When do you - if ever - let go of a craft?

[happystuff]

Was decluttering some of my little bead craft bins yesterday. As I sat looking at the different things in the bins, I realized that the probability of me doing any major beading in the near or distant future is very unlikely. I culled quite a bit out, eventually emptying two small storage bins. I haven't gotten rid of everything, but, again, I have no idea when I will - if ever - revisit this craft.

When do you say good-bye to a craft?

[Tybee]

Was decluttering some of my little bead craft bins yesterday. As I sat looking at the different things in the bins, I realized that the probability of me doing any major beading in the near or distant future is very unlikely. I culled quite a bit out, eventually emptying two small storage bins. I haven't gotten rid of everything, but, again, I have no idea when I will - if ever - revisit this craft.

When do you say good-bye to a craft?

I don't know. It's a great question. My arthritis is making everything hard right now--that and eyes fading. Took me 20 minutes to thread a sewing machine needle yesterday.
No way could I physically bead. Good for you for asking the question and trying to keep up with reality.

[dado potato]

Ideally, I would say good-bye to crafting supplies when I find someone who is willing and able to use them. Maybe there is somebody to mentor into beading.

[sweetana3]

I just gave another quilter all the selvages I have saved for years. I did make some things out of them but decided I had too many other crafts I really wanted to do. She got a huge moving box and a huge tote bag full and it made me quite happy.

I also have boxes and boxes of wool from recycled clothes fro potential rug hooking projects. This is in addition to complete kits given to me. So another quilter is going to help me cut them into 10 inch, 5 inch and 2.5 inch squares and we are going to make simple quilt tops. The wool is all washable since I have already run it all thru a wash and dry. At the very least this should reduce 12+ boxes into two until it is all sewn together.

[Chicken lady]

I am not good at letting go of crafts I enjoyed but haven’t done for a while, but I did recently accept that I would not be attempting two new ones - carving and crochet. (Ok, I am still open to the possibility that I will someday learn to crochet, and have a small box of hooks - but I do use them to pick up dropped stitches in my knitting.)

I realized that the carving was more about my emotional connection to my grandfather, and let the kits and tools go, and my Dd who does crochet actually did the project I was hoping to learn how to do, so I gave her all the yarn I was saving for it.

[Tybee]

"I realized that the carving was more about my emotional connection to my grandfather,"

Yeah, I have some crafts that fall into this category, and it's time to actually do them again and then decide if I want to keep them in my life. My mom's rug-hooking comes to mind.

[Gardnr]

I won't get rid of a craft item unless I cannot physically do it anymore. IE: after years of not knitting, I am doing it again. After years of not doing cross-stitch, I have a project I am about to embark on.

If my hands get to the point where I cannot do whatever I want in day, I will choose what I most want to do and liquidate the rest.

How? I will 1st: contact Senior Centers in the valley, 2nd: Art program at our Women's/Children's Rescue shelter that uses art/therapy programs for kids to communicate nonverbally 3rd: Rehab facility Occupational Therapists, 4th: thrift store

I wouldn't give a 2nd thought to getting rid of something I can't do!

I do however hope that I will quilt until my last breath:cool:

[JaneV2.0]

Both Seattle and Portland have thrift shops devoted to craft supplies; that may be an option for you.

[befree]

I have read that sometimes the reason we hang onto things is because we have the fantasy of being that person....like that big tub of knitting supplies I hang onto, cuz I want to be that person who's an accomplished knitter.

[Tybee]

Or we want to return to who we were, a long time ago.

[KayLR]

In the past several years I rediscovered my love of surface embroidery. Then I decided I was only going to do that for my hobbycraft since I'm good at it, enjoy it as a meditative practice, joined a guild where I can learn more techniques and make friends.

I boxed up ALL my yarn I'd collected over the years and put it on the local FB Marketplace. A lady met me, paid, and took it ALL. I never felt so unburdened! I crocheted off and on for oh, 10 years. Tried to teach myself to knit several times. Like others have said, I have memories of my grandma and the beautiful things she used to knit and crochet and thought I could do as well if I tried. Well, no.

So all I have now are lots of embroidery books and patterns and threads and hoops. I have a few small stashes of fat quarters I make small gifts with on occasion. That's all I really use my sewing machine for anymore. No more quilting or dressmaking for me anymore either.

[JaneV2.0]

If you like embroidery, you might like boro, a Japanese craft that uses decorative stitches for mending and creating.

"Boro (Japanese: ぼろ) are a class of Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together. The term is derived from Japanese boroboro, meaning something tattered or repaired. As hemp was more widely available in Japan than cotton, they were often woven together for warmth."

[JaneV2.0]

I have read that sometimes the reason we hang onto things is because we have the fantasy of being that person....like that big tub of knitting supplies I hang onto, cuz I want to be that person who's an accomplished knitter.

I've read that, too--and it resonates with me. I have Egyptian Burial Syndrome, wherein I want all the items I might possibly desire or need in the afterlife to surround me and be interred with me. :~) Similar idea.

[happystuff]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not sorry to have let go of some of the beads, and I actually think I will be okay letting them go entirely. I don't "see" myself sitting and doing it any longer. When I sit to craft, I still have other things that I am genuinely preferring.

[jp1]

Personally I cannot answer the OP's question because up to this point I have not let go of the one craft thing I've ever really adopted in my life, brewing beer. When I lived in a tiny NYC apartment I brewed beer for years on a regular basis. Had parties where I invited a bunch of people over and I'd have a couple cases worth of beer from different batches waiting for them. It was lots of fun when doing it myself or with friends coming over to help out with either the brewing part or the bottling part. Since moving to California 11+ years ago I have not brewed a single batch. Yet I still have all the equipment and even some of the ingredients (the bottom door tray in our freezer has an assortment of hop pellets that are surely totally stale and flavorless by now.) Perhaps I will let go of this the next time we move. We've now moved all this stuff twice since the last time I actually used any of it.

[catherine]

If you like embroidery, you might like boro, a Japanese craft that uses decorative stitches for mending and creating.

"Boro (Japanese: ぼろ) are a class of Japanese textiles that have been mended or patched together. The term is derived from Japanese boroboro, meaning something tattered or repaired. As hemp was more widely available in Japan than cotton, they were often woven together for warmth."

Wow, that's awesome! I used to do crewel work when I was a teen, which I liked because of the variety of stitches you use. I also really appreciate many elements of Japanese culture, so this looks like something I might actually enjoy! It's not as labor intensive as quilting, but I might be able to parlay my embroidery skills into something pretty.

I found this blog post on it. https://www.1millionwomen.com.au/blog/how-traditional-boro-clothes-mending/

[razz]

Interesting embroidery link. Thanks.. I gave up tole painting, cake decorating but still have watercolour, acrylic and oil paints, too much yarn and fabric but not ready to release them yet as I keep going back to them and make simple things.

[Tybee]

I became obsessed with looking at Boro years ago, Jane--my one attempt was short lived, but I find it so beautiful.

[JaneV2.0]

I became obsessed with looking at Boro years ago, Jane--my one attempt was short lived, but I find it so beautiful.

I belong to a FB group, just for the visuals. I see a lot of small, pieced blocks with boro stitching. Sashiko is a related craft with prescribed patterns, so not as interesting to me.

[Tybee]

I belong to a FB group, just for the visuals. I see a lot of small, pieced blocks with boro stitching. Sashiko is a related craft with prescribed patterns, so not as interesting to me.
You know, I think I had it wrong--it was sashiko, as i remembered it started with an s. But the pictures looked very similar. They used it historically for fire protection clothing! It was so beautiful.

[hana]

I gave away my watercolor and oil paints as part of last year's epic delcuttering. I carried them from place to place and always planned to have the room to have a proper studio space someday. Realized I lost interest when I found them at the bottom back of a shelf and completely forgotten about them. I worked at a craft store in college and planned to paint after graduation when I had time. That didn't happen.