 100-Days, so here’s hoping that the next 95 will be filled with busy fingers and self-control.