We are now nearing the halfway point of 2020, with hopes to declutter my yarn stash by 75% before the end of the year. Spoiler alert: I’ve got a long way to go, but I am working hard and sharing what I have learned on a monthly basis here on my blog. Learn more about my original goal here, get tips on how to start the process of decluttering your own stash here and here, and see my previous monthly reflections for January, February, March, and April.
I unexpectedly released a new pattern, my Rocketship Lovey, as a free pattern on the blog with an inexpensive PDF available on both my Ravelry and Etsy stores. After making a version of the lovey for a friend’s baby shower, I got an overwhelming response on Instagram to publish the pattern. Other than this exciting development, my heart has been heavy and my head has been full with what is going on in the world and specifically within my country. I would love to learn about how I can use my craft to support the Black Lives Matter movement and changes that need to happen to work through systemic racism in the United States. This past month has given me a lot of cause to reflect and I hope to put into practice some of what I have realized and learned in the coming months.
My Budget
For the first time this year, I have spent $0 on yarn throughout the month of May. I think I was previously having “yarn buying withdrawals” since I missed the experience of browsing the yarn aisle, but I have gotten used to not spending my free time at craft stores. Now, I see less of a need to buy more yarn; I am adopting a more minimalist mindset in my craft purchases. I also have a lot of yarn still in my stash, so I just need to be creative with what I have instead of buying more. I also want to invest my money in local yarn shops and other small businesses more than in craft stores and big yarn labels.
My Yarn Stash
My progress towards using 75% of my yarn stash was underwhelming this month. Although I made quite a few items intended to use up my stash, I only completely finished eight skeins of yarn. That is a far cry from my goal to use at least 31 skeins of yarn during the month of May. Overall, I think I was more focused on creating things with my stash yarn than using up my skeins. Although I only eliminated eight total skeins of yarn, I was able to consolidate my yarn into one less plastic tote. The space that my yarn takes up is slowly becoming smaller, which is a measure of progress that I did not expect to notice. Since I did not purchase any more yarn this month, my May total for yarn skeins is 469. I still have a long way to go to reach my goal of only having 127 skeins of yarn, but I am still heading in the right direction.
Things I’ve Learned
While reflecting on this month’s progress toward attacking my stash this year, I have realized that my main motivator for crocheting right now is our baby girl that we will be having this fall. I seriously only want to make baby things right now. I need to channel my energy for designing and crafting into items to fill this desire. It’s always fun to crochet something for someone else, and since that someone else will be my tiny human I think it is even more fun. Also, I had never before paid attention to the volume of yarn in my stash. Even though the number of skeins I have used is not what I would have hoped to declutter at this point in the year, the fact that I got rid of an entire plastic tote to store my yarn indicates that I have gotten rid of a good amount of yarn. I definitely still have a long way to go; if I consider my decluttering by volume of yarn, I will only be left with two totes by the end of the year to reach my goal of using 75% of my stash. But I can be proud of my progress in decreasing the volume of yarn I have, even if my finished skeins this month are lacking. I also noticed that this month, I spent a lot of time wondering what to make next. Although in reality that doesn’t take a lot of time to actually decide on a pattern and pull out yarn to use, it wastes a lot of mental energy as well as time I could just be enjoying crochet with my husband. With a few projects done that I had hoped to work on this year, I need to find other specific items to make with my time.
Things to Change
As I look forward to the end of June, I want to make some short-term goals to help me progress towards attacking my stash this year. I really think that my previous goal to average using up one skein of yarn a day is a great idea (and probably beyond my capabilities), so I will keep working towards that ideal. If I work to use up more of my small skeins of yarn, specifically my 109 DK weight cotton sampler skeins, I will see huge progress in my number of yarns used up. I want to come up with a big project to use up a lot of those little skeins of yarn in a way that brings me joy. Also, this month I want to work on setting up a “Wish List” of projects to make or design so that I always know what I can start crocheting next. I think having a concrete list, based on my interests and yarn stash, will help me continue to crochet items I love and work through my stash.
I look forward to the many currently unknown projects I will make during the month of June. Since I am nearing the halfway mark of the year (and this goal), I hope that I can see a lot of progress in my efforts to declutter my yarn stash. Let me know in the comments below or through Instagram @crowchetcreations or the hashtags #crowchetcreations or #attackmystash2020 how you are using up your yarn stash or trying to be more minimal in your craft!
XO, Emily
