Accentuate the Positive, Medicate the Negative

(The title's a quotation from Amy Sedaris's new book, I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, that K's brother & sister-in-law sent us for Christmas)

I got a full 9 hours+ of sleep last night, with no nocturnal postings. Hooray!

Thank you all for the great comments. I do tend to be far too cynical and negative in my outlook. I know that optimism is more successful. I TA'ed for a professor once who'd give any student that showed up to all the classes a 2% grade raise. He swore that it worked much better than any punishment scheme, and that for classes where everyone came, he had a much higher performance on homework and tests (before the raise). He did have fabulous attendance -- and this was a *big* class.

And I generally see things as HUGE PROBLEMS TO SOLVE RIGHT NOW, instead of little pieces I can conquer one by one. And the HUGE PROBLEMS are Enormous and Overwhelming and hand me that chocolate and why don't I just start a new knitting project? It's good advice to just pick one or two and break them down into achievable goals. It's just something at which I'm horrifcly bad (crap, yet another thing for the list)

So, in trying to for a more positive outlook, following is my personal list of...


Highly Suggested Guidelines for Stash Success!

• When looking for a new project, look to the stash first. Fall in love again!Find


• The stash storage space is just as calming as a yarn shop. Go there, not the yarn shop. You love to organize, so organize! Touch and sniff the already-purchased yarn!


• Ebay does not exist for the next 9 months.


• If you love something, set it free. If you're not quite so in love with something, free it to be loved by another.


• Complete at least one dye project a month.


• Yarn may be bought to finish projects in progress: case in point, K's raglan, for which he would like stripes. I bought all the yarn, get 7" in and he says, "can't it have stripes?" (The raglan depth's all wrong anyway, so I might as well rip it out (again))


• Purchasing giftee yarn does not count, as well as test yarn bought for Mom's project.


• Sock yarn counts.


• Stash will take first priority for yarn for a specifically requested gift, but if nothing is appropriate, yarn purchased for said gift is allowed.


• When consumed with yarn lust: stop, drop, and roll in the stash cashmere.


• The LYS coupon, received this month for my birthday LAST month, has been consumed. I will kindly not count it against the stashalong so I don't feel as if I've failed before I started.


• Fiber Festivals are excused, but not GOING NUTS at fiber festivals. I'd like to attend Black Sheep Gathering this year.


• Two (yes, I'm weak) get-out-of-stash cards.

I've been completely unable to find the camera cable for the last 2 weeks. Hence all the boring text and you get an old picture from December.


The Peace Lily contemplates the parking lot