Are you looking for a new hobby or a way to spend the cold winter days indoors during this lockdown? Maybe crochet is something for you! Surprise your friends and family with homemade cuddly toys, or make yourself a new sweater! In this guest blog, Josyanne Janssen – owner of the webshop Bolletje van Katoen – explains why crocheting is so much fun, and why it can certainly be a sustainable hobby! Read on quick!
Crocheting is relaxation! Is it also sustainable?
Nowadays you hear people a lot about how to clear your head, how to get closer to your feelings, how to escape the hectic current world. Relaxing is something we all look hard for as we run, fly and rush all day long.
Terms you hear a lot are mindfulness, slowing down, de-stressing. We no longer want to multi-task, but rather spend our free time thoughtfully and attentively.
Did you know that you can now even take a paid course to go screaming by the sea?
I myself am a bit sick of such terms and the associated paid services.
When I lived alone for a while, in addition to my busy days, I was also looking for something to relax. Just change your mind. But also something to kill time, but with something meaningful. In addition, I think it is really important that my hobby and my activities do not leave a larger footprint on the world.
That’s how I started crocheting years ago. I had already learned it in my childhood, but only now did I seem to be able to put it into practice. I got the hang of it well, and even got better at it. I started to look into why crocheting helped me so much to relax. And there are really interesting theories about that.
If you read in scientific studies, crafting, crafting and creating are all activities that work the same as yoga and meditation. It relaxes, lets you get away from the daily grind and you create the most beautiful things.
When you have made something, you can experience all kinds of emotions: pride, joy, contentment. In addition, it organizes your thoughts because you ensure that you can turn a ball that you can’t really do anything with into a very useful product, such as a scarf or a sweater.
All these qualities make it really advisable for many people to find a hobby in which you create, design and assemble things. It also keeps you from staring at the TV or phone all evening. And that is also really better for your brain and your well-being.
It has been shown that all those screens do not really have a good influence on your health, both mentally and physically. But on boring evenings on the couch, they are very easy to reach. Pure pastime: often you achieve nothing with it. Shame! And besides the bad incentives, it also makes you feel like you’ve wasted another few hours on uselessness.
But does crochet also leave a large footprint on the earth?
That’s something I gradually got more into. In any case, a piece of clothing that is handmade by Bolletje van Katoen is more accountable to the earth than a mass product from a large clothing chain. Those articles travel all over the world, raw materials come from other parts of the world, children put them together again elsewhere. In short: not very good for the environment.
I buy my material from a local wool store that also pays attention to sustainability. For example, all wool and cotton is produced in the Netherlands. The raw materials are also obtained as much as possible from the Netherlands and otherwise recycled. The stuffing for cuddly toys comes from a local shepherd. The sheared sheep provide mountains of wool, which I can use for a long time again. The sheep graze on the land in Dordrecht and live their lives until they are old and worn out. Recycled boxes and envelopes are used for shipping, so no new material has to be produced!
And so I can be mindful, combine it with my sustainable lifestyle. Because did you know that my garments last much longer than the items from the big stores? Those items are designed to be replaced after a year. I know from some customers that they are still wearing my sweater or scarf after 7 years: as long as Bolletje van Katoen has been around. So the first orders are still in use!
I really enjoy passing on my enthusiasm for sustainability both in my private life and for my company. Creating as little waste as possible, reusing as much as possible, I can’t stop talking about it! And through my products, I can pass that on to the people I come into contact with.
Do you also want such a sustainable hobby? Or a sustainable product? You can do both! I make products and accessories entirely according to your wishes, but I also sell packages with which you can learn to crochet and get through the winter yourself with this new hobby and new scarf! Who knows, I may have infected you with the crochet virus and I’ll see you in my shop: bolletjevankatoen.nl!
Want to try even more wintery DIYs? Then go and photograph frozen soap bubbles !
