September 2021 – Crochet at the Lodge

Bye-Bye Synthetic Fibers

Cozy Sunday Shawl pattern by KW_Knits. Made predominantly with natural fibers.

I recently made a painful discovery–acrylic yarn is a type of plastic called acryonile. Ugh! I feel a bit foolish that I just figured this out. I mean, what was I thinking it was made of? But worse than the foolish feeling is knowing I will for the most part, need to give up yarns that are primarily artificial blends. This is a tough thing for me because I love acrylic yarn!

I love how soft it can be, I love the easy care and of course, I love its affordability! However, I love the earth too and I have made a conscious effort to reduce my consumption of plastic since it can hang around in the dump for many, many years.

According to the blog on Darn Good Yarn acrylic yarns can take up to 200 years to biodegrade! I don’t want to be a contributor to the glut of plastics already plaguing our planet.

However, I am aware I am fortunate to be able to afford natural fibers. And I am also fortunate not to have a wool allergy. So there is no judgment from me about others’ choices for their crafting. I just know that for me, I wouldn’t love my finished items as much if I were to continue to buy and make with synthetics. Once my stash is used up, that’s it! I will be supporting local yarn stores and indie dyers much more.

One excellent small business I have discovered is The Frogger Niagara or Maria Derkach on Etsy. She takes clothing made of luxury yarns from second hand stores, frogs them, and cakes or skeins the yarn. I have bought several recycled cakes from her and I was very happy. Her prices are budget friendly too!

I know I will miss going into a chain or big box store and choosing whatever catches my fancy. I love the rush of creativity I feel with endless possibilities. But in the end, I think this small sacrifice will bring me a feeling of lasting joy and satisfaction.

What’s your opinion? What type of yarn do you prefer to use?

Organization

I recently decided I didn’t want to keep haphazardly buying yarn without a project in mind…at least for most of the time. (*wink*) I wanted to be more deliberate and focused. So, I thought I would create a spreadsheet of all the patterns, pins, and favorites I had on Ravelry, Pinterest, Instagram and stored in my computer. I listed the oldest first and then created extra pages for seasonal and gift items. I had a hunch it would be a long list. I had no idea!

The project took about two weeks. In the process, I discovered there were some pins’ links that were broken or removed or there were patterns I no longer liked. I deleted a fair amount. But the larger my spreadsheets became, it caused me to look at the patterns much more critically. Did I really want to commit to and could I see myself making the pattern? Quite a few more were deleted. If I absolutely couldn’t bear to part with it, I created a spreadsheet titled, Inspiration, for those I probably wouldn’t make but loved.

During my project, I watched Marie Kondo’s new show on Netflix, Sparking Joy.

You might be familiar with Marie Kondo because of her first show on Netflix, Tidying Up .

But, if not, Marie is an organization guru. She teaches people how to pare down their overwhelming clutter and disorganization so their space is tranformed into a practical and inviting environment. Part of Marie’s method involves holding an item in your hand and noticing if it sparks joy. If not, it should go as it’s probably causing some stress to keep it.

As I worked on my spreadsheet, I found this to be relieving, freeing advice. Although I couldn’t hold the items in my hand, I gauged my emotional response as I looked at the pattern. I have so many things in my life which I keep out of obligation or fearing I will miss it later. This causes me feelings of pressure (not joy!) and I can’t utilize the resources I have to their best use. I feel scattery, unfocused and even confused sometimes. This is definitely not how I want to feel with a hobby that provides me so much pleasure and satisfaction!

Since I have finished my spreadsheets, it has helped me be less impulsive and more selective in favoriting or purchasing patterns and yarns as I have a renewed realizion I have only so much time to complete them all.

I encourage you to try an organization project for your crochet or other craft patterns if you haven’t already. For me it was revealing and renewing.

Do you have favorite methods you use to organize and stay focused with your patterns or craft projects?

My First Post and My First Pattern!

Hi everyone! I am super excited to start a craft blog. Thank you so much for visiting.

I used to blog years ago about relationships and some other issues that were important to me. Then I went to graduate school to get a Master’s degree in Counseling Psychology and I got burned out on writing. I didn’t think I would go back to blogging but I had an experience that brought me back to it.

I created the above pattern last year and posted it to an extremely popular site for knitters and crocheters. I won’t mention the name, but let’s just say it’s the one that changed their site and has been unresponsive to people who have experienced accessibility issues. I was confused by the instructions on uploading a pattern and emailed the “Support” team. I never received an answer. I went ahead and did the best I could with it. A few months later, I got a snippy email from “Support” which informed me my pattern had been removed, despite being “favorited” by several people. I was so disgusted and even hurt. If you have put the time into writing a pattern, you will know how much work it is. But, even though that was a negative experience, it propelled me to set back up my blog. So, not all bad!

Anywho, here is what you probably really want–the free pattern!

Double Stitch Autumn Placemat.docx (1)DownloaD

I hope you enjoy it. Please feel free to contact me at crochetatthelodge@gmail.com if you find any errors or have questions.

Happy Fall and Happy Crocheting!