"J"unk or Why I Collect Patterns and The Supplies To Make Them

Junk. My definition? That which is just taking up space in the closet that you have too much o. "One man's junk is another man's treasure." Its's true you know. There is always someone willing to take some of what has been deemed junk by someone. Just look at the number of garage sales that take place.

I collect patterns and the supplies to make them.

I have cross stitch and embroidery junk.I have yards of cross stitch fabric, boxes of thread, kits to make and so many patterns it borders on the obscene. I have a smal box of cross stitch kits. The odd thing is I can't really see to do cross stitch on 28 count linen anymore. I have every color of floss they made when I purchased it all. But I won't let go of any of it. I have some of the embroidery projects my mother was working on a few years before she passed that I will never finish or use because I don't care for that kind of embroidery, but that is a different thing all together.

I have knitting junk. I collect knitting patterns. A lot of patterns. I have good yarn for a certain patterns, I have cheap old Red Heart for making toys for humanitarian projects. It wears better. I have a huge bag of Red Heart. I've been caught up in knitting blankets, hats, socks and sweaters for my granddaughter the last three and a half years, while trying to finish a pair of socks for myself. I still collect patterns that have nothing to do with what I am knitting. I inherited my MIL's knitting supplies when she passed. Someone gave me some more needles, a large bundle of knitting needles that was in a box aquired at a garage sale. With circular, double point and straights, wood, metal and plastic, I have somewhere around 150 sets of needles. That borders on OCD. Crocheting is much the same. I have crocheted a lot in my life, afghans, doilies, altar cloths and toys. I have a couple of WIP (works in progress) that I pick up every now and then...when I'm not knitting. I have an afghan that is mostly finished that I really need to get back to. I have a couple of drawers of cotton thread, and only three full sets of crochet hooks, Granted some of the thread has been been given to me when someone else decided it was junk taking up space in their house, but still.

I have spinning junk. I have a spinning wheel. I've had it for a number of years. I bought it primarily because I have always wanted a spinning wheel to sit in my living room, an accent, like an end table. I kept running into people that were spinners. They were willing to teach me, so I thought I would give it a try. I do actually spin a few times a week and I am planning on using what I spin to knit something. I don't know what yet, it remains to be seen what they yarn turns out to be. I have a few bags of roving to spin into yarn. It is a project I will actually work on as it doesn't require me to see tiny detail, and the spinning itself isn't too hard on the hands or feet. But, in anticipation, most of the spinners I know give away a tiny bit of what they spin, and the rest of it is sitting in baskets, drawers, closets or boxes... they just spin, they don't actually do anything with what they spin. That makes me feel better. Another plus to spinning is that it does not require a pattern.

I have quilting junk. I have quilting fabric and quilting kits because someone convinced me I would love it. I guess I forgot I hate to sew. But I keep it because I bought it and you never know when you might need a piece of fabric for something. I also have yards and yards of batting for all the quilts I was going to make. That was foolish. But who knows. Maybe someday I will decide I want to finish the two quilts I have started.

I have tatting junk. I have more tatting patterns than could possible be completed in one lifetime. I have beautiful diamond wood shuttles, metal shuttles, and plastic shuttles. Certainly more than I can tat with at one time and thread in a rainbow of colors to go with all those patterns I want to make. Someone gave me most of the thread. And I do teach tatting on occasion, so having extra shuttles for them to learn with is a good idea, right?

I have random junk. I have plastic canvas supplies. I have mini frames, small frames and 8x10 frames, I have oil painting supplies. I gave up oil painting because you can hide only so many canvases under and behind the sofa. I have loads of ceramic supplies. There's a kiln in the garage that hasn't been fired in well over 15 years. There aren't any ceramic supplie stores in Western Montana I am aware of. I have every color of pen that Sharpie makes, watercolor paint, oil sticks and chalk for drawing. I have a mat cutter, enough brushes to start a store and various papers needed to go with all those art supplies.

Him asked me once if he could have one of my thousand craft bags. A slight exaggeration to be sure, but the point was well taken. However, in defense, I usually use every bag I have at least once a year for something. So there's that. Most of those bags were free from somewhere, but not all.

Him collects fly fishing junk. A lot of it. Rods, reels, flys, hooks, vices to tie flys, material to tie flys, vests to carry all the fishing junk, waders to fish in, more rods and reels and more rods and reels. And some that is mine, but a very small portion. My collection cost far less that his, to be sure.

I finally came to the conclusion that I am a collector, specifically of patterns. Some women collect tea cups, some collect thimbles. I've been collecting patterns for 34 years, so it is a substantial collection. I won't beat myself up or feel guilty for not actually getting them finished. I am a collector. A collector of junk, some would say. I have far more patterns than the material to make them. Wth the advent of the Internet, it became possible to collect all the patterns to make more junk I could imagine. And most are free patterns! I like to look at patterns, the pictures, the yarn, the art, the beauty of the work created by someone's hands. I don't read magazines, drooling over handbags, dresses, recipes, dining room sets or beautiful rooms. I look at patterns. Then I download them to my hard drive collecting them like a squirrel hoarding nuts as he prepares for winter.

I will spend days looking at little girl sweater patterns. I download them all, knowing full well I will never make most of them. Yet... when I start another knitting project, I need a different pattern, because the ones I have are not exactly what I want. The last four knitting projects I had? I didnt have the right size needle and had to go buy them. How can that be, with all the needles I have stashed around here. Every time I started a cross stitch or embroidery project, I needed to go buy a couple of colors I didn't have. I ask you, how can that be? Because you can never have too much craft junk.


What "junk" do you have that you collect and treasure?