13 Eco-Friendly Yarns to Check Out

It’s been in the back of my mind for some time to hunt down and compile the coolest recycled yarns out there, then put them on the blog, and today I’m finally doing it! I’ve found some really special yarns, all different types of fiber content, plus a variety of weights. I think recycled yarns are extra special to work with because you know it’s better for the environment, plus bringing something new out of what was once destined for trash is so great. Some of these you may have heard of, but I bet you’ll find some in this list you’ve never seen. Check out the last one on my list… it’s recycled from an old sweater and has the most beautiful colors!

(click the photo or button below to view each yarn)

The Two Biggest Lessons Learned in Two Years of Crochet Blogging

I was reminded not too long ago that the two-year anniversary for the Megmade with Love website is today. Which sorta blows my mind, because it seems as if the time has absolutely flown since diving into this lil’ dream of mine. Keeping the theme of “two” alive, I thought I’d share two of the most important lessons I’ve learned since first officially purchasing my web domain and hitting that publish button for the very first time.

Lesson #1: Consistency is your FRIEND

Wanna know one of biggest ways, I believe, I was able to begin making a substantial amount of money blogging within a few months of starting? I think it was the fact that when I started, I decided I would post twice a week (oooOOo stickin’ to that “two” theme right there) for at least one year. It was a commitment I wanted to stick to, mostly because I had a really bad habit of starting something, then quitting. It was, in a way, forcing me to give it my all and to not let “failure” drive me into apathy.

So I stuck with that commitment to my blog for the most part, posting both patterns and crochet-related articles (now that I reflect on that, it makes me feel silly for dropping that habit— it was a good one for my business!). So week in and week out I showed up to the blog, and posted to it. At the time, I had really no audience built up whatsoever, I just shared the patterns in groups on Facebook and on Pinterest. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes it was really, really hard to keep wanting to post on the blog. I had cricket chirps on many posts in the beginning, and I often wondered if this thing would ever take off… but I was hungry for this dream so I kept at it!

Eventually stuff started picking up for the blog as I was sharing to more group boards on Pinterest that had more of following behind them. Which, by the way, if you’re just starting out or thinking about starting a crochet blog, I’d 100% suggest finding group boards for you share your posts with over on Pinterest. That is THE way you will get those eyes on your content. Sure, social media and whatnot helps some, but Pinterest is magical tool, I’m telling ya.

And to add to the topic of consistency, I was very much consistently pinning those articles and patterns I posted on my blog to those group boards on Pinterest. Each board has rules for the amount of times you’re able to share, but I usually stuck with 2-3 pins per day on each of the boards. It’s insane to me how easy it is to get your content seen out there by, in a sense, piggy-backing on another’s audience. And the people who run the boards get great content out of it too, which attracts more followers.. so it’s a win-win.

Another little way I honed in on consistency in my business was posting to social media regularly, usually daily. I learned the value of the trust you build with your “peeps” (aka your audience) by showing up day in and day out. Which also applies to the twice a week blog posting. It really does provide that trust factor that your audience needs when they’re deciding if they want to become a follower of your work. And that’s why I value it so much… in the eyes of someone following your blog it means everything to be reliable and trustworthy. Because honestly ain’t nobody got time for a half-a$$ blog.. because this is the internet and there’s countless other people to follow.

Lesson #2: Viewing failure differently

For some strange reason before I got into blogging and owning a business, I built up this fear of so-called "failure”. I realize now that my view of failure was so skewed… It’s like I made it into this giant that it really wasn’t. If I didn’t get anywhere with my blog or quit again like I had done before, because it didn’t take off, I was doomed in my mind. And it honestly kept me from taking the plunge into Megmade with Love for quite some time. I would think, what if I look like a fool, yet again, if this ended up being another one of those seemingly good business ventures I’d taken before??

But ya know what? When I take a step back and look at it—that all really just stemmed from caring too much about what other people thought of me, it’s as if I thought the whole world was keeping an eye out for me to have another business flop. But that was just all in my mind. And, ya know, it makes me wonder how many other people are debilitated by this silly illusion that is future failure. Ya know… the illusion that we’re gonna crash and burn when we go after what’s so incredibly important to us… and then to top it all off everyone is going to point and snicker when you do.

Well I’m here to say it’s not the end of the world if something doesn’t go as expected or if one of your ideas absolutely flops. Something I learned early on is that I should use failure as tool or as data. Because when you fail, it’s really valuable information for you and your business— you now know what not to do or how not to do it. Sure, it probably stung when you “failed” but that’s just how it goes as an entrepreneur. It’s far more productive to say “alright, what can I learn from this?” than “this is so embarrassing, I guess I’m a failure now…”.

For example, like I mentioned earlier, how I’d quit multiple business ventures in the past. I once had a little photography side hustle and after that I attempted a wooden sign-making business— I ended up deciding both were just something I wasn’t passionate about. They just weren’t my “thing”. Sure I enjoyed doing them to some extent, but I certainly didn’t find joy in making a complete business out of them. In the midst of straying away from both of those things I honestly believed myself to be a failure. I thought I just couldn’t get my act together and decide on a career path.. I thought I was lost and pathetic. But now I look back and just see it so simply: I tried something… It wasn’t for me, so I moved on. I’m so glad I got over myself and realized I should give it another go. And I get it, it’s really hard to keep getting back up after things don’t seem to be going well. Especially when it’s time and time again. But I can’t shake the thought that I’d rather keep giving it my all than to settle and wish I would have.

So in the end failure=data… don’t give it any more power than that, and I promise you’ll see how it positively affects your life and business.

So those are my top two lessons from the two years here on good ol’ Megmade with Love. I’ve enjoyed this process of becoming a better business owner— I’m far from perfect, but I’m having a heck of a good time doing what brings me joy. Hope these little lessons were of some value to you! I love sharing stuff I’ve learned while blogging, in hopes that someone else may gain some knowledge or that it may be that “something” they needed to hear to encourage them to keep going.

Take care!

Meg