I usually love my crafting hobbies but I am currently feeling somewhat overwhelmed by the quantity of stash that I have and am feeling very guilty about spending so much money just to store stuff under my bed or in the wardrobe. I am also feeling guilty about the fact that I never seem to spend enough time working on a project to ever make any noticeable progress to finishing things the only time I ever finish things are when they are gifts and more often than not the gift is finished late. Luckily I have very understanding friends and relations who would rather wait for something handmade than get a store brought gift – so far my sister and her husband have been waiting 4 plus years for their wedding gift.
At present I am spending more time worrying and thinking about crafting than actually sitting down to do something and am finding that my enjoyment of my crafts is somewhat diminished by all the worrying and fretting that I am indulging in. So I have begun to formulate a plan to help reduce my guilt and put a stop to the worrying.
Nothing is set in stone but so far my thoughts about my crafting plan for 2006 is to try to drastically reduce my stash levels, this may well take longer than 12 months but at least I can make a good start towards reaching a stash level that I can feel more comfortable with. Not buying stash for more than a couple of months is totally unrealistic since I need regular retail therapy sessions. Currently I have around 65 fully kitted up cross-stitching projects (this also includes other counted stitch techniques), 20 or so fully kitted up knitting & crochet projects and about a dozen beading projects that are fully kitted up. Added to that is a large box or two full of unallocated supplies that I could not leave all by themselves in the shop that I found them in. Over the next week or so I shall fully catalogue my stash - for the moment I shall just concentrate on the fully kitted up projects and once I have reduced that I shall tackle the supply boxes. In broad terms my plan is to concentrate on knitting and cross-stitching throughout 2006. I will work on one of two main projects, both stitching projects (French Alphabet Sampler and an adaptation of two M-Designs letters which is to be a wedding gift for a dear friend) and I will come up with a list of smaller projects that I want to finish and just work through them one at a time alternating between stitching and knitting projects alongside working on my main project. I will allow myself two planned stitching purchase (both birth samplers for babies which are due to put in an appearance in April). But other than that I am not allowed to purchase anything new until I have had several finishes and once I allow myself purchases I shall limit myself to buying stuff that allows me to utilise some of my already purchased supplies. Long term I want to have no more than 10 knitting projects, 5 beading projects and 20 stitching projects. I will set the levels that I wish to be at by the end of 2006 closer to the end of 2005 in the hope that I will be able to finish a few projects in the remaining weeks. I will also post my existing stash lists at the end of this year.
Wish me luck – I am going to need it. Some gently bullying to keep me on the right path may also be in order.
