I feel like I just posted about my August experience in trying to destash my yarn- September flew by! As schools and fall sports have started back up, I feel like in general the world is settling in to a new normal of resuming life (with adjustments) in relation to the global pandemic. At this point, we are in the last quarter of the year and many holidays are coming soon. Fall is a crocheter’s favorite season because we can go back to making cozy, warm things that other people adore as well.
During the past month, I started selling my crocheted goods at a local art co-op again. This co-op, known as Creative Collections on Race Street in Fort Worth, TX, is an eclectic grouping of art from a variety of artists. Products change every week and there is a lot of talent to see there. I highly recommend you check it out! I participating in this co-op at the beginning of the year, but since I did not have enough time to get spring/summer stock created, I decided to take a break in March. Now that the cooler weather is here, I thought it would be awesome to showcase my crochet there again! I am also in desperate need to sell my stock. I decided to avoid craft fairs this year because of the pandemic combined with flu season since I will soon have a newborn at home.
With the end of September comes Baby Month! I post monthly updates related to my Attack My Stash 2020 goal to use up 75% of my yarn over the course of this year, so you won’t want to miss next month’s update. You can find previous updates here as well as more information about this year-long goal here and some tips for pursuing your own journey towards more minimalist and intentional crafting here and here. As I continue to share my efforts this year to declutter my yarn stash, I hope to inspire you to use what you have, make more room in your home, and find greater intention in your craft.
This month I worked really hard on my goal to get under 400 skeins of yarn total- and I did it! I was not able to average one skein of yarn a day for the month, but I got pretty close. I only bought one skein of yarn as well, so my stash is headed in the right direction. I am really proud of myself for being so consistent this year at using up yarn that I already have, and I hope to continue making really good progress throughout the rest of this year. I have been working on Pineapple & Pine’s Falling for Textures CAL, as well as a couple personal projects, so I foresee being able to cross more yarn off my stash list soon!
My Budget
This month, I stayed within my previously set yarn budget pretty easily. In general, I want to work towards purchasing yarn that is more ethical and sustainable, as well as supporting small businesses rather than big box craft stores. Not only is this type of yarn higher quality, but it is way nicer to work with and makes me feel good. When I found out that @apurposeandastitch was making her own ethically sources yarn line with stunning colors, I had to support her! Hand-dyed yarn is definitely more expensive than big brand yarns, but I made sure to buy one skein of beautiful fingering weight yarn that I intend to use for a baby dress. Of course, I wanted to buy ALL the yarn, but since I am trying to be more intentional about buying yarn with a project in mind, I held back a little bit. I really want to continue supporting my friend as well as other small businesses who have more ethical and sustainable practices, so I will be buying more hand-dyed yarn in the future (within my budget of course).
My Yarn Stash
I had a really successful month of yarn usage, though I was not quite able to use up an average of one skein per day of September. Since I only purchased one skein this month as well, my net yarn usage was impactful. I ended up using 24 skeins of yarn, which brings my total number of skeins down to 386! This sounds like a lot (it kind of is, lol), but when more than 100 of those skeins were just one gram balls of DK weight cotton, you realize that the number of yarn skeins adds up quickly. My goal in August was to get my total skeins down to below 400, and while I could not do it last month, I was able to do so in September! I mostly used up worsted weight yarn as well as some of those DK weight cotton mini skeins. I currently have 3 WIPs for my own designs that use worsted weight yarn (keep an eye out for some new patterns!). As I mentioned above, I am also working on the Falling for Textures CAL so I am using up worsted weight yarn on that project as well. I also am working on a set of colored blocks for my baby girl to have as a toy set, which is using up a lot of the DK cotton. All of these projects are still WIPs, so I hope to continue using up my yarn stash completing these items this next month.
While my goal at the beginning of the year was to use up 75% of my yarn stash, I realize that I probably won’t reach that goal; I would be left with only 127 skeins of yarn, and I am still a long way away from that. However, I think I can definitely get below 300 skeins of yarn in total by the end of the year. That would mean that I used up approximately 35% or so of my yarn, which is a really significant start to this declutter. I am not just trying to use up my yarn stash to make more room for yarn, however. I am trying to build habits of minimalism and intentionalism in my craft so that I can have more room for the things that mean the most to me and find greater joy in what I already have. So while I won’t be reaching my goal of using 75% of my yarn stash in 2020, I intend to continue working through my yarn stash with all of these same benchmarks in mind for the year 2021. We’ll see how long it takes me to work through my yarn!
Things I’ve Learned
First, I have only recently realized just how big a difference it makes to a small business when I support them. It made me feel great to spend money on a product that I love from a company with values I support. As a small business owner myself, it makes me so happy each time I make a sale. This past month, as I purchased one skein of ethically made hand-dyed yarn, I realized how much that one sale must mean for that small business. My own experience came full circle in understanding for another small business owner’s experience!
Also, I’ve been pondering a lot more about the imminent birth of my first baby. While I will not be working nearly as much outside of the home, my time will be occupied by caring for a very demanding and needy little human. I have already seen how my expectations for this year-long goal will not be reached by the end of December, and with life changes on the horizon, I also need to be willing to cut myself some slack in terms of how I use my time. I would love to have more time to crochet! But the reality is that with a newborn, even though I won’t be working at the hospital, I will still probably have my hands full. And it’s totally okay that I will not be able to use up as much of my yarn stash this year as I hoped. But I will continue to build habits towards a more minimalist and intentionalist lifestyle.
Things to Change
This next month, I am making sure that I finish some of my WIPs so that I can use up yarn. While I have used a lot of yarn this past month, I have not finished quite as many full skeins since I have some ongoing projects. As I finish those projects, I should use up the tail end of those skeins, which will feel really nice. I’ll finally be able to use up the rest of certain balls of yarn instead of setting them aside to finish at a later date.
Even as the weather has started to cool down, I have not started cranking out hats or scarves. I still have quite a bit of stock from last year that I need to sell, so over this next month I will work hard at promoting my handmade items. I need to sell my stock so that I can make more stock and use up more of my bulky/super bulky yarns.
Finally, since it is now Baby Month as we speak, I definitely need to use up more yarn at the beginning of the month since who knows when life will get upended by a new baby! I mentioned this last month too, since I feel like things always happen towards the end of the month that slow down my yarn usage. It will especially be true for October!
I have a lot of excitement as I continue to work on a few new designs this month, as well as finish some WIPS for Baby Girl. October is going to be a really exciting month, for crochet and beyond, and I hope you join me when I take some time to reflect on Attack My Stash 2020 next month. You can stay up to date with my progress in this year-long goal by following me at Instagram @crowchetcreations or through the hashtags #crowchetcreations or #attackmystash2020. Please share with me the ways that you are using up your stash, I would love to see your progress and share in some motivation!
