I've mentioned in previous blog posts, and on social media sites where I post about my fiber arts projects (check me out on BlueSky: @StitchnDish) that I have been making a concerted effort to use fabric and yarn that I already own, in lieu of buying new, and have even done some shopping at thrift stores to repurpose clothing into craft projects. The scarf I recently crocheted (shown below) was made from a clearance purchase I found in my stash. It was a single ball of Lionbrand Mandala yarn in the colorway "Orion". I don't remember when I bought it, or why. The truth is that it was likely purchased because I liked the colors and it was in the Clearance bin.
The pattern for the scarf above comes from the Fiber Flux team. Here's the link to that pattern (I made mine slightly less wide than their pattern shows).
As I crocheted this scarf, I was watching a Netflix documentary on consumerism and waste (trailer posted at the bottom of this post). I take these issues seriously, although I confess, I am no poster child for the practices that support the concepts. I am trying, though, to be more mindful. To that end, I shop more often at the Pittsburgh Center for Creative Reuse, and have committed to shopping my stash FIRST when contemplating new projects, as I did with this scarf project.
I was inspired to think more ecologically about crafting after a very brief stint working a side-hustle at a big box craft store. The amount of unsustainable JUNK brought in under the guise of being craft-adjacent was disturbing, and unlike the holiday decorations I still unpack to use each year from my childhood, these things will be lucky to last 1 season. It was crystal clear to me that most of the items on the home decoration shelves in these stores would end up in landfills before the next holiday on the calendar, and that disturbed me, greatly.
My concern around the unsustainability of the craft "decorations" I was seeing stream onto the shelves of the big box craft stores was barely scratching the surface of this issue. I felt a sense of shock and even horror as I watched the video about runaway consumerism, and have to say, also a sense of vindication.
I have LONG been wary of influencers and brand ambassadors who insist that we "need" this product, or will miss out if we fail to use their featured brand. I grew up in a rural family that wore hand-me-downs, and cannot remember most of the toys I received under a Xmas tree (I wrote about the real meaning of the holidays in this blog post on my other site).
While I only found this video last night, I have to confess I have been struggling with the (bad) habit I developed around hoarding crafting supplies over the years. This is not a RECENT issue, either. I have boxes upon boxes of craft supplies that I moved into my home back in 1995,... yes, that's almost 30 years ago. I'm sure I've repurchased many of these, and moved on from the fads that involved others, multiple times. I am working to donate and use as many as I can, and have dialed back my shopping in every area of my life, and especially around craft supplies and yarn. I wrote about my own emerging self-discovery on yarn hoarding in this blog post.
I was introduced to crafting as a way to make things last longer, save money and materials, and to be able to give gifts from the heart. It was never supposed to be a frenzied spending spree to make things each holiday season. This began to feel too much like the stress of attempting to find the "PERFECT" gift for everyone, and I see now that my stepping back from the energy of all this started a long time ago.
PRO TIP: don't look to stores or online sites for a "PERFECT" gift. The "perfect" in any gift lies in the energy behind its selection and gifting to another, in love.
As our culture evolved and I became a wife and mother; I began to get overwhelmed with the holiday season (Xmas). The expectations, even from well-meaning family members, always ended up putting us in DEBT for a good 6-months of the following year. At that point where we began to feel some relief, having paid off the previous holiday season's debt, we would begin to save and shop ahead of time for the next year's holiday explosion. At the same time, our young children were entering public schools where the "what did YOU get for Xmas?" question terrorized parents into making sure they did as much as possible to keep their kids from being the ones that were ashamed to share what Santa had NOT delivered.
It was early in the era of technology toys, which were expensive, and added to the pressure around the optics of an explosion of gifts under the tree,... I began to loathe the holiday season.
Years later I stopped putting up a Xmas tree, and only minimally decorated. Now I only put out a few things that hold fond memories for me. They may or may NOT fit in with the decorative theme at the time, and that's ok. I don't miss the big splash. In fact, decades of holiday shopping and spending pressure was so toxic to me that I'm almost hostile to the hype that seems to start earlier and earlier each year.
And I'm not imagining that timeline. This year, one big box craft store starting putting out Halloween decor in early May,... The reason? Halloween is the 2nd biggest retail shopping holiday season.
It's all about the money.
The creative/crafting skills I learned from my grandmothers and mother were not intended to spark endless shopping excursions to craft stores so to pile mountains of purchases in my craft room and basement. These were skills honed in necessity.
The quilts we have today were made by our great-grandmothers, and consist of fabric from old aprons, work-shirts, dress shirts, and dresses. They often don't match very well and none of them would be featured in a modern-day quilt show; but they mean more to us than ANY designer-fabric, machine-quilted piece that features the latest colors and fabrics.
Sidebar: my sister and I traveled to Amish country this Summer and realized that even the Amish have been impacted. They had bed-sized quilts, obviously machine-stitched, available starting around $1,200. I don't begrudge them that, but it does seem to conflict with what I understand a "simple life" to represent.
Anyway,... although I, too, have participated in breathless and frenzied shopping for bags and bags of things I don't need AND will likely never use, it's time to take a deep breath and start paying closer attention to the downstream impact of my decisions.
The reason?
When we BUY, we trigger more production of things. To slow production, a significant proportion of us need to dial back our buying habits. I'm not sure if that's even feasible; we may be too far gone for a reset. I hope NOT, but it sure seems like we've gone past the brink of habits that are detrimental to ALL of us and to our planet.
I encourage everyone to watch the Netflix video (less than 1.5 hours long) and start today to dial back on consumerism. Together, we may not be able to solve the entire issue, but I believe that people who create and craft are resourceful, and can absolutely have a positive impact!
Here's a short list to get us started.
Reuse things whenever possible
salsa jars make great craft supply storage, as do jelly jars, pretzel containers, etc.
Avoid shopping when we feel bored or depressed
When we are feeling depressed and are tempted to shop in response, find a project that we can do using supplies we already have on hand.
Organize our craft areas so we know what we have to use in our next project(s)
Join a local craft collective that shares the values of reuse and repurposing
Shop thrift stores to "rescue" fabric in cast off clothing
unique shirt fabrics make excellent small fabric bags!!
Reprogram our reactions and responses to ads and influencers who want to promote the latest "must have".
the only things we really "must have" are oxygen, water, food, shelter, and love - maybe also a cat or two
Consider a pivot around gifting at the holidays that gives donations to worthy charitable organizations instead of more "things" to people who can buy 10 of them, any day of the week.
Encourage anti-consumerism gifting among family and friends. Start being the change we want to see!
Stand up a fabric or yarn exchange in our community. Whether ad hoc or regularly scheduled, these events are places where people agree to trade supplies with others - no money exchanged.
People can also opt to just give without taking, if that works for them.
For online temptations, initiate a "pause before purchase" routine.
so often, we are adding things to carts online in response to an unconscious need for a dopamine hit (we want to feel better). There are MANY ways to get that hit of feel-good brain chemicals that don't require buying more stuff.
I go and rummage in my fabric or yarn stash when I feel this urge and that usually works!
when it doesn't, I go for a walk or exercise some other way
We, as a culture and society, created this current situation, and only we can turn it around. The motivations of businesses are always focused on making more money which means producing more things for us to buy (pay attention early in the video to the concept of planned obsolescence). To stop the continued barfing out of more and more and more, we have to stop being interested in more and more and more.
I am ready to stop the madness, and work toward creating a healthier planet for my children, grandchildren and everyone else's children and grandchildren, too. I invite you to join me, in any way you can, to start today and work toward a sustainable change in the ways we engage in and with our crafting activities.
We can absolutely be the change we are seeking. Let's get started!
(C) 2024 Stitch 'n Dish
Comments