For all my good intentions...

So much for all my good intentions of knitting from my stash, not being consumed by materialism, resisting 'sales', etc, etc.  I've been spending a fair bit of money over the past couple of months on unnecessary but lovely stuff, mainly related to my fibre pursuits .  On the plus side I haven't bought any cheap crap - it's all quality stuff.  On the negative side, some of it has been quite expensive and far from necessary or even desirable.

Things I have learnt

• I like wool.  I like silk.  But for some reason, I don't like yarn which combines the two. 
• I'm a purist when it comes to Noro.  I love Noro Kureyon, which is the original 100% wool in a 10-ply/worsted weight. I have used various sales to try out some of their other yarns and none of them have quite the same wow factor for me.  These include Cashmere Island (lovely and soft but too fragile and very poor stitch definition); Cash Iro (too stiff and scratchy); Kureyon sock (too harsh and inconsistent for sock yarn.  Besides, I've decided that I hate knitting socks and/or with anything thinner than 6-8-ply); Silk Mountain (I hate boucle yarn); Silk Garden (I've become super sensitive to anything with any mohair in it).  I haven't yet tried knitting with the Silver Thaw. I have hopes as it looks and feels gorgeous.  But I suspect it still won't have the wow factor of Kureyon.
• Angora may be very soft but it sheds a lot.  Hence I will not knit with it.  Ditto, alpaca.
  
• I hate boucle yarn.  It's too close to novelty yarn.  Even if it is Noro Silk Mountain
• I should always check the exchange rate when buying yarn in American dollars.  Especially when the Aussie dollar is in free-fall.  I spent more than AUD$1/gram on some beaded silk yarn that was on sale.  But it is gorgeous.
• Buying knitting-themed mugs, cards or books is acceptable.  Buying knitting-themed Christmas ornaments when one doesn't even celebrate Christmas is silly.
• Always research prices and take into account shipping before making a purchase.  It Itches arrived safely from The Book Depository and is very funny.  And it cost me less than a third the publishers wanted to charge (I'm not letting go of this one for a long time.)
• A drop in interest rates is not an excuse to go on a yarn buying spree.  Especially when one's about to move onto a larger loan for their new home.

And in swap news
I think I'm going to take a break from doing swaps as I want to knit a little for myself for a bit. 

• The 100 gram challenge was fine - and my swappee was dutifully grateful for her package.  I included a skein of the Silk Mountain since I wasn't going to use it and it is a lovely gift for the right person. 
  
• The organiser of the Stashbuster swap sent me an 'angel' gift of a knitted dishcloth, some chocolate, tea, soap, a key ring and bamboo yarn, which was nice. 
  
• But I'm still struggling with the 'No Sheep for You" swap which has to be posted this week.  I made a mistake in the Forest Canopy shawl and have to tink back - and I've really lost enthusiasm for the project.  I whipped up a drop-stitch pure silk scarf out of 70 grams of worsted yarn which would be fine, except for another knitter who knows what a cheat knitting job this is (I only chose the pattern so I could get a scarf out of so little yarn).  I'm currently frantically finishing a market bag out of dishcloth cotton (which was fine except for the super-annoying centre-circle start) and will probably throw in a couple of dishcloths crocheted out of green, yellow and white yarn - I'll put on a note about it being for wiping up spilt beer on Australia day.