The last time mushrooms were all the rage, I was a little kid. In fact, they were so popular that my glassblower father’s tiny glass mushroom earrings were one of his most popular items (I’m going to see if I can get an updated mushroom from him!)

Lo and behold, it’s the 1970’s again, and mushrooms have been gaining in popularity across the culture over the past few years. When I did a short stint at Joann, there were mushroom pillows, and lots of mushroom candles in the Home Dec section. Take a trip to TJ Maxx or Marshall’s and you’ll find even more mushroom items.

Maybe I was feeling nostalgic or was sad I hadn’t purchased one of those Joann mushroom throw pillows (not really); maybe I was just ready for another short & sweet project. Slowly but surely I’m getting my “CroJo” back, and these quick projects have helped that along.

NOTE: links to the lavender and mushroom patterns are at the bottom of this post

Another quick crochet project was the lavender stalks (shown below) that I made with Red Heart Ombre (color: Violet) and secured with a ribbon. I took them into my office and put them on one of my bulletin boards.

In addition to helping me recapture my interest in and love of crocheting, another great aspect of the mushroom and lavender stalks is that they were made entirely with STASH yarn! The other supplies (sticks, ribbon) for my lavender also came from my crafts stash: a win-win all around.

I will admit to getting more fabric remnants from Michael’s yesterday (some terrific cotton prints between 1 and 1.75 yards for less than $3 – you’d have been hard pressed to leave them there, too!) when I went in to buy colored pencils for my recent habit of coloring before going to bed (it’s my “stepdown” activity after crocheting, and before sleep).

However, as weak as I have been about buying fabric remnants, I have made the decision to NOT participate in this year’s Steel Valley Yarn Crawl.

I’ll write a separate blog post about that, because I truly have mixed feelings about my decision. I also wish all the local yarn shops the very best, and hope they have record attendance and sales over the next 10 days!!

As for my own journey with excess fabric and yarn, each day is a new challenge. One method I have begun to employ is to go into my craft room several times a week just to “browse” the many fabric pieces, patterns and skeins of yarn. In the same way that I have done so many times in Joann or Michaels, I imagine any number of projects that I could make with my fabric and yarn selections. The BIG difference is that I can enjoy that exercise (dopamine rush) without anything happening to my checking account.

I’m working on, with mixed success, being more present and mindful of the emotions that arise when I get the urge to go shopping at a craft, fabric or yarn store. I’m doing MUCH better than I have done in the past but admit that I could have gone to the dollar store for colored pencils and did not need to go to Michaels for them, where I knew full well that I’d be tempted by the remnants in the Clearance section.

Clearly my recovery from impulse shopping for yarn and fabric is still a work-in-progress, but I can report that lately I’ve had many more times where I had the impulse and felt the urge to head to a fabric, craft or yarn store, and talked myself out of it. Interestingly, I’ve been doing a similar thing with carryout dinner.

In the same way that the fabric and yarn in my craft room are more than adequate for any project I decide to undertake, the food in my refrigerator and cupboards is more than adequate for dinner. A meal that consists of a peanut butter sandwich and an apple is just as filling as the $40 carryout meal from the local restaurant, is often healthier and definitely saves money.

The journey of stepping back from the extremes of consumerism is an individual, slow, and steady one. It feels especially appropriate for me as I am approaching retirement and the changes that next phase of my life will bring. In the meantime, these “short & sweet” projects align perfectly with the energy of less instead of excess, and for me right now – it’s a perfect fit!

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(C) 2025 Fiber Harmony

Patterns:

• Mushrooms
• Lavender