My Longest Project
I was working on a project from Knitcrate (a subscription service I subscribed to) called the one night cowl. Despite the name, it has took me a whole year to complete. I have never took so long with a small project before maybe a blanket… sure. But a scarf… too long. Life tends to get in the way of my projects. I’m too tired, too pregnant, too having to deal with children etc. After I finish a project, I am delighted that it is complete.
The Problem
When I take a ridiculously long time to finish a project, I always have some weirdness. The tension is wrong and has changed several times to I totally forgot what I was doing with this project. It looks ok, I probably won’t wear it ok. My crochet tension changes over time. With too long a wait in-between sessions, I tend to have looser and tighter tensions that bell shape my projects. I also always forget to take notes and have no reference to my hook size and other needed information so I have to put on my detective hat. This takes too long and I don’t want to do it.
I love crocheting; its all the other parts that I don’t love like seaming, weaving in ends, and figuring out what I’m doing. Actually I’ve gotten a lot better at that part. How you asked? I literally just stopped stressing about it and It became natural. To be clear by natural I mean after several years of crocheting.
Solutions
I like the act of crocheting, it calms me like a meditation. Because of this, I don’t like my goal to be completion. So my goal will be to crochet an hour a day. The number of working projects should reflect how much time there is too work on them. I am giving myself an hour a day, essentially for me that is 5 projects. (Of course I have more than 5, I’m still working on myself to be better organized and not so free flowing in thought.) An hour a day will let me finish a small project every other day, a medium sized project every week, and a large project approximately in a month or two. Extra large projects like blankets etc. will take 3-4 months. So I think those figures are reasonable.
(Random pictures of me awkwardly holding my cowl.) By reasonable I mean I’m happy with the length of time I would be working on the project. This is different for everyone and each person’s speed will vary. I’m not a particularly slow or fast crocheter. Small projects are my lifelines so I like to have a couple ready to go. I complete them when I’m in a slump and need a pick me up. I’m in a love hate relationship with big projects and I need some way to stay sane. This is the plan. Now wish me luck and comment on how you’re finding time to complete your craft for other to get ideas and feel support.
Knitting and Crochet: my journey to peace 