Crafting vs Hoarding? + Giveaway?

So I've been thinking.  Well, yes, since my last post was a bit of thinking and this post is more thinking, I've been doing quite a bit of thinking (and none of it about work).  Valentine's Day is over, which is quite a relief to me, because I don't do Valentine crafts, and there's been a lot of pink and red on the Interwebs in the last couple of weeks.  But it got me thinking - what happens to all those Valentines crafts now that the day is over?  There must have been a bazillion Valentines cards, printables, wreaths, muffins, mantles, banners, gifts, frames and random decorative objects.  Do they all get relocated to the basement or attic?  Which begs the big question of the day:  

What is the difference between a crafter and a hoarder?

Case in point:  The other day, I went to the local Goodwill and came home with $30 worth of old wool and cashmere sweaters.  I was on a kick to make recycled felted wool winter baby booties and sell them at the local baby shop for lots of money and become an overnight entrepreneurial success.  Suffice it to say, that didn't happen.  Now I have a bag of old sweaters hanging out in my attic.  I'm sure I'll get to it one day...but isn't that what the people on TLC say when they bring home their latest bag of goodies from the thrift store, as the mountain of other thrift store bags threatens to drown them all in an avalanche of forgotten good intentions?

I've been online for about 3 months, and so far, most of my crafts have been integrated into my life, or the lives of my friends and family, pretty seamlessly - a scarf here, an iPad cover there.  There's been a book on a  bookshelf and an owl in Josh's crib.  But, if I'm to keep this blog thing going, with fantastically original and beautifully photographed crafts of course, where am I going to put it all?!   I'm not a fan of random decorations or knick-knacks.  Some people love them, and some are awfully cute, but all I can think of is the amount of careful dusting I'd have to do (in our very dusty, very dog-hair covered house), and I can easily swear off them forever.  I'm not a minimalist either, just step into my house and you'll know I'm fighting the clutter, but losing spectacularly.  I can't quite figure out how all these random little things come into my house, when I don't remember buying them.  And I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all those school crafts when THAT whole thing starts up.   Where do I put all the end results of my little crafty adventures?  (In the attic.  My crazy, blue, "craft-room-but-really-just-a-place-to-throw-random-things", attic.)

This is my attic "craft" space, and this is what happens when you let a little boy get at your yarn collection.

Another thought - it all costs money!  Every craft seems to require another trip to Michaels.  It's very very bad that there is a Michaels across from my office, very very bad for my wallet, possibly bad for my relationship with a husband who has to deal with me going to Michaels.  If I don't sell everything that I make for a ridiculous amount of money (and I can almost guarantee you that I won't), this blogging/crafting thing starts to become a fairly expensive hobby.  Maybe not quite the "buy-$150-suede-ballroom-shoes-for-$90/hr-weekly-lessons" kind of hobby (which I've also done), but definitely not cheap.  Even recycling materials isn't REALLY cheap, as it requires an overhead of all sorts of accessories and tools.

So there it is, another post full of questions but no answers.  I can only say that I'll probably keep crafting, at least to use up all the stuff I've bought already.  Then I have to find a way to sell or give away most of them.  Giveaway, anyone?  Or I should really get off my butt and start that Etsy shop already, except the thought of dealing with the New York State tax rules really just bums me out.

On the to-do list, as of today, are a pair of felted wool (from old sweaters!) hand warmers, a t-shirt grocery bag, a giraffe amigurumi, crocheted play food, another braided infinity scarf, a crochet/knit needles holder, and possibly a set of fun felt citrus placemats for summer.  Any interest in any of them as a giveaway?  That would help me set some priorities, as I'd really like to throw a giveaway, but it'll be my first, and I'm not sure what y'all are interested in.

Oh, and the afterthought - I do sort of celebrate Valentine's Day, I just don't make red and pink crafts, at least not yet.  I joked to Drew at dinner that we can watch Star Trek as our V-day date night, since it's just oh so romantic.  Whaddya know, I turn on the tv, and there it was!  Destiny, I tell ya.  And it WAS romantic..."I'll be monitoring your frequency"...it made me giggle :-).