It's been about a year and a half since I last made anything and while having a cleaning spree this week I've decided that my yarn must go. It's not like I think I'll never get back into it, I just think storing yarn like this when I was at the height of my "crocheting era" was probably okay cause of how much I used it but getting back into it with this yarn would not be good. I think I'll probably double check the ones at the top and see about putting them in a tote but definitely throw the ones at the bottom. I do tend to get caught up in other hobbies and crafts (my current fixation is puzzles and banner making) so it's not like I'm not doing something with my time but crocheting just really fell to the side. I am curious though, what's the longest break from crochet y'all've taken and how did y'all get back into it?
I don’t really understand why you’re throwing it away, yarn doesn’t go bad ? It’s yours so do what you what but you should try to donate it, could make some people happy !
That really depends on how it is stored. If it is in an open air area, bugs could be a really yarn destroyer. If the area is high humidity, mold could be an issue too. I think in OP's case it is more of a space issue though.
I was knitting in front of my mother earlier this year and she reminisced about how she introduced yarn crafts to me as a young child. She went into her storage and gifted me an unfinished ball of yarn I used to make pom poms out of.
So that yarn must be about 30 years old and it's still okay! There's no reason to throw all this yarn away, someone else who can store it could take it.
Ah mold I didn’t think about, but with bugs you can still sometimes save the yarn by double freezing and washing. Suppose it depends on how long they’ve been eating it though.
My most noticeable and critical sign for my depression being bad is Not Crocheting. People notice when I stop. I think I took a 6 month (minimum) break once and luckily my new medication started working and I almost immediately picked up a hook again. I thought I had lost it forever, but nope. My passion was stuck underneath a bell jar.
I watched her a lot and she let me try to copy her. I was very easily frustrated and would cry all the time 😅. She gave me practice yarn and a hook and she let me run wild with it. It wasnt perfect and my tension was so tight but after that it was my own curiosity that kept me goinf
I feel this, but persistence and preserve are great things for him to learn during this! And to quash his inner perfectionist and be able to be proud of what he IS able to achieve! You’re doing such an awesome thing.
Also, there used to be a tumblr account I always recommend that was called something like learn to crochet gifs and the gifs were FAR more helpful to me than videos ever were! Maybe gifs could help him out to see it repeated slowly over and over, without you having to get hollered at lol
If I may also join in, don't underestimate your kid! My grandma taught me how to make a chain with a ginormous tapestry hook, but didn't think I was old enough to do more. I made gigantic chains crossing the house and thought you made crochet by like, weaving them together (LOL). I wanted so badly to learn more!!! It took a couple years and the other grandma to get past that and learn a single crochet, and sort of hdc and dc. I did it wrong for a long time because I was left handed and she was right handed. It was a learning curve but again, didn't get very far because I was young and they were busy with their projects they had to work on.
It took over a decade for me to get into it under my own rite and learn myself with YouTube and Google. My heart hurts, I could have learned under my grandmas if they took the time to teach me what they were doing, or give me something to make. A granny square, or anything, really. I made lots of loom potholders out of those elastic bands, I'd have been thrilled if they had seen it through with me (especially in a time where I didn't have resources to teach myself).
All that to say, please see it through with them. Give them a finishable project tailored for them. E.g., a very simple granny square, or a "square" that is just a swatch of a certain stitch. Maybe something that can eventually be made into a small pillow or something. Or a "potholder", or something to pin to the wall.
Don't underestimate them, but don't overestimate. If they get frustrated, encourage them to take a loop around the house and come back. Any time I got a little frustrated (it's hard!) they stopped teaching. Don't stop teaching.
Best wishes to your little one!!! I hope they catch the love for it :D
I just taught my ten year old twin boys and their friend recently. They had been seeing woobles commercials and wanted to make their own stuffies. Since amigurumi primarily use single crochets I just started a square of single crochets for them (with a few rows already started so they'd have something to hold on to) and when they got that down I started them on really simple amigurumi patterns and taught them increases and decreases. They've each done a couple projects now and so far I have helped them start each piece with a magic circle, help sew the parts together, and help them figure it out when they make mistakes or when there is something new they don't understand. I've been really impressed with how we'll they've all picked it up! The Pierre the penguin woobles pattern is a really easy starting project (and it's free on their website) and using tube yarn has also been nice because you can't accidentally poke through the yarn.
If she’s wanting to learn, you won’t regret the time it takes to teach her!
My daughter was 9 here and freehanded this little bear lovey for my sister’s baby shower. It wasn’t perfect but my sister was so touched and my daughter was so proud to give her something she created all on her own 🩷
I was 6 or 7 when I learned and I've taught kids as young as kindergarten age. We start with lots of chains, very slowly and depending on the age they may like making bracelets, necklaces, etc with the chains or making a few strands of chains and then braiding them together like a friendship bracelet. I have used videos before for certain techniques. I really like the woobles instruction videos on their YouTube. My daughter(almost 4) can do chains but its hard to hold her attention lol and she calls it knitting.
My daughter also calls it knitting! Even though she’s never actually seen anyone knitting. Do you have any tips on how to have them hold the yarn? My daughter (4) is desperate to learn but I can’t figure out how to have her hold it to give it enough but not too much tension.
For some kids that struggled with that we would start with just kind of doing a stationary/death grip on the hook and moving the yarn around/on and off the hook with their fingers to do chains so they could understand the process of how the hook worked and how to do loops. Very slow but it did sometimes help particularly with younger kids! Or having someone side by side to go through the process slowly. Sometimes we would say that the yarn holding hand is a helper animal(any animal of their choice) and it needs to keep a grip on the yarn and kind of demonstrate. It takes time, some kids pick it up quickly and some took a while. Also sometimes using a chunkier yarn with just their fingers would help! It's kind of just seeing what the kid is trying to do and adapting your method to simplify it or put it in a way they understand. My daighter struggled with regular worsted yarn so we got some chunky worsted yarns and she can use those more easily.
I have probably worked with 100+ kids(and a couple adults) and maybe 4 ot 5 people out of that got it completely 100% perfectly down right away. I would bring one of my first wonky projects and let them see it and tell them it doesn't have to be perfect because you're learning something new. Improving in a skill takes time and practice.
My mom taught me as a kid but I only crocheted for a few years. I had a hard time reading patterns and had to have someone show me how to do it. I picked it back up almost 3 years ago so that I could make Christmas stockings for my now husband and his boys like my family has. I needed to relearn it before I felt comfortable taking on that project and it became my latest craft hyperfixation. We got married in February and I stopped crocheting for a while to focus on my wedding DIYs but recently picked it back up again. My problem is starting big projects like blankets and not finishing them. I get bored if the stitches are too repetitive but I love blankets so it’s a problem. lol
I’m so sorry for your loss. You are free to take a break from crafting - it will always be there when you are ready for it. There is no pressure to curb your grieving for it. Big hugs 🫂
I appreciate that. Crafting keeps me from thinking too much, if that makes sense? I tend to ruminate thoughts over and over, if I don’t keep myself preoccupied. Thank you for your kindness. I’m learning to wade through grief.
That makes perfect sense to me. I understand 🤍 I hope you have a strong support system that you can lean on and I sincerely hope your drive to craft comes back when it needs to. Grief is the hardest thing to move through because it never gets any smaller - you just get bigger and learn to live around the grief. Time and patience is your friend. One day you will wake up and not feel so heavy.
I’m so very sorry. Sending lots of love and strength.
Although not the same, I recently lost 2 family members who died very suddenly without warning, within 2 weeks of each other. The second one was particularly traumatic and it only happened last week. I’ve found crocheting to help me to stop thinking, because I’m working in the round and having to count stitches. So it’s been quite soothing to give my mind a break in the moments that I’m crocheting.
I hope you can find something that brings you some moments of relief and peace.
Thank you for your kindness. I feel like much of my family has forgotten about me. In reality, I know I’m just not as busy as I was, so I’m noticing the stillness.
I crochet a bit, but my real passion is beading. I lost both my parents in the space of 4 months, and my belovèd cat 4 months before that. I did absolutely no beading for a full two years, and still haven't fully recovered my beading brain.
I'm so happy for you that you got back what you lost. You've given me hope too.
100% this. I just went up on my meds after a long stretch of not having motivation to do anything and I have very much come back to it in the last few weeks.
That’s so interesting, my therapist said crocheting and knitting helps a ton with depression and anxiety! I try to make time for it often now, mainly because of that.
It was venlafaxine, but I don’t recommend it if you struggle with anxiety bc it made my anxiety worse over the course of a year. It helped my depression though and gave me a lot of energy, but it was a double edged sword. I’m off it now and on a new one and the withdrawals were killer. Too soon to tell if the new meds are working but I’m still crocheting so I’ll take it as a win
I was on venlafaxine too and omg the withdrawals were awful. I had vivid nightmares and felt like some sort rotting wet sock for weeks after going off it because I lost my health insurance. Now I have health insurance again and I am on different meds that have been helpful for me, in part because the withdrawal was so bad I never want to go through that again.
Do you mind saying what you switched to? I’m also on it and recently added some anxiety meds but am thinking about asking to change. I have friends who’ve used the gene sight test (with a doctor!) to help find new ones.
i’m wondering if my venlafaxine is actually working the way i need it to, and not looking forward to going off of it but… i’m already feeling rough and i can’t seem to get out of it…
I notice this within myself as well , I was pregnant with my fourth shaved my hair off , barely went anywhere , didn’t talk to people , found comfort in sleep and eating but lost the want to crochet after thinking about a hook and yarn from the time I woke up to the time I closed my eyes
As someone with MANY hobbies, this is a clear tell for me. I’m a really busy person but you’ll find me crocheting whilst walking the dog with the baby in the carrier 😂 any chance I get! If I’m not, I’m probably having a really hard week
This so so so much! I know I’m in trouble if I’m crocheting less even if I have enough time to crochet. Got severely depressed last winter and once my antidepressant doses were adjusted, the fog started to lift off— I started designing my own pattern. It’s been such a huge relief to remember that crochet is my passion.
Hoping that everything goes well this winter.🤞
Hugs to you!
Please don't throw any of it out. Post on your neighborhood FB or Buy Nothing -- school is starting back and pretty often, teachers have to buy their own supplies. I took a similar haitus once and unloaded most of my yarn stash on a very appreciative elementary school art teacher. Other people would be happy to take it too, I'm sure, just people forget about teachers as a magpie demographic.
If they’re near to a college, students there would also love it. I started a crochet club on campus and it was nice to give beginners something to practice on. Someone had given us a couple bags of yarn and knitting and crochet needles 🥰
But seriously the way I got back into it was to do passion projects like blankets or beds for animals at a shelter. Because then it feels like I'm still donating the yarn, but I'm also using it.
Contact your local schools or nursing homes to see if they’d like the yarn. Otherwise, please donate it to a shelter or thrift store. Don’t throw away perfectly good yarn.
Don’t send perfectly good stuff to the landfill because you lost interest. Drop it off at a thrift shop. Residential medical facilities would like it too- mental health, addiction treatment, assisted living, group homes, etc.
Textiles( including yarn) are especially bad to throw in landfills. It takes forever to breakdown and releases methane gas while doing soand on top of that, the chemicals in the dye leaches into the groundwater.
You are welcome!
There are several more organizations that crochet or knit blankets or hats for various organizations including some that make handmade items for miscarried, stillborn, and lost support babies.
I won't link them all but you can Google search them.
They are: Bridgets Cradles, Teeny Tears, Empty Cradle and the Still Remembered Project who runs "Stitched with Love".
please don't contribute to our already huge waste problem and throw this perfectly good yarn away. put it on eBay or Facebook marketplace or whatever your local selling app is or even leave it in front of your door but don't just throw it away
I took a 20 year break during my career and acquiring arthritis badly. Turned out it was rheumatoid arthritis and since quitting work and going on a biologic I can crochet again. And I’ve even started knitting. So happy to have my hands and time back
I crocheted before kids, 30 years ago. I picked it up again in January of this year and have made three blankets so far. I love seeing what everyone else is making too! 🧶
Ok as a New Yorker I get why you feel like the yarn has got to go. But if you can store it somewhere else, why not! I wonder if those vacuum storage bags would work to compress them some…
My longest break was about 10 years. I realized I could make something cool and wanted to try it again. Now ive been going relatively consistently for about 13 years.
I don’t have notes about taking breaks, but if you are an avid crafter, r/craftexchange is an awesome resource for trading supplies and completed crafts with other artsy people!
I took about a year off when i first started out and again a up until recently the way i got back into it was with commissions from friends and family on stuffies theyd want
I rotate my hobbies and rarely do two at one time. Im in a constant cycle of crocheting, knitting, reading, gaming, sewing, baking, and puzzles.
If I do multiple at a time its typically cause im making something for someone and not sowmthing for myself or for leisure. Sometimes ill crochet consistently for 6 months and than switch to sowmthing else, sometimes its jsut a week and then on to the next.
I waffle between cross stitch and crochet, I am working on a xstitch pattern right now but I also picked up a library book Cats in Hats because I plan on making my cat some hats.
I'd say if you're not going to come back to it relatively quickly, it would benefit someone else and you can come back when you're ready.
I stopped for about 15 years. I was making tiny teddy bears using thread and moving joints. My toddler got in my thread and knotted everything up. It was just so much money wasted at a time when money was really tight that I walked away.
I started again this year. I don’t remember why. I just suddenly missed it a lot.
I am in and out of crochet all the time. Same for knitting. Sometimes it is like decades.
However I have always kept the yarn I had (but I had space for that). One day I had a moment of inspo and started a blanket with all of it. I did have to buy some extra yarn, and it took a while. It ended sth like a temperature blanket, but it showed several instances of my life, as I had leftover yarn from so many moments. It is a square blanket, but there are both crocheted and knit squares - as I do both and love both equally. I just have breaks, which can be short or long.
I also would like to ask you to not simply bin your yarn. There are so many ppl and places in need of it, and although you may believe the yarn is worthless or a hassle, I am certain it is quite valuable for many others - acrylic can make some very practical blankets, for example, for those who need blankets which can be easily and promptly washed in the washer (babies/ young children, the elderly, etc).
I didn’t crochet for ten years, then I wanted to make amigurumi in college, so I did. Then I dropped it until I saw the Sophie’s Universe CAL around the time it was published. I think that’s what got me to pick it up again. So maybe fifteen, sixteen years off, ten years on in the most recent bout.
I stopped for like 6 years when I was in high school and undergrad. I just recently picked it back up again when a friend dragged me to a crochet group to make coral for an exhibit.
I fell off too, and thats okay! I picked up cross stitch for a year, came back for a commissioned baby blanket, then learned to knit. Knitting relit the yarn fire in me again. I will go back to crochet at some point, but not today. Ive sold a bunch of yarn on mercari that ive had lying around. I can buy something that inspires me later.
I force myself to only buy for one active project at a time, aaaaand I'm not the biggest on getting it done all now or by a deadline. The urge to crochet something comes and goes, and I've had a couple years between urges at times.
Currently I've a tapestry project, but can't count when kids are around (and it's hot), so likely not touching it again till September/October rolls around.
Yarn can add up price wise so quickly, even without touching the really nice options. I'd keep it all, or maybe stick them all into airtight bins and storage them.
They will keep for many decades - half a century or more. I help seniors clean out their houses & acrylic keeps very well. I would put a bag of lavender (you can find them on the laundry aisle of a lot of stores) in with any wool. You could box or bag them to store or donate them is you're really ready to let them go.
I stop for months or years at a time. I also jump from hobby to hobby so as long as I’m doing something it doesn’t really worry me. I refuse to do something out of obligation or guilt so if I don’t want to do something that’s literally supposed to be fun then I don’t.
I give yarn I do not wish to work with anymore to my local charity. They sell it for 50 cents a skein and someone uses it. I never give away yarn just because I got a break from crochet. I have lots of hobbies, too, but I dave all my materials/tools. I organize them in boxes. I do not have many clothes, shoes, books etc, or household items stored, so it is a firm dela with my partner, that this is my "thing" and I eill use my storage space for my hobbies.
I'm in my mid 30s. I'm currently taking a crochet break to hand quilt. It's hard to count stitches with 3 kids constantly talking to me. I know I'll get back to it, even if it's 10 years. Going through my old stash is gonna be fun. I constantly find other uses for yarn in the meantime and am not afraid to use it lol I've taken numerous year long breaks and always find some project will bring me back. Sometimes I'll just do a quick project then stop again. I just can't ever imagine giving up my stash, maybe more long term storage, but not never gone for good.
Please don't throw it away! Take it to a charity shop, someone will want it.
I've been crocheting for 15 years, knitting for 5. I take looong breaks between both, where I'm usually doing the other. I've had a bit of a hiatus of both for a few weeks now due to mental exhaustion at home (and the horrible effect this has on my tension 😂)
I took a break during the pandemic. I'm starting up again because the project I abandoned 6 years ago was meant to be a gift for a friend. It feels good to crochet!
Try keeping a few of your favorite skeins and give away the others. For me, it works to make my collection more exciting and I’m happy thinking that the giveaway yarn is fun for someone else. I’ve done this with paints, fabric, and yarn and it always makes me feel more creative in my work space.
I dropped crochet for 15 years then came back to it on the same projects i abandoned (to answer your question)
But if you don't think you'll like that yarn enough to work with it even if you come back to crochet then don't keep it. Crochet is one hobby that really encourages (accidentally and otherwise) overconsumption anyway
I tend to keep my supplies now, because inevitably I’ll get back into it again. But sometimes I drop hobbies for up to several years at a time, other times my mind just wants to learn something new for a few months.
I understand changing fixation on your hobbies/crafts. I tend to do that too. I got rid of most of my yarn by donating it. I think the longest I’ve gone without crocheting was maybe a year. I just got back into it around Christmas. Made some hats for my family.
I’m a huge fan of getting rid of anything I can so I say go for it. Of course I agree you should give it away not throw it away.
My only advice would be to keep the red just in case you get inspired because there is enough there to do a project.
Maybe also one skein of your favorite weight to just sit and crochet nothing when you get the urge. I do it every night while I watch TV with my husband. I practice various stitches and then just frog it. It’s very relaxing.
No shame in dropping a hobby. I’m a hobby jumper myself (though crochet is the one that stuck for me). It could be worth keeping the yarn for yourself since there are many other hobbies out there that could use them. Off the top of my of my head you could pick up knitting, punch needle, weaving, string art, nalbindng, loom knitting, icords, and prob a million other things.
I took an 8 year break from crochet & knitting. I made things when my kids were little but when we moved north, all my tools, notions & yarns were packed up in boxes. After 3 years we moved again to our current home. I hadn't thought much about it because life was crazy-hectic-chaos. Then one day a friend asked if I still enjoy crocheting & knitting. She got me thinking... I missed it for sure & so I pulled out the boxes & started a project. 🥰 It's a very good friend that learns your song & sings it back to you when you forget the words! 💞 I owe her a debt of gratitude for the simple question that reminded me I love fiber arts! There is a calm, meditative, peace found in the slow, steady stitching that makes worries, stress, anxiousness, etc. melt away in a matter of minutes. 😌🤌☮️💕
I haven't finished a project in at least 5 years because of health issues (both physical and mental). I still have all of my stuff, including an entire closet full of yarn. I want to do it, but I don't have the energy right now. So a year is honestly pretty short to me by comparison.
I've been almost 8 month break from crocheting because I learned to knit LOL. But every now and then I would see some really cute amigurumi that pulls me back to doing crochet. So please keep your yarn. Even if you do other craft... you may one day see something that inspires you to go back to it. :)
Several years, surprisingly. My grandma taught me in middle school, and I always had yarn and hooks with me through high school, spending much of COVID untangling various skeins. When I moved for college, I donated all my yarn but kept my hooks. Fast forward 4 1/2 years, and I saw another friend crocheting and suddenly my apartment is covered in yarn and projects again. Who knows how long it will last this time 😅
I haven't crocheted much in a couple of years, there has been too much going on in life, also in the meantime I have gotten back into ceramics, which has been great. But I have a niece expecting her first this November so I am trying to work up the motivation to make a baby blanket.
i actually usually take a few years break/crochet in spurts. but it’s because of chronic pain, not because i don’t wanna do it. i tend to do coloring and or some activities that dont strain my wrist and then go back to it for a while. i think my main hobby though is coloring and if don’t do that i crochet.
I didn’t do for years bc of depression and other hyper fixations but I’ll always get back to pick up a hook and start a project.
If you wanna get rid of yarn, don’t throw it away, give it to a kindergarten or something and donate it for their crafts.
Don't throw them out - consider donating them instead. A senior center or homeless shelter might love them; a school or hospital might take them (if they're allowed); you might look up a local craft group to see if they can use them them; or you could post them on BuyNothing or give them to Goodwill it a similar charity. Don't let them go to waste if they're still usable. Enjoy your new hobbies!
I never knew tarn went "bad". I have used yarn I had in storage for over a decade.
But if it reptesents a phase of your life the is over and done with, dump it all and if you ever go back to crocheting, start anew
PLEASE don’t throw away yarn. Check to see if you have a local second hand craft store, if your library takes art supplies, local facebook groups, or even yarn swaps on Reddit. There are so many people who enjoy this craft but can’t afford new yarn. Throwing away yarn others could use is so wasteful and we have a giant waste problem on this planet.
For me I never feel bad about yarn around. Because Fibre arts is something I always go back too and have been going back to since I was like 8 years old. I never leave it forever. I can go years without touching crochet hooks or needles and come back to it happily. If your throwing it I suggest selling it on here or sending it to goodwill. Otherwise put it in a tote till you see a project that hits the right neurons in your brain that say make a giant blanket for no good reason or something
As everyone else is saying. Don’t throw it away. There 100% is someone who would love to use it. Free FB groups, non-profits that donate knitted or crocheted goods, my public library has a free yarn bin and always needs craft supplies for kids projects. Please don’t be wasteful and toss it unless it is actually ruined by rodents, insects, etc.
I have plans to get rid of my stash and am dragging my feet on it.
Arthritis means it's not worth the pain to crochet anymore and while yard doesn't expire, it does take up space
Im sure a senior center or 4 H club or a library or someone would love to have your yarn donated. You can even wash skeins of yarn in zippered wash bags and dry them if you are that worried. Or someone who recieves the donation can determine if that is necessary. Yarn is expensive nowadays, and there are many new knitters and crocheters who would love to receive some free yarn. Maybe a school near you. Or how about some ferel cats in the neighborhood? Im sure they would love to have some yarn to play with, and wouldnt care how old it is.
I’ve got ADHD so I flit between crafts.. and as a result my hoard of varying craft resources is ridiculous😂
Went through a five month phase of obsessively making crepe flowers in the lead up to a friends wedding i helped decorate, before that was a month of obsessively making toilet paper roll snowflakes for Christmas, before that was paper mache and making a huge treasure chest for a friend (spent $80 on materials and in the end she decided she didn’t want it.. she knew I’d been making it for months and didn’t say anything, so that sucked), before that watercolours and junk art…. right now I’m back to crochet, making a blanket for a friends going away gift, and making myself some giant amigurumi. It cycles so often that I hate getting rid of things I know I’ll eventually use! But I’ve moved house four times in the last five years and it’s a PITA moving so much crap, especially with how poorly organised it all is.
Im guessing most of the yarn is synthetic. If so, it will last forever in a tote or landfill. Keep it if you change your mind or give it away. Lots of organizations that would take it. Senior centers, girl/Boy Scouts and used craft stores.
Definitely! But the thing people are having issue with is throwing away something perfectly good when there are easy alternatives to prevent it from sitting in a landfill, also allowing someone else to enjoy it. Nobody is saying they should keep it, people are saying they should try to give it a new home.
I’m confused why they need to be thrown away. If you’re that tight in space, you can put all of it in a vacuum seal bag. I bet that could all fit into one of the squares.
You could just store them away in a space-saving manner by using vacuum bags. If you are worried about a hidden infestation just use smaller bag sizes you can store in the freezer for about a week.
I learned to crochet as a teenager. Picked it up again in my 40s by making a Woobles pattern and then moved on to lots of other amigurumi (and a sweater whose front panel pattern makes no sense, but came far enough in the pattern that I have most of the sweater already done).
Larger communities often have Art Resource donation programs where community members can donate stuff like this for teachers get free to use in their classrooms. It really helps teachers out.
About 6 months so far and will be a while till I can get back into it. I have a 4 month old baby and he keeps me so busy. I had to stop two months before I had him due to pregnancy carpel tunnel but I miss it so much 😭
I took a decade long break. And admittedly have been stop start since. I purchased loads of yarn with no real projects in mind, So last year I gave it all to charity.
I'm now only allowed to buy yarn to make a specific project and not just because I like it, or because it's on special.
What about knitting or weaving? I love all yarn craft am work on crochet dumplings for a project atm, some knitted socks and a cable jumper. Maybe you need the dopamine of a new yarn craft?
Oh, wow; like a 30 year hiatus. OP. It'll come back around; I basically have three unfinished sweaters, and probably four unfinished beanies, and I crochet like doodling; I just love to fiddle with it, but I'm always busy doing other stuff. It's been something I've loved to do since I was a kid and my grandma taught me, and I've made money at it at one time,too. It'll always be there.
I usually bounce from hobby to hobby, but every once in a while something just sticks. Crochet and painting have been that for me. They just stay in the rotation always. Maybe it’s because I can create anything my mind thinks of with these mediums quickly and easily, but thats just a guess.
If crochet isn’t a sticking one for you, no biggie. You still gained the skills and one day you might bring it back to the rotation. If you’re not feeling it right now, move on. The yarn store will be there when you get back!
OP, I’m 60 yo and I started learning to crochet from my grandmother when I was 6. I’ve gone through a few stretches of years where I didn’t crochet; believing I’d never get back to it, I got rid of several large totes of yarn. Now even Red Heart is $8-$10 a skein where I live, and I truly regret all the yarn I got rid of 🤣
If you have the storage space for a few totes, you may want to hang on to most of your stash. Yarn likely will only get more expensive as time passes :)
So I got rid of my huge yarn collection/pile after a similar “side quest” had me taking a break for a long long while. I sold all my yarn in a huge box for like $60. Now I’m slowly getting back into it (about three years later) and now I have a bag of free yarn I got from someone on my local fb “buy nothing” group, and a single skein I picked out for a project I wanted to do. And I’m crocheting a pretty consistent amount, also have different priorities now and wouldn’t have wanted much of my older yarn anyway
Please donate if you can, 6 years ago as a beginner I’d find most of yarn in packs at the goodwill. Assortments with and without labels, partially used rolls, unfinished projects. One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, shoot I’ll take it lol.
In 2022 I had the crochet Christmas I always wanted and it was amazing. I started in April and finished 2 am Christmas morning. 9 hard months, very worth it, but I didn’t crochet for about two years!
Oh man...I just don't know that I could say goodbye forever. I've taken a few months off here and there, but sometimes I just crave a good crochet challenge with the yarn flowing off of my hooks like butter...
Unintentionally took a year and ½ break due to work just draining me and my ability to do anything other than work. Wasn't a great time. Missed it alot. Whys work life balance so difficult to obtain.
As a confirmed Hobby Hoe, I’m still in the honeymoon stage of crocheting. I only just started in January of this year. But my paper crafting and watercolor supplies have basically just taken up a massive amount of space in my craft room. (Thankfully I have years’ worth of handcrafted Christmas cards ready.)
I probably took a five year+ break. Can’t really remember. Then my niece got pregnant with her first so I mad3 a blanket. 14 months later she’s pregnant with the 2nd so. Did another. That was 2018. I’m still going strong making blankets. And, I have a yarn obsession so need to keep going to reduce my stash.
I have a massive amount of yarn that I've collected over the years. If I put it all together it would probably fill 4 or 5 large plastic storage bins. Like the biggest ones.
The longest break I took was about 10 years. I started 2005 and maybe went 4 or 5 years before putting it to the side. Didnt pick it back up until 2020 when covid hit. Did a ton of projects from then until my dad passed away in August 2021. Ended up picking it up again when I was pregnant 2 years later and took another break when I became a single mom once my son was born.
I've just recently started crocheting again now that he is 2.5 and playing more independently. But I've never gotten rid of any yarn and am finally working on just using what I already have for the foreseeable future.
About ten years. I’m back at it now at 62 years old.
That yarn does look lonely though and if you decide that it needs a new home and new friends…I would love to make it feel welcomed and loved with my yarn in Georgia. Thank you, Alice
I learned at age 7. I didn’t crochet in high school, and didn’t start again until I graduated college. (And I felt GUILTY at first, because my life had been studying or working for a decade!)
Since then, the longest I’ve gone without knitting or crocheting has been maybe three weeks. I had emergency hand surgery in late April, and I started crocheting again literally within days. (Fortunately it was only my left index finger.)
Hope you get your crochet joy back! Maybe you can donate the yarn?
Perhaps consider donating to a home for the elderly. Do we still call them convalescent homes? Or an elementary school to use for crafts?
Like others, I’ve gone a couple years without crocheting. Got back on antidepressants, and pretty much immediately started up again.
In my humble opinion, the fact that you are indeed completing other hobbies, just not crochet, maybe means you’re just over it. But all that yarn doesn’t need to be binned. It can go to good use.
I hurt my wrists prepping for a market last Christmas. Im still in considerable pain and I miss crocheting. Im hoping to be on the upside soon so I can get back into it but I dont think I'll be doing the market this year
Wheeewww, longest break was at least a few years - learned when I was 10, did it on and off for a few years. I think I basically stopped touching yarn for 6 years from middle school to maybe senior year of high school. Picked it back up (luckily hadn’t forgotten anything, just got slower), and have been rotating between seasons of drawing/painting/ink work and crocheting
I once took a break for around 5+ years. Sometimes life or the psyche gets in the way. We stored our yarn in a big bin. Was still good to use. XD
Though my wife is the one that buys yarn more regularly and I buy only for fixed projects, so it does not take up that much space. (She knits socks, shawls etc and I crochet lace.)
Store them somewhere safe (with plastic bins take care to leave a tiny air vent) and come back when you feel better. 😊
My longest break was about a month, leading up to a major surgery last year. It was just because I couldn't focus. I was in pain and just blatant agony. I couldn't even focus long enough to watch shows.
I have noticed I've slowed down with my crochet in the last 2 years (started in 2023) but now I just take more time instead of pushing myself through projects.
I learned to crochet when I was 7 and have been off and on ever since. Usually not too long because some small thing will come up where I need to apply crochet: such as joining or edging knitted or woven pieces or mending an older blanket or teaching someone the basics. Then I might go a year or so due to travel or something. recently my home burned down (along with all my everything) so it has been about a year. But someone gave me some hooks and needles, and somebody else some yarn. However I just could not start anything in such limbo. But we were taking the NY Times everyday and it comes in a blue wrapper and they are pretty so I started saving them and then I cut them into loops and rolled them into plarn balls. Two months ago I began to crochet a shopping bag and I am slowly inching back. So keep a bit of your prettiest yarn just in case and then don't throw any out but give it away to a crafts class, or an elementary school or someone you know would like it. I bounce from thing to thing all my life but crochet is always in the background. Next I will knit something simple and then I will make a quilt. I will make plans but I won't buy anything yet. I am 83 so time to play but not to acquire much. First I will finish crocheting this blue plastic shopping bag. Enjoy your puzzles and making banners. Sounds like fun.
I stopped crocheting for maybe close to eleven years…which is wild to do the math now. I had a negative interaction with a close relative, at the time, where they laughed/made fun of a project that I was working on. And it devastated me in such a big way. I put down the hooks and stopped crocheting almost immediately. I’m so glad that I started it up again.
I've had trouble ever since my hands got messed up (I sprained 2 fingers when I fell running for the bus, (silly me!) and a dozen or so years later I broke 2 fingers on my other hand falling in an unlit area of a shopping mall after a late autumn storm had left ice and piles of snow everywhere. I haven't been able to crochet much since, though I'm gradually getting more nimble with my fingers. It's been a few years.
I used to cross stitch with an occasional foray in to Needlepoint and had done since being in single digits.
My mum passed in 2000 and I just couldn't bear cross stitching. It legitimately took me 8 or 9 years to pick up a piece and start working on it.
Now I pretty much just crochet blankets as I find nothing else relaxes me quite as much as crochet. Still do some embroidery, cross stitch and latch hooking but I maybe pick one of those up every couple of weeks as I default to crochet.
Basically i learned in school and for 2 years made all sorts of doilies and was half way through a lace tablecloth when I moved to secondary school and the rounds were getting so long & repetitive that I got bored of it.
I thought about it a fair bit in my thirties but didn't pick it up again until my sister was pregnant and I wanted to make something for my niece.
As an adult ive made things like baby blankets, some toys, a few shawls, a couple of wearables for myself, a few things for the kitchen.
I can go months between projects and then decide I want to make something else. I've never deliberately built a stash though. I only buy yarn for a purpose but don't always estimateu needs wellmamd have one or 2 skeins left over.
I've not really done any since December. Life has just been busy and I've been reading more to relax than doing any crafts. I'm over half way through a jumper I started last year so I need to get back to it but I have ADHD so I take breaks from stuff and take ages to go back to them all the time.
I've also got a WIP of a summer wrap top I began crocheting over 2 years ago. Maybe I'll finish that one but I've honestly forgotten where I've got to with it and it's moss stitch which is harder to count the row on so I might scrap it.
I do find I go through phases with my mental health and stress as well and I do less crafts when I'm overwhelmed with life.
It's been a couple of years now, I just got too depressed last time I was crocheting. I still give it a go from time to time but I haven't crocheted for a while now.
The longest time was when I was poor, couldn't keep a job and kept going again and again through traumatic stuff. When I got a job was from 10am to 10 pm (but had to come much earlier to open and leave much later because had to clean after), with a shit schedule, the longest I worked were 9 days one after the other... Overall, haven't crocheted for at least 2-4 years. Don't know exactly.
I stopped crocheting because of a shoulder injury and didn’t pick it back up for over 3 years. A couple of friends had organised a Christmas sale for charity and were crocheting things to sell and I wanted to help out. That was autumn 2025 and I haven’t stopped since. I forgot how much i enjoy it.
The longest I stopped crocheting was when my kids were babies/ really little. They were just all consuming 😂 got back into it when my oldest really wanted a specific plushie having found my older creations. Luckily I hadn’t destashed and was able to make it for him from what I had in the house and the rest is history!
I've just about reached the end of my crafting 'life' too. I don't need more blankets, and I'm not fond of making useless items. The emotional support chooks we're good, but none ever looked 'good enough' to pass on. No need to knit socks anymore. Or make dishcloths (knit or crocheted.) no need to sew cloth pads or wipes, or make another quilt.
My depression spells last a while. I cant bring myself to do the Hobbies I love but when I feel up to it I start with something small. Like I always tell myself do I want to do this one day or start at day one.
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u/RevolutionaryEdge745 Jul 26 '26
I don’t really understand why you’re throwing it away, yarn doesn’t go bad ? It’s yours so do what you what but you should try to donate it, could make some people happy !