Materialism gone mad

No pretty pictures today but lots of links (I'm blogging remotely).

I'm still working my way through the patchwork scarf.  It looks great but I'm dreading weaving all the ends in.

As usual, I am acquiring yarn faster than I can knit it.  I obtained 5 lovely skeins of Noro Cashmere Island in the purples/greens/greys/black colourway from www.yarnandfiber.com  A strong Australian dollar combined with free international shipping made this one bargain I couldn't resist.  And then I couldn't resist buying 5 skeins of a royal blue/purple Noro Cash Iroha that were on sale on eBay.  Damn Ravelry and all the users who point out all the yarn bargains.

Last week I went to Sydney for work, so of course I had to visit Tapestry Craft and see it in its yummy tempting best.  I managed to keep my purchases to a mere 2 balls of purple Zara (are we seeing a colour theme here?)  It turned out that I could buy the same yarn, even in the same colour, for $2 less a ball in Melbourne (at Clegs) but I met the lovely beckar who's on Ravelry.  One must be polite - and at least this is one souvenir I am confident of using.  Or at least petting and looking at  with pleasure.

Speaking of Clegs, I went in to buy some 4.5mm circulars (40cm and 80cm) for the Noro yarns and somehow a few balls of Cleckheaton Machine Wash in discontinued colours (pinks, blues, greens and brown) fell into my shopping basket.  They were only $2.50/ball.  And I really have to knit another jumper for my favourite four-year-old boy.

I had just resolved to STOP SHOPPING when news broke of a 30%-off clearance sale at MySize.  I forwarded the news to all my size 14-26 friends but unfortunately they hadn't cleared out the store by the time I arrived.  I found my favourite hot pink tops reduced to $15.95 each (from $50) - so I bought all 4 in my size); 2 black dresses that were 80% off and actually fitted me, and an assortment of other pink, black and purple tops.  In the end I spent $221 and bought 11 items.  They were genuine bargains and clothes which I would actually wear (in fact I'm wearing one of the new pink tops today) and I did resist buying some other items that I wanted but didn't need.

At home I decided it was time to toss out all my old clothes that were so scungy that I didn't even wear them as 'slobbing around the house clothes'.  It felt so good to bundle them up in bags and replace them with lovely comfy new clothes.

On Ravelry I received a message from another knitter who wanted to trade for the 11 balls of Merino Spun that I bought earlier this year and then regretted, because although it was a great bargain, it was far too bulky for a jumper for me.  I'm getting 4 100-gram skeins and hand-dyed DK yarn in return.  At the very least it will take up less space.  And I am more likely to actually use the yarn.