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Welcome to the Use Your Stash Challenge 2017!
I’m so thrilled you’ve decided to join us.
Continue reading Welcome to the Use Your Stash Challenge 2017
This is a scary post for me to write: It is full of UnFinished Objects and Works-In-Progress and plain old skeins of yarn. It seems as if all the stashed yarn around my home is multiplying! Have you ever read the children’s book, Millions of Cats, by Wanda Gag? If you substitute the word yarns for cats, that’s about what I’m feeling these days! (Please tell me I’m not alone!) But, I’m going to do it. I need to wrap my head around all the UFO’s and WIP’s and skeins of yarn that are stashed around my home. The Use Your Stash Challenge starts in a few days, and I need to get a final count of stashed yarns.
Is it time to get out of your comfort zone? Are you setting goals for the New Year? I am. Stepping out of my personal box has been on my mind almost constantly these days.
Last month, Hubs and I spent time (together) out of our comfort zones. It was a business conference (which was out of my comfort zone) for women. Yes, Hubs was definitely out of his comfort zone, but he wasn’t alone. When we pulled into the parking lot, another couple was getting out of their car. The man looked at Hubs and said, “I’m so glad to see you! I’m glad I’m not the only one.” There was instant brotherhood bonding going on. I thought they were going to high-five and fist bump right there in the parking lot.
Despite the obvious gender differences, the teaching was great. Hubs and I came away motivated and encouraged.
I’m sharing this story because many times being out of your comfort zone is the only way to grow your business, grow personally or emotionally, or even grow as a crocheter. It feels much like hang-gliding naked. I know that is a horrible visualization, but it’s exactly how it feels.
So, let’s step out of our boxes, get out of our comfort zones, and write some goals. There are many different ways to do this. Some examples:
Don’t procrastinate, just pick a way to record your goals and do it! But, make sure your goals are big and audacious enough to be dreams.
Last night, while I was at the gym, one of the machines in front of me had a tv, and there was one of those shows on. You know the kind, where the multi-millionaire businessman helps some dinky home business hit the big time. Yeah, that one. The takeaway I got from that show was DREAM BIG. Dave Ramsey said it, too, in his talk at the business conference Hubs and I attended in November: Dream Audaciously. Set your goals high! If you only make it 1/4 of the way to your goal, at least you are 1/4 farther along than you were last year.
Take your audacious goals and divide them out into monthly steps and then start walking — one step at a time — in the direction of your goals. Even if you don’t meet any of your goals, you will at least be further along the path. The key to this, when you don’t reach your goals the first month, is don’t be discouraged. Keep going.
Develop a plan and make it happen! Something amazing happens in our lives when we take the time to write down our specific goals, not just keeping them intangible thoughts in our brains.
~Dave Ramsey
You may be wondering why I am even talking about this. I hear you saying, “But, this isn’t crochet. Why is she talking about goal setting and business conferences? What is the deal?” Actually, this does apply to crochet and your yarn stash. I have been setting goals as I figure out what I have on hand for the Use Your Stash Challenge.
If everything you do is pushing you toward your goals, then everything you decide to do will go through those gatekeeper goals. This sounds a little wacky until you really think about it.
If using up a good portion of your stash is your goal, then set some audacious goals about what you will make. Challenge yourself to work as hard as you can to finish up those projects! Get ’em done, move ’em out! Commit to doing it, even if you don’t love the project anymore.
I’ve been hard at work on my goals. I set all the partially finished stuff on my ironing board (because my 6′ x 3′ table was already full), and took snapshots of each of them. The good. The bad. The downright ugly. The stuff I’ve fallen out of love with. All of it.
It’s all stretched out there, teasing me to get started. Quite frankly, I am intimidated — and a little embarrassed that I let my WIPs get so far ahead of me. They’re almost out of control.
There’s these …
And then there are these granny square centers…
Then I found these granny squares that I tested and neglected to do anything with…
And let’s not forget the scarves, hexagons, and potholders that are unfinished…
While this may all seem like a lot, I haven’t even shown you all the yarn I have squirreled away. I am pretty sure I could go a year without buying yarn. (Ha! Like that would ever happen.) But, I do need to get the stash smaller.
So, one of my audacious goals is to not buy any yarn in January and the first half of February.
My second audacious goal is to finish as many of these WIPs as I can in that same time frame. Why don’t you join me? The official start date is January 15, 2017. It will be fun to hold each other accountable, and also to encourage each other.
Talk to you later,
Karen
There are many times when I feel like a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat — when I find myself making something out of nothing.
The list seems endless! These can be very stressful situations.
This making something out of nothing is what I love to do. I love to create things using what I have sitting around the house (often referred to as scraps).
Scrap yarn, scrap fabric, scrap art supplies, scrap odds and ends. Creating something out of what looks like nothing is a muscle which needs exercise. You could say It is a super power that doesn’t require a super suit. Our great-grandparents used this muscle daily during the Great Depression; it was just a part of life.
These days people call it recycling or green living, but it still feels a lot like making something out of nothing.
The Use Your Stash Challenge is a great way to exercise your creative muscles when it comes to using up your stash of supplies. Give yourself some boundaries (would you even wear crocheted shorts?) and create to your heart’s content!
I often allow myself to be really creative and use all my stash on hand, not just my yarn stash. Doing this helps me to create lovely things for our home. Often, during the Christmas rush, I forget to take the time to make things I like for the house I live in. January and February tend to be a nesting time for me as we pull-in and deal with ice and/or snow storms here in Oklahoma.
Scrap afghans keep me warm while I work on them, and the works-in-progress list gets smaller as the stash is used up. This allows me to make room for new yarns and projects.
Here are a few of my favorite scrap projects from my archives and some from Way, way back.
Some of these next items could be scrap busting projects if you need ideas. I crocheted or sewed all of these. They weren’t necessarily scrap projects but could easily be Use Your Stash projects. There are a bunch of ideas here that you can pick up and go with.
The items above were created out of small bits and pieces of fabric, beads, and yarn. They can all be created out of stash items.
Can you tell that I am trying to get you to join the Use Your Stash Challenge January 2017? It is an excellent way to use up your bits and pieces.
Talk to you later,
Karen
December and January seem to mark the time when I feel an enormous urge to clean up, organize and get rid of junk. This is also a low budget time of year. I hate to donate half used craft supplies (I suspect that the charities I donate to just throw it out) or throw yarn out!  So, this year, I am hosting a Use Your Stash Board on Pinterest once again for  the Use Your Stash Challenge 2017.
The Use Your Stash Challenge has been an incredible motivator for me to finish my works in progress that I have sitting around–the half-finished this-and-that items. It also encourages me to work with what I have on hand which is incredibly helpful to our budget after all the Christmas shopping we’ve been doing. Every year I change up the rules to keep myself interested and engaged.
One year, I challenged myself to make 100 items in 100 days. It was incredible and so much was completed.
Another year, the challenge was to create 200 items in 200 days–it turned out to be too much and too long of a challenge.
This year the challenge starts January 15 and runs until February 15, 2017. I usually take some time off in late December/early January to spend time with family and to just relax and clean up the studio/house after the holidays and before the stash challenge. This is the time when I pull out all the half-done projects and organize what I plan to do. You should do that too!
I always make rules (you could call them guidelines) that fit what is going on in my stash. If you need different rules, feel free to alter these or make your own. As I have said before, there are no Use Your Stash police, but I do force myself to keep the rules for the time of the Challenge.
I will create a Pinterest Board for all those interested in seeing what others are doing. You can create with any stash you have on-hand at home: arts and crafts, fabric, recycling, paper — anything goes! Signing up for my email list will help me add you to the Use Your Stash Pinterest board. That’s where we’ll be showing off all the beautiful items we make from our stashes. I can’t wait to see what you create!
These are my rules, for me. You’re welcome to adopt them as your rules, too. I hope you will join me in the final push to finish all those unfinished projects and move them out of the house!
If you want to join the Use Your Stash Challenge – sign up for my email list and send me a Pinterest message on the Use Your Stash Challenge 2017 board. I will be glad to sign you up!
There is no stress in this challenge–it is just for fun. This is a great way to jumpstart my creativity in the New Year and it also forces me to use up my stash. There is also the incredible rush of creativity and accomplishment that comes with finally finishing so many projects.
Talk to you later,
Karen
PS- I’ll let you in on a little secret: I plan projects out ahead. It is just a running list in my mind, but still, it gives me a boost! I don’t start any projects until my designated start time, though. Otherwise, that would be cheating, besides I’m still finishing up Christmas gifts!Â