Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Yarn Diet Ethics

We all know I'm on a yarn diet. No yarn for a year. And I've been doing well. Granted, it's only been 13 days of new year, but still...

Fast forward to yesterday. A co-worker has seen the Fetchings and asked me to make some for her daughter. She's in her college's marching band, her hands get cold, and the Fetchings would have to be black to blend in with her uniform.
I think I have the yarn to make them, but I'm not sure. I'll turn my stash upside down. But... if I don't... do you think it really counts as buying yarn? She said she'd pay for it (which I don't want her to do). And I wouldn't use this as an excuse to start buying yarn because of a 'failed resolution.'

So... what should I do? Buy the yarn if I don't have it? I don't want to say no.

11 comments:

kemtee said...

You're not buying yarn to roll around nekkid in it. You'd be buying a skein to fulfill a specific request for someone. It wouldn't be sitting around idle in your stash; odds are you'd be casting on nearly immediately.

I say if you don't have appropriate weight black yarn in your stash, then it doesn't hurt to buy a skein to make the Fetchings. In fact, I think it's a wonderful gesture on your part.

weezalana said...

I don't think this counts. You're not buying yarn for you, or yarn that will sit in the stash. THis is for a specific project you'll be casting on for right away and gifting to someone.

But, if you want to be technical about it, you could always send her a link to the yarn, have her buy it online, then give it to you when it arrives! :)

BammerKT said...

If she's buying the yarn, it totally doesn't count. How could it count if she buys it?

cpurl17 said...

I think buying yarn for this situation is not breaking your "diet"! And black Fetchings would be so cool!

Anonymous said...

Definitely doesn't count, since it's for a project that someone else requested and has a specific end result in mind.

If you wanted to be *really* good, you could try and do a yarn swap for the yarn you need for the new pair of Fetchings. But I think that would pretty much elevate you to yarn diet sainthood status.

Bonnie said...

doesn't count...buy the yarn...and have fun making more Fetchings!

Mary said...

Also ich bin der Ansicht, dass Du Deine Diät nicht brichst, wenn Du jemandem einen Gefallen erweist und deshalb ein Knäuelchen Wolle kaufst...

Deine Stulpen gefallen mir übrigens sehr gut. In schwarz sehen sie sicher auch klasse aus.

Liebe Grüße
Mary

Unknown said...

Another vote that buying yarn for commissioned knitting doesn't count.

It's not trophy yarn, or vacation yarn (to borrow Irishgirlie's term), or just yarn for the stash, so buy guilt-free.

Unknown said...

Definitely OK. You aren't adding to stash. But maybe buy online so you aren't tempted in your LYS!

Unknown said...

I'd let her buy the yarn, then it *really* doesn't count. But if you want to buy it for her, I still think it's ok. In the past when I've done yarn diets I've allowed myself to buy yarn for gifts (like when a yarny friend has a birthday, for example) - and this is pretty much the same thing.

Michelle said...

Doesn't count, but since I've been bad about sending the other yarn to you, I can always add a skein of cascade 220 or patons in black to the package.