Too much fiber can be...a hindrance.

I've been knitting for over ten years. In that ten years, I've taken quite a liking to collecting different yarns from various states that I've visited, I've acquired more knitting pattern books than any normal 28-year-old should own, and I make sure that I knit every single day.

I could really put some grandmas to shame...

Recently, we (my husband and I) have been preparing our small-ish duplex for a baby. This has required that I transform my sewing/crafting room into a nursery, and pack up my yarn, books, fabric, and sewing notions. Let the record show that I had no idea how much yarn I had actually accumulated over the years. When it was all (mostly) said and done, I counted about 8 banker's boxes filled with yarn, plus a large plastic storage container. These are now sitting in my attic/guest room (it's finished--don't panic)...but they do not include the yarn that I have stashed throughout my downstairs.

I have yarn stuffed inside a cookie jar, for Pete's sake.

This past week, I made the decision to open up my personal yarn shop to a good friend of mine who also happens to appreciate the finer things in life--luxury yarns. I never thought I'd be able to part with any of it, but when I realized that I've had some of my yarns for more than 5 years and that all they've done is sit on a shelf, I decided that my "high-fiber diet" is working against me.

I have more unfinished objects (UFOs) than I can even recall, and I find them while looking for other items of importance. Then I say to myself (or one of the dogs...or both of them) that I'm going to finish that...someday. Somedays keep coming and passing me by, and still, my pitiful, well-intentioned UFOs sit in their little plastic coffins, waiting to be exhumed and completed.

For those of you that do not engage in the fiber arts, there is a thrill--a rush, similar to that of scoring a great deal as a couponer, or getting high, for you controlled-substance users--that takes over when a fiberphile or knitaholic discovers a new yarn shop, finds a yarn they've never felt before, and also when we purchase said yarn and can begin a new project. You see, beginning new projects is fun. It's addicting. It just feels so good! There are so many possibilities when browsing a room lined top to bottom with yarn on every wall that we (and I mean "I") just can't help ourselves (and by "ourselves," I mean "myself")! And I know I speak for so many more people like myself...

I feel like a hoarder, but not one of the really awful ones with garbage so high that the ceiling appears to be only 4 feet high. Luckily for me and my family, I have a decent amount of self-control...and common sense.