Goodwill, Thrifted Crochet & an Internet Meltdown
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My yarn-to-road-time calculations were wildly optimistic
Are you a passenger princess with massive road trip anxiety? If you said yes, AND you love to crochet, you are going to understand this saga probably better than anyone else.
So, we were headed to Minnesota. Yes, Minnesota is my hometown. And because I have road trip anxiety, I always crochet in the car. It keeps my brain busy and, more importantly, keeps my anxiety from coming up with 47 different scenarios about everything that could possibly go wrong on the road.
Well… I had crocheted my way through my yarn.
All of it.
Every last little bit.
Apparently, I forgot to calculate my yarn-to-road-time ratio. Because when you are driving from Texas to Minnesota and you crochet as fast as I do, apparently you need A LOT more yarn than you think.
Who knew?
And of course, this was happening right around Christmas.
We were leaving sunny Texas and heading straight into icy snow, freezing temperatures, and cold winds. Let me just say… that part was not exactly exciting for me.
But it had been years since we had seen all of our family, and unfortunately for us Texans, they all live up north. So off we went.
We finally made it to the hotel, unloaded the conflicting cats—which, by the way, is an entirely different story I will have to tell you another time—and settled in.
Actually, if you are curious about the cat saga, I very generously attached a little video with the cliff notes version of my two queens who have apparently decided they would rather coexist in separate zip codes than become friends.
Meet the Two Queens
Curious about the two cats who apparently have no interest in becoming best friends? I made a little video sharing the cliff notes version of their ongoing saga.
But I digress.
Have you spotted the squirrel moments yet?
Yes, I have ADHD. So if I occasionally wander away from the topic at hand, please forgive me. Sometimes the fun little detours are what give a story a little seasoning.
Okay… back to the yarn saga.
Now, where was I?
Oh, yes.
Yarn...
But I had a problem.
I needed yarn. We decided to settle in and get some sleep. The next day the only place we could find was goodwill. I really prefer the quaint thrift stores. You know the ones. The places where you walk in looking for one thing and somehow leave with five things you absolutely did not need but are now convinced you cannot live without. I like to go to small thrift stores but my options were very limited. As were my shopping choices as I would soon discover.
But we were in Rochester, it was almost Christmas, and my thrift-store options were pretty limited. So when we found a Goodwill right around the corner from the hotel, I thought, “Perfect!” How convenient, right? I walked in fully expecting to find some yarn, grab what I needed, and get back to my holiday vacation.
Simple.
Except… There was no yarn.
None. Call me shocked.
Because you cannot walk into a Goodwill in Texas without finding yarn. In fact, there is so much yarn in some of the Goodwills around here that I could probably go completely broke buying all the yarn I think I need.
But Minnesota?
Apparently, Minnesota had other plans for me.
And that is where this whole crazy story begins.
What an upcycled blanket, a little yarn harvesting, and a whole lot of unexpected internet attention taught me about creating without overthinking everything.
It all started with an affordable thrift find and a desire to clear my mind. I found a beautiful Goodwill blanket and instantly saw its potential, bringing it home to begin the rhythmic, intentional process of yarn harvesting. It was a creative way to protect my wallet, minimize waste, and keep my hands moving without the financial pressure of high-end crafting boutiques. Blown away by the joy of sustainable resourcefulness, I recorded the process and shared it on social media, completely unprepared for what would happen next. Part 1 exploded overnight, reaching over 35,000 views, proving that so many of us are craving authentic creative outlets that allow our minds to breathe free without spending a fortune.
The simple little Video that caused un uproar
I didn’t find yarn.
What I did find were a couple of crochet blankets that had apparently been abandoned and were just sitting there waiting for someone to give them a second life. And I immediately saw the potential. Now, I had never taken apart a crochet blanket to harvest the yarn before. But as a crocheter, I knew exactly what I was looking at. Hours and hours of someone’s time, beautiful stitches, and a whole lot of yarn just waiting to be unraveled and turned into something new.
So I bought the blanket, brought it back to the hotel, and started pulling it apart. I started the harvest on on The Granny Square Blanket before I got home. That way I had yarn coming home. I really wish I had my yarn winder. But this worked and my family definitely helped out.
There was something oddly satisfying about it. Stitch by stitch, the blanket slowly became a giant pile of yarn. It was relaxing. It was resourceful. And honestly, it was exactly what I needed.
So, of course, I did what any crafter with a phone and questionable judgment would do. I recorded the whole process to hopefully inspire others who think money limits them to start creating.
I Bought a Blanket. The Internet Bought a Pitchfork.
I shared Part 1 on social media.
And then…
It went reeling.
Not just “Hey, that's a cool idea” reeling.
I mean comments, Lots of comments. Some people thought it was brilliant. Some people completely understood what I was doing. And some people…
Well.
Let’s just say they had FEELINGS. Suddenly, I wasn't just the woman who bought an old crochet blanket at Goodwill. Apparently, I was now the villain in a crochet morality play.
Was I taking advantage of the person who originally made the blanket?
Was I being greedy?
Was I somehow disrespecting the hours of work that went into it?
And then came the judgment.
The ridicule.
The assumptions.
The comments from people who seemed to have decided exactly what kind of person I was based on one video of me taking apart a thrifted blanket.
And the funniest part?
This was only Part 1.
I had absolutely no idea what I had started.
Part 2: The Yarn, The Savings, and the Math Mistake
If you are like me and you need to know here's instagram coming in hot
So I made another video and walked through the whole thing. And yes… I intentionally left a math mistake in the video. Not because I couldn't do the math. I promise, my calculator and I are on speaking terms. I wanted to see how many people would actually point it out. A little social media tip a influencer shared.
Because I knew there was one thing I could count on the internet to do faster than crocheting:
Everyone is apparently ready and waiting to correct someone. Because apparently, there is a shortage of things to do in this world. I mean, life must be pretty empty and dismal if you have enough free time to watch an entire video, find something to criticize, and then take the time to type out your thoughts about it. But hey, we all have hobbies.
Sadly, the math corrections were only the beginning.
It didn't stop there.
Apparently, my appearance was also up for public review. Because nothing says “I have nothing better to do today” quite like critiquing a complete stranger's face in the comments of a crochet video. Then there were the men who somehow decided I was two different people. I still don't know how we got there, but apparently my face had entered witness protection and nobody bothered to tell me. The comments that came crawling out of the woodwork were equal parts comedic, baffling, and occasionally so confidently ignorant that I almost had to admire the commitment.
And if you have ADHD, you already know where I'm going with this.
It can be really hard to just brush off that much criticism coming at you all at once. You can tell yourself, “These people don't know me. Who cares what they think?” And then your brain says, “Excellent point. Let's think about every single comment for the next six hours.”
So, yeah.
Reality TV people… I have questions. How do you voluntarily sign up to have that many strangers dissecting your every move? Because after my little crochet blanket experience, I suddenly understood why some people disappear from social media altogether.
And honestly, I wasn't far behind them.
And sure enough, people noticed.
What they didn't necessarily notice was the correct math sitting right there at the end of the video as a text overlay. You know… the part you have to actually watch until the end to see. And we all know how many people actually make it to the end of a Reel.
Looking back, the whole thing taught me something I probably could have learned without accidentally becoming the center of a crochet courtroom.
I always wanted to go viral.
And then I did.
Be careful what you wish for.
Because going viral sounds pretty exciting when you imagine the views, the followers, the comments, and everyone discovering your content. What you don't necessarily imagine are the hundreds of opinions coming at you from people who know absolutely nothing about you beyond a 30-second video.
For a while, I honestly stepped away from social media.
The comments became overwhelming. I had answered every single one because I felt responsible for explaining myself. I wanted people to understand what I had actually done, why I did it, and what the whole point of the project was.
But eventually, I realized something.
I didn't owe everyone an explanation.
And I certainly didn't need to let the opinions of strangers determine how I felt about something I created. So social media became a much lower priority for me. The opinions didn't disappear. I just stopped giving them so much volume. Eventually, all that noise became exactly that…
White noise.
And honestly?
That might have been the best thing to come out of the whole crazy crochet blanket saga. Because sometimes the lesson isn't about the yarn at all. Sometimes it's about learning when to keep creating, keep having fun, and let everyone else have their opinion while you go make something.
In the long run, I ended up with more yarn than I could probably buy in a lifetime.
Acrylic Yarn can do so much
Made some cutey little friends with the harvested yarn. Totally worth the experience. Yes she's also available for purchase in my shop
Shop my CreationsSo, have I stopped yarn harvesting?
Hard no.
In fact, I just found a cotton blend, and if you crochet, you know exactly what I mean when I say… GOLD.
Now the only problem is figuring out what the heck I’m going to make with it. And honestly, that’s probably the biggest lesson I took away from this whole crazy experience. Don’t let the negativity—or the invisible trolls behind their keyboards—stop you from sharing what you know. Because for every loud voice telling you what you’re doing wrong, there are probably quiet strangers watching who are thinking, “Wait… I can do THAT?”
Those are the people you don’t always see.
The ones who never comment.
The ones who quietly learned something from your video.
The ones who might have just saved themselves hundreds of dollars because you were willing to share a little gem you discovered along the way.
So, yes, there will always be someone ready to criticize.
Let them.
I’ll be over here harvesting yarn and figuring out what to make with my latest cotton-blend treasure.
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Made with curiosity, creativity & probably a questionable number of browser tabs.