Buy less, knit more

OK, the stash is getting out of control - I seem to be suffering from the knitter's equivalent of my 'eyes being bigger than my belly'. OK, my yarn only takes up 2 plastic tubs (compared with about 8 for my fabric), but the following points should be borne in mind:

• I can use swathes of fabric very quickly, in a single project
• Those two tubs don't include the yarn that's at work
• Or the ones on top of the wardrobe
• Or the yarn I ordered today.

Therefore, I'm imposing a restriction on myself: I can only buy yarn for a new project when I finish a project first. And the two projects have to be at least comparable in size; there's no finishing a pair of bootees and buying enough for a full length coat in Kaffe Fassett intarsia. There are two exceptions for this rule:

• Yarn for gifts. In the knitting world, Christmas is fast approaching.
• Yarn for the Strawberry Stripe jumper (Rowan 37). This jumper is made in linen print and cotton tape, and only a few balls of each. I'm picking the yarn up as and when on eBay, and I'm about halfway there.

So. You heard it here: No More Stash Growth.