I am on Day 55 of my yarn ban. I had been doing so well. I had only purchased yarn twice, one time to finish a project, and another time for a customer request. I had seen so much yarn I wanted to buy and resisted each and every time. Until…

I guess I can’t call it a “moment” of weakness, since it was more like this: I saw the yarn sitting on the clearance shelf. I realized that it was the exact yarn I had previously purchased and used for a project that ended in disaster a couple of months ago (my first disaster ever, detailed in this post). I had been so sad to throw away the used up yarn, sad because I had purchased it from a different store on clearance and had no hope of ever finding it again. Then, here I was, standing face to face with the same yarn, on clearance again, waiting to be purchased.

Eight skeins sat huddled on the shelf–forlorn, forgotten. All of them had bright red clearance tags smeared across the fronts of their labels, a badge of shame. I reached down and picked up one skein. Determined not to buy this yarn, I placed it back with the others. I turned to walk away, but I just couldn’t; it was destiny that I was finding this yarn again.

I NEEDED this yarn.

I had to prove that I could remake this project the right way and here was the same yarn I needed in order to accomplish that. I looked around to make sure no one was watching, as if the “Yarn Ban Police” were waiting around the corner to come arrest me as soon as they saw me pick up the yarn with the intention of purchasing (“Ma’am, you have the right to remain silent. Any wool you have in your possession can and will be used against you in a court of law…”). I reached down and picked up all eight skeins. I turned over the label to see how much yardage was in each one, realizing that I only truly needed four. I put back the other four skeins and swiftly walked away, not wanting to totally abandon all self-control. I clutched these precious four skeins to myself, not wanting to let go.

So what if it broke the rules of my self-imposed yarn ban? So what if I already had other projects in progress needing my attention? So what if I didn’t really have a place to stash this new yarn? My emotional and mental well-being depended on rescuing these four skeins of yarn. Seriously! Honestly!

And anyway, this yarn is “technically” not illegal, since it is “technically” for finishing a project previously started (even though the first one was “technically” thrown away), so “technically” it doesn’t violate my yarn ban. Right? RIGHT?!?

As punishment, the yarn sits in the corner now.