I'm nearly 1/2 the way through the yarn diet! I haven't bought any yarn since October 11.

This month's goals (January 13th-February 12)

• No yarn purchases. Try to avoid buying needles or books unless truly necessary. Trading stash yarn has been deemed acceptable.

• Complete the Horseshoe Pattern #2 section of the Shetland Tea Shawl.

• Connect 10 squares Kureyon Log Cabin Blanket.

• Get to the armhole shaping of the Mossbank Pullover.

• Finish January socks, start and make solid progress on February socks

I love connecting the squares of my Log Cabin Blanket. It is very satisfying to see the blanket take shape.

I finished my January Socks, amazing! It's a very easy pattern to memorize, but I still managed to screw up the pattern as I was working the gusset. At least both socks match!

It's hard to work on the other projects, especially during the week when I only have a small amount of at-home knitting time, but I try to make some progress during the weekends.

Ravelympics

I am not a competitive person. In fact, in the face of competition I tend to run & hide. Nor am I usually much of a joiner. I often join knit-a-longs or whatever and either immediately stop knitting the item, or usually stop participating in any discussion. I guess I just don't enjoy the cheerleader bits. It's hard to feel empathy for people I don't really know. I wish them well, of course, but I just can't get into it.

However, I have joined in a few "stash knit-down" groups on Ravelry in hopes of staying inspired to keep up the yarn diet. I have gotten some good ideas on how to get through projects and organize the stash for optimal stash-busting. I just don't participate in the discussion. I'm just knitting, I'm not doing anything new.

The biggest knit-along is the Ravelympics, or Knitting Olympics. It takes place during the Olympics, starting with opening ceremonies and going through to the closing ceremony. Basically, one picks a project (or several) and tries to finish before the end. It's supposed to be a challenge. People pick something they haven't done before that they want to try, such as lace or colorwork or socks. I know a lace shawl would be impossible, but I do have a challenging idea for those 16 days in February. I want to try and finish my Tangled Yoke Cardigan in that time period. The cardigan is knit in one piece from the bottom, which I have done up to point of joining the arms. I need to knit the sleeves and the yoke and buttonbands, seam it up, and add buttons. I have the yarn wound. I have the needles I need. I've had the buttons forever. The "Olympic event" is "WIP (work in progress) dancing", and the rules say the item should be untouched for at least one month before the opening ceremonies. I haven't touched this project for about one year, and I won't have a problem ignoring it for one more month. Even if I don't finish the sweater completely, there should be enough done to push it past the "tipping point"--once I get past a certain point in a project, it will be done in short order. Technically this project qualifies for 3 events: WIP dancing, Sweaterboard Cross, and Cable Cross-Country. I'm sure many projects can be cross-categorized. WIP projects cannot be cross-categorized! Doing so is cause for disqualification! Hopefully I can get well into my February socks before the Olympics so I can get those done in a relatively timely manner.