Wow!  Thanks for all the owl links in the comments of my last post!  It's a smart suggestion that I start out with something small like a hat, mittens, or a scarf before I try a sweater (oh, here's the link to the owl sweater pdf if you want it).

I like to ponder things for a while before jumping in, so knitting probably won't happen for me for a while.  In fact, because of the challenge, it'll probably be 2010 before I pick up the pointy sticks, because I'll need to buy some.  

And before you email me offering to send me knitting stuff (because I can totally read your mind), I want to talk some more about my challenge.  For me it's about more than just not spending the money or depriving myself.  It's about being more conscious and purposeful with regard to crafting.

For a while my whims ruled and I was excited about each new project and every new geegaw I bought.  But something's changed recently, and I'm getting excited about digging into my stash and rediscovering the treasures I've squirreled away.  I'm also getting excited about finishing my stack of WIPs and starting a lot of projects that I've been putting off for a while.

I have no idea where this new outlook came from.  In general I'm paring my life down to the essentials.  It feels great, like I'm shedding things that are slowing me down.  And although it seems like a downer to cut out craft spending, it's actually pretty freeing.  I've become a self-contained crafting machine - if I don't have it on hand, it's not going to happen.  It makes decision making easy.

To be fair, though, I've got enough crafting supplies to last for *several* years.  My yarn supply is less than stellar, but I have every (every!) color of cotton DMC floss, yards of felt, boxes of buttons, stacks of fabric, sequins, beads, trims, zippers, googly eyes, well, you get the point.  I think I have plenty of variety, too, so I won't get bored.  It's not like I've only got a shoebox full of notions to get me through the year, so don't feel sorry for me.

I sense that, for me, 2009 is going to be full of creating instead of discovering. That's essentially it!  I feel like making stuff instead of figuring out how to make stuff.  Exactly.  And the challenge is the perfect thing to help me cut out the distractions.  Isn't it funny how sometimes you do just the right thing for yourself and only figure out later that it's just the right thing?

I created a Stash Flickr Set with a bunch of photos of my stash and my new crafting area (of which these photos are a part).  I'm heading over there right now to start adding notes to them.  I'm excited to see how much of my stash I can burn through this year.