Stash Less Challenge #2 - Make a Plan

February 22, 2016 thecraftsessions

In 2016 we invite you to join us in your own personal Stash Less project. Stash Less is a project whereby we work towards having a mindful stash. Each month we will be posting a challenge for you to use in your own journey of discovery and change. Please feel free to join in at any time. We can't wait to hear what you find out! Previous Stash Less posts can be found here.

Previous Stash Less Challenge - Challenge #1 Taking Stock

So it's really important to make sure we don't get ahead of ourselves. Let's take our time and think it through. Stash Less (and changing our behaviour) is a process, not a single event. It takes time to create a mindful stash we can rejoice in, be inspired by and proud of. And time is something we have in abundance. We have the whole year!

A quick word of caution before we look at this month's challenge which is all about setting our baseline. We need to make sure that Stash Less doesn't feel like dieting, because we all know that diets aren't good for the soul, and nor do they achieve their aims. I've said it before - this challenge isn't about deprivation. It is about getting more conscious and thoughtful!

To achieve what we are trying to achieve - a mindful stash - we need to make sure that whatever personal guidelines we come up with are sustainable. We are trying to achieve good, healthy, achievable, joyful, change.

Without further ado this month's challenge is to write down the following;

1. Your aims. We need a goal. What do you want to get out of the challenge? What size stash do you want? What do you want it to contain? What do you want it not to contain? Set a level for your stash, and a feeling you want it to give you.

2. Your purchasing ground rules. Write down the ground rules for purchasing you want to give yourself for the next year. What purchases will you need to make? And what purchases will you allow just for joy?

3. Set a budget. This step allows you to better track your habits. This step makes it real.

I'm really hoping you have read some of the earlier posts in this series. However just in case you haven't, I want to make a few points about why these steps are important and what they might look like.

Notes about Step 1: Your Aims
Some goals might include getting rid of (to friends, charity or strangers) parts of your stash that you will never get around to using. I did a lot of this and it is a total joy. Other goals might be to use things that you had in stash that you don't love but don't hate. Or to use some of your "special" fabrics. You might like to set a stash size?

Notes about Step 2: Purchasing Ground Rules
You must factor in some purchasing! Most people will do better if they know that some purchasing is allowed and sanctioned. I had two categories - needs-based purchasing and joy-based purchasing. For me my needs-based purchasing was things like wadding, zips, cotton thread, needles. And my joy-based purchasing was the yarn for a whole sweater for myself. You need to make sure that you set these and remember that this project is not about deprivation. It is about getting conscious. The feeling of deprivation often leads to rebellion - which we don't want. So make room for some joyful purchasing in there, and then be conscious about it.

Note about Step 3: Setting a Budget
I talk about why I found setting a budget critical in this post* but very briefly I want to say that you must do this. It really will make a difference to how you think about purchasing because you then have a hard limit on spending. It means that you can't just justify, rationalise and justify some more.

I set my budget to $50 per month, which in retrospect wasn't enough as my needs-based purchasing was more than $600 for the year. I make a lot of things! However, in the end getting it wrong didn't matter, as it was a total guess. It was still very helpful as a limit to rationalise my purchasing against. I thought within my $600 per year I would have about $150 for my joy based purchasing which meant that I really had to weigh up my options. Did I want to save $60 from that $150 to spend on some Nani Iro or did I want to spend it all on yarn. I got better at evaluating what was a real "need" and then between those which were most important to me in the longer term. It also meant that I spent more time considering a purchase, weighing it up, so impulse purchasing was less of an issue.

Good luck and feel free to ask any questions! I'm around today.

Felicia x

*I also talk in that post about why I felt incredibly resistant to setting a budget.

Stash Less Challl........ Sickness and Birthdays.

February 19, 2016 thecraftsessions

Photo has nothing to do with the post. It's a photo from last year's retreat. :)

So my massive apologies but it is the night before Stash Less Challenge #2 and I have a kid throwing up and another kid packing to go away and it's my birthday tomorrow so I won't get computer time - which means Challenge #2 will have to wait till Saturday Feb 20th! I've never done a Saturday post before so I'm excited.

In the meantime I wanted to say two things;

1. Don't be in a hurry with the Stash Less thing. Behavioural change requires thought and time. It isn't an overnight thing. Sitting with your thoughts, your new knowledge about how you came by your stash and your desires for something different are an important part of the process.

2. Don't you just love the swatch I made?

Till tomorrow. And apologies.

Felicia x

Stash Less 2016 - Challenge #1 roundup.

February 16, 2016 thecraftsessions

Instagram Post by @andreacollects of Create Share Love where she talks about how she buys in a way that doesn't work for her making. Such a fabulous thing to understand.

And Stash Less Challenge #1 can be found here.

A quick roundup.

I've been loving watching things pop up on instagram and on the blog over the last three weeks. Your insights into your making thrill me. They are so personal, and so related to where you were/at at the time of purchasing.

I really believe that being kind to yourself is a really important part of this process. Because changing behaviour is just that - a process. Over time, I'm choosing to make better choices that will add up to a mindful stash. It doesn't mean that I won't make mistakes, and make bad choices here and there. But overall, I'm making better decisions because I have taken the time to understand myself and my purchasing better. And then on top of that I'm practicing what I've learnt. I'm also not allowing myself to be a perfectionist about it, which would allow me the easy out once I'd failed. It's OK to do this imperfectly. And I do.

Better decisions over time, through self knowledge and practice = a mindful stash. Simple as that.

Although the themes that run underneath everyone's purchasing are similar - fomo, the pretty, time poverty etc - how that has translated into what you own, are uniquely personal. And then after examination, what you want to do with that knowledge is too. I love that everyone's journey around consumption is so similar and yet unique.

Photo by @lunarknits of a sweater made from stash.

The next challenge will be posted this Friday but in the meantime I thought I would do a little roundup highlighting some people I've found (in a two minute google search :)) that have posted about the results of the first challenge of our 2016 Stash Less Project, and what they have learned. I always find these such interesting reading as they often give me a different way of looking at my own stash.

- Quietfantastic posted a gorgeous image of some of her grandmother's stash.

- Create Share Love has written about her plan.

- The Knitographer has done a thorough inventory which clearly showed her the benefits and problems with her stash.

- Christine's stash is truly impressive - and tidy.

- Dottie Doodle has gone through her fabric.

- The Dawn Threader talks about why she overspent last year.

- Some more instagram photos of people's stashes - a great way to stay accountable methinks.

- Sonia Knits talks about her stash and clarifies that when I, Felicia, talk about Stash Less I mean "to Stash Less" rather than "to go Stash Less"! Totally true! I love a stash. I just want mine to be mindful and intentional.

Please leave me a link in the comments if you have posted on instagram, facebook or on your blog. I would love to take a look at what you are up to.

Felicia x

PS. As I mentioned, the next challenge will be posted Friday, and in the meantime I hope to slip in another more general post.

Announcing our Stash Less March Prize

February 12, 2016 thecraftsessions

These sweet wacky dresses would not have been made without Stash Less as I was "saving" the pretty fabric.

An exciting day today - I get to announce a prize I've been thinking about for yonks! This prize is the other part of the 2016 Stash Less Challenge, and I invite you to be part of it.

You all know that Stash Less has become part of my everyday life. Over the course of the last year, it has irreparably changed the way I think about an unwieldy overflowing stash. I now see my paired-down stash and my scraps as an opportunity. A chance for to play!

I wrote a while ago about Why Restrictions Rock and how the restrictions I placed on my purchasing have also encouraged me to think a bit left of field. Most importantly though, they have got me actually using my stash after years of simply hoarding it based on it's specialness, it's prettiness, or simply the idea that I "might" want to use it for something else.

Specialness, prettiness and maybes, meant that I put off using things I had, and went out to purchase new supplies when I wanted to make something. Instead now, when I have the glimmer of an idea, I head to my fabric cupboard. In most instances I have something that would work, even if I have to modify the idea a little.

I've seen this happening for you too on Instagram, (and your blogs where you have tagged me). Ideas are coming directly out of the process of thinking about your stash in a different way. A freeing up is occurring whereby you are using things you had "saved for something special" because of the realisation that that special is right now, or simply because you have nothing else suitable.

So the March Stash Less Prize aims to celebrate your creative use of your stash.

The March Stash Less Creativity Prize

This prize aims to highlight and celebrate the creativity that comes from playing with, and finally using your stash.

What you need to do - it's pretty simple;
1. Hashtag your project on instagram using the #stash_less* tag by March 25th
2. Tell us a little story about how Stash Less impacted your making of this project - was it using scraps, a special fabric, or simply seeing your stash in a different light.... you tell us.

What will happen;
1. A short list will be posted in the last week of March.
2. A couple of crafty curator type friends will judge the best one.
3. We will send you a prize!

It is open to anyone, anywhere in the world and the prize will be about $100 of goods - probably in the form of books, patterns etc. We will take into account your interests when we are deciding on a prize.

Anything that has already been posted under the hashtag will be included in this prize round!

Let me know what you think! For me, I can't wait to see what you come up with.

Felicia x

*I'll also look at the #stashless hashtag, as some people are understandably forgetting the hyphen.

Smoothness trick for knitting in the round.

February 9, 2016 thecraftsessions

Jag-less join in the round. This one is a little less than perfect but look below for what a hot mess it looks when you do get a jag/step.

A simple trick today but one that hopefully will make you very happy. I've used it a lot in the last few weeks, as posting about my Simple Hat Pattern has suddenly lead to my current slightly manic "hat knitting period". And so I thought I would share the joy of a jag-less* join in the round.

*jag-less / jog-less / step-less are used interchangably.

So what does the jog/jag/step look like and how do you get it.

For years, I used to start knitting in the round by casting on, making sure that I hadn't twisted the stitches, and then I would knit the first stitch on the left hand needle. Straight forward enough. And of course, I got the jaggedy step at the point in which I started knitting.

The big jag/step at the start of the round that I used to get.

A second picture of the same jag so you can see it up close.

Then I discovered this super simple smoothness trick.**

How to do a smooth jag-less join for knitting in the round.

Step 1: Cast on your stitches as your pattern suggests, but cast on one extra stitch.

Step 2: Join to knit in the round by putting your stitches next to one another as you normally would. But instead of knitting the first stitch on the left hand needle, move the first stitch to the right hand needle without knitting it. In other words slip the first stitch purlwise.

Cast on your stitches plus one extra stitch.

Step 2a: Ideally you would place a marker on the right hand needle after you slip the stitch. No marker is shown as I didn't use one - it would have made more sense for the post though - yes? :) A marker will help you when you are new at this.

Step 3: Start knitting by knitting the next stitch on the left hand needle which would have been the second stitch you cast on.

Slip the first stitch you cast on from the left needle to the right. Then knit (what was) the second stitch on the left hand needle.

After the stitch has been knit. The first stitch on the right hand needle is your first knit stitch and what we call the beginning of the round. The second stitch on the right hand needle is the slipped stitch.

Note that I was knitting ribbing for a hat in the photos and so you can see the knit 2, purl 2 in the photos below after I have knitted the full round.

Step 4: The next step is to knit (as the pattern is written) right around until you get to the second last stitch before your marker. This will include the last unknit stitch and the slipped stitch. You can see this below.

Step 5: The final step is to knit the two stitches left in the round together in pattern - the unknit stitch and the slipped stitch. That is you either do a k2tog or a p2tog. This gets rid of the extra stitch you cast on and creates a smooth join.

In my case in this picture I actually purl the two stitches together.