Inspiration and motivation

Every crafter has one.



For some it receives no more than a curious nod or casual glance.

For others it can draw an "Oh wow" or "Yikes" from those who see it.

But for the rare few - such as myself - a crafter's "STASH" can result in the following.....

"OMG! Do you think Jimmy Hoffa is buried in there?"
"What did you do, knock over a JoAnns?"

Or my favorite.

"If yarn were crack you'd never make it out of rehab."

As you can see from the pictures, I'm not hurting for supplies.

HOWEVER, what I am lacking is inspiration.

When it comes to crochet projects I'm often like a hyperactive hamster with short term memory loss.

At the store I have all these idea running through my head, thus resulting in purchasing enough yarn to provide King Tut with a new technicolor wrap job.
But once I get home and the yarn gets sorted into the correct color-coded bin it often gets lost or forgotten about.

I can not tell you the number of times I have bought the same skein of yarn because I forgot I had already purchased it.

So after some careful thought, some prodding from my husband ...and well.... nearly losing a cat amid the chaos... I made a promise to myself that unless it was a custom order for a client, I would only make projects from my stash.

And so far I can say it's better than Christmas. I'm discovering things I completely forgot I had -or even better - finding uses for yarn I purchased for no reason.

In February I was asked to donate a sweater to a local silent auction. As soon as the words left my friends mouth my eyes glazed over, I started to twitch and my friend realized she had just given the addict a reason to visit her local crack den "aka yarn store."

"WAIT!" she practically screamed while pulling my back from my yarntastic fantasy.

"I will only let you use what you already have."

Darn. I forgot I had friends actually committed to helping me stay fiber-free.

After some moping and some chocolate to dull the pain of a yarn store trip foiled, I began to dig amid the bins and boxes.

I discovered a bulk skein of chunky turquoise acrylic purchased on sale nearly two years ago. It was soft and cushy and slightly inspired I set it aside and began to dig further into the depths of my stash.

I found a bright hot pink skein bought during a brief flirtation with reliving my 80's glam days.
And then i discovered a piercing skein of purple.

Paired with the turquoise they somehow managed to tone each other down.

A small remnant of bright green and some sunflower buttons I found shoved in a forgotten bin and TADA! I was inspired.



Not only did I manage to use up most of the turquoise skein but it's texture prompted me to attempt a new cardigan design.


My next "stash" project initially started with my idea to make a blanket for my friend's daughter.

Being that she is a bright and fun little girl I started looking through my stash for anything that reminded me of the recipient.

Way in the back, behind some boxes I discovered BAGS of this TLC Wiggles yarn. It's an acrylic yarn that sports these crazy loops made from tightly wound colored thread.



I had multiple skeins of it in nearly every color of the rainbow and just new using the right stitch I could crochet up a fun blanket. As for why I had so much I have no idea.

After some thought I decided to pair it with some white worsted acrylic I again had in a 16oz skein.






The end result, which used a slanted shell stitch was not only cushy but one that I loved so much I'm ashamed to say I have yet to give to the intended person.

I'm debating on making a second one for my store, but that's only if I don't get distracted by yet another project inspired by my stash.