Minimalism Challenge 2024 - Craft Edition, Day 2 ...

I'm already breaking my rules.  It turns out I had way too much to do over the weekend (until now) to do much sorting through craft stuff and getting rid of things.  But I did come across something with a bit of a story and I decided it's worthy of a post.  

For Day 2, I got rid of these two very sorry looking potholders:

And here is the story (in a roundabout sort of way):

On Sunday, we celebrated our firstborn's 35th birthday (as well as my 65th, and Greg's 70th - we have three April birthdays in the family). Me thinking of my oldest being 35, it just now occurs to me how old these tattered potholders are. They are made from tracings of our now 35 year-old son's 20 month-old hands.  I think that makes these vintage!

Way back in 1992 it must have been, I had the great idea to make some Christmas gifts using our first-born's handprints.  The grandmothers got sweatshirts with his handprints on them, and some cute saying - at least I thought it cute at the time - though I can't remember what the saying was.  And all the adults in the family got potholders that looked something like the above.

That's not quite true.  Actually, they looked like the potholder below:

The above pristine potholder (with a photo button of 20 month-old eldest son) was found amongst my mother-in-law's things when we were cleaning out her house after her passing in 2020.

While it strikes me kind of funny now that I thought everyone would want a potholder with our son's handprints on it back then, it was very sweet to come upon the above potholder and realize that my mother-in-law never used hers.  It was tucked away with the photo pin attached to it.  

And, with this brand-new-looking potholder in my possession now since 2020, what do you think I have done with it for the past 3 3/4 years?  I've tucked it away.   I'm not sure what I'm saving it for, but I'm not about to use it.  I think I will put it in oldest son's memorabilia box where he'll see it one day and probably at least "awww" over it before wondering what he should do with it.

So what does this have to do with the whittling down of my craft supplies?  

It's like this... 

I am going through every single box/container/bag/what-have-you, that is in the room where most of my craft stuff is stored.  It's the best way to take an informal inventory, and the best way to find things I no longer want and can rehome.

In this going through every container, I came across a box that holds crocheted potholders that I started crocheting for posterity some years back.  Don't ask why I am (or was) crocheting potholders for posterity.  It sounded fun at the time.  Truth be told, "for the fun of it" is the only reason I crochet anything.

Anyway...  I decided to take two of these cute chicken potholders out the potholders for posterity box that was in the closet of the room where most of my craft stuff is stored.

... and replace the tattered handprint potholders that have been in my kitchen for the past nearly 33 years.  

Two things came out of the room where my my craft stuff is stored, but perhaps more importantly, two very old potholders are leaving the premises.  

I still have one mildly tattered 33 year-old handprint potholder in the kitchen, but I will deal with that another day.  Or not.  It still has some use left in it, so maybe it will be found among the kitchen things when I'm gone...  

Minimalism Challenge 2024 - Craft Edition 

Tally:   3 things gone.