In my quest to use up my working stash and the request from my best friend’s mom for hats and scarves, I did some stash shopping and found that I have some hat and scarf kits. When I bought these I just liked the yarn and thought that I could at least make a scarf and have some left over, but with the addition of a neutral or coordinating yarn, I can make a matching set. Many times I don’t plan projects. I just buy what I like in amounts that will be enough for an afghan or be incorporated…

Some of the items that I made have specific organizations in mind that I will donate items to, while there are people who will just ask if I can make something for the organization or cause. Sometimes I will and sometimes I won’t. That’s the privilege of being an adult and crocheting for pleasure. Many people will say, you should sell your things. The cost of the materials that I would want to use, not to mention labor makes this difficult. I have 24 scarves already spoken for this year and I was planning to donate them to my local…

I have decided to only buy necessary “working yarn” that is yarn that will match or coordinate with a project. I have a lot of working yarn and as many projects that I have completed and complete on a weekly basis, I’m ready to use up most of this and give the working yarns a new fresh look. In the past month, I have purchased two lots of neutral yarns – navy and black – both Red Heart and undyelotted which will coordinate with many yarns I already have. These are mainly for afghans which I try to plan or…

Last Saturday was I love yarn day. I don’t know how I managed to overlook that. I love yarn every day and I really love working with it too. I appreciate yarns that I may not like to use, but touching, feeling and working with yarns of a variety of types is fun. One of the things that makes me sad is that there is nowhere within walking distance of my house to buy yarn any longer. There was a fabric store that had a small selection of yarn when I first moved in, and another yarn shop that was…

I’m working on a scarf with some trial yarn that I bought several weeks ago. I like the way that it is working up, but this is another one that I will likely never buy again. There are four strands of loosely spun four ply yarn which has a very pleasing effect from a natural to natural and light blue and then will end up as a royal blue. The problem is that the plies don’t always want to cooperate and even though I have a hook that a larger size than recommended, it’s not fun to work on.  I…

I was talking to a friend about crocheting and donating things and she said – “you don’t sell things, you give them away? Do the groups give you yarn? I mean yarn can be expensive.” Yes, yarn can be expensive, even the easy care yarns that I use for donations. I never think about the dollar amount of the value of afghans, scarves and hats that I make, because it is something I like to do. Though at times I minimize the “cost” – my time effort and materials that I put into my work. I just think about it…