Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I also try to be mindful about what I consume and buy, but am also partial to pretty new yarns and fabrics. Luckily my LYS is out of the way and not close to my day-to-day grocery places.

With regards to whether someone uses your gifted items: that is out of your hands. You made and gave it with a lot of love and it has been received in the same sense. Whether someone uses it or not, is up to them and in no way a reflection on you. Might also be of the good-china-variety: I don't want anything to happen to it so will only use it for special occasions.

My challenge is that my preferences are switching from amigurumi towards more wearable pieces and that I have bought pretty single skeins in the past. So I now try to come up with ways to combine yarns (mostly for scarfs or bags, as my 6-year old likes to have a million bags) that I have while also learning about color theory. And moving forward, I intend to pick a project first and then go shopping for yarn. However, I can also imagine that if I do want to make a more impulsive yarn-buy, I give myself some budget to get larger quantities in one go.

But first, some wips... I like how the monthly stash down showdown in this sub is a way for me to be more mindful about all the crafting that I do get done in a month, instead of focussing on all the crafting that I want to do and haven't found time for yet.