February Wrap Up

 Well, it is the second month of my limited buy, stash busting year and I am pleased to say that I made only one craft purchase this month. 

It was not even yarn! A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, I used to do cross stitch. I am not even sure why I put it away for years. I think maybe I found knitting to be easier when the kids were little. Anyway, Flosstube has encouraged me to renew my love of cross stitch. 

On 1st March, the #itsbeenonehellofayearsal is starting. This is a SAL for the Pandemic Sampler, a gorgeous free pattern by @sarcygurl. You can find the link to the pattern on her Instagram profile. 

Long story short, I had no fabric big enough in my stash so I purchased some. 

And that is my only craft purchase for the month! And I feel great about it! I don’t feel at all like I am missing out (only a few times watching YouTube). But then I remember this is much more fun and creative than just buying new stuff! 

Anyway, what did I make in February? 

I completed six projects from stash yarn, including one long-standing WIP. I want to focus on clearing at least one long standing WIP per month. 

The Valentine Socks used 336m / 80g of yarn, from yarn purchased in 2020. This was our February socks project for the Hand Me My Knitting group. 

The Valentine Hearts dishcloth used 72.1m / 46g of Peaches & Creme that has been in my stash since 2006! I bought tons of this cotton on eBay long ago (I have enough to keep the whole world in dishcloths!) 

I love the Blue Barley Hat! Our February stash down theme in the Hand Me My Knitting group was ‘head’. My daughter claimed this hat as soon as I posted a photo on Instagram! 

This used a total of 285.9m / 70g of yarn. The blues were three minis from the KnitCrate minis in 2015. The pattern is from the book Knitting From The North by Hilary Grant which I borrowed from the library. 

And another gold Christmas tinsel! These are the perfect car knitting project and we had to go to Bendigo for my son’s basketball state championships. It used 72m / 50g from yarn purchased last year.

Another dishcloth - the Oak Tree Dishcloth. More of that cotton from eBay! It used 70.5m / 45g.

And my long standing WIP was the Pool Party Leg Warmers. They used 341.3m / 91g of yarn which I received in a Woolswap in 2018.

So for those that have been keeping track, that is a total leaving my stash of 1177.8m / 382g. 

Per my rules, I have allowed myself an earning rate of 35c per 10g. I know this doesn’t seem like much, but I wanted it to be a quarter or so of the yarn being knitted. Otherwise the stash won’t be diminishing! 

So I have ‘earnt’ $13.37 for my knitting in February. And I’m not even slightly tempted to spend it! 

I am finding that I am not even that interested in browsing the internet or looking for things to buy.  And this is giving me back heaps more time to spend actually crafting! 

Hopefully this wasn’t too much number crunching for you! Does anyone else do something like this? Or keep track in some other way? I’d love to hear about it  

I am looking forward to seeing what I can achieve in March - and I’ll have some cross stitch to show as well (that is a whole other earning process! 😀)

Happy crafting!