This past month flew by; I can’t believe that it’s already March! I had some good momentum this month in my efforts to use up my yarn stash. I started this goal to use 75% of the yarn I had in an effort to save space, money, and the environment, as well as developing more minimal and intentional buying habits. You can read about that original goal here from 2020 and my plans to continue this goal for 2021 here. I have a whole series of blog posts, from inspiration on organization and stash busting projects to monthly reflections on my progress that you can check out as well!
February is a few days shorter than other months, but I was still successful at using up quite a bit of yarn. We were hit with the polar vortex storm down here in Texas this month, but we were blessed to not lose power. My crocheting wasn’t even impacted since we just stayed cozy at home. I completed a couple patterns tests and made some items for an upcoming market I have. I also designed a quick granny square pattern that you can find for free on my blog here. Overall, it was a productive month!
My Budget
I did not spend any money on yarn this month (yay!). I have worked hard to build the habit of only buying yarn I will use for a specific project in the near future. And though I would like to buy ALL the fancy hand dyed yarns, I shouldn’t spend that kind of money every month, especially while I have boxes of yarn to use up.
My Yarn Stash
I was already ahead on my yarn stash this month since I did not purchase any yarn. I used up quite a bit of yarn, though did not finish skeins, for one pattern test that I did for @inspiredbygrandma. However, I was able to work through a lot of worsted weight cotton yarn in preparation for my first spring craft fair coming in March. I once bought a bag full of maybe 25 skeins of cotton yarn from the thrift store (an awesome find!) and have to still use up most of it. In February, I was able to work through a good amount. I’ll have a rainbow of cotton scrubbies and washcloths available for sale soon. In all, I used up 17 skeins of yarn. That is better than last month, even if you don’t factor in all the skeins I bought for my spring market. I’m gaining some creative momentum!
One of the hardest parts of motherhood right now is not having the time to do what I want to do when I want to do it. Now that my life revolves around a tiny person with her own needs and schedule, I need to be a lot more creative in getting time for myself. I am getting a better handle on it, and also finding more joy in spending time focusing on my daughter instead of myself. It all requires balance, and I am learning to balance my life now that it is more complicated with a baby.
Things I Learned
In February, I started to better understand how I could balance my time with my home and family and for crocheting. I definitely can’t spend all day playing with yarn, or designing patterns, or writing blog posts now that I have a baby. And that’s ok. I’m getting a better handle on how I want to balance my time so that I can still feel fulfilled and make progress on my crochet goals, while putting my family first.
I also realized that I can only use the yarn I have a purpose for. I used up quite a lot of cotton yarn for the scrubbies I made this past month, but I now see that the cotton yarn I have won’t do me any good if I don’t have the scrubby yarn to go with it. And while it may be tempting to go to the store to buy more scrubby yarn, that would add to my stash and might not help me in the long run to accomplish my goals. What happens if I buy more scrubby yarn, use up the cotton yarn I have, and still have a little bit of scrubby yarn leftover? I could be caught up in an endless cycle of buying more yarn in order to use up the yarn I already have. Rather than fix one problem to create a new one, I am going to use the rest of my cotton yarn for different projects that do not require me to purchase more scrubby yarn.
Things to Change
February started off as a slow making month for me. For March, I want to hit the ground running with using up my yarn skeins! I think that if using up my yarn stash is a primary goal of mine at the beginning of the month, I will have more creative energy to continue using up my yarn stash. Just like Newton’s law of motion, if I am at rest from using up my yarn then I will continue to be at rest from using up my yarn. But if I am in motion, I will continue to be in motion!
I really wanted to make some Valentine’s Day-specific patterns and items to sell last month. The only thing I finished was a longstanding WIP heart garland that I finally finished after almost two years just in time for February 14 this year. While it is fun to make and sell items for the holidays, for me it becomes too stressful to meet that kind of deadline at this time in my life. Other items that are more seasonal are easier to keep up with considering how flexible my life needs to be with an infant. Right now, I’m just not going to worry about making items for a specific holiday and just make what I can, when I can.
February was a bit of a roller coaster month, but I am really happy with how much I was able to crochet. I have some crafting momentum going on right now, so I am excited to see where March takes me! If you are joining in on #attackmystash2021, let me know in the comments or on Instagram @crowchetcreations or through the hashtag above how you are working through your yarn stash.
XO, Emily
