Muse or the Mailman?
The art of starting and finishing (knitting) projects - Part 2, CraftDoodling Designs news and other updates.
Last week I had discussed how the starting and finishing of projects are exciting but, in the 'middle' often things happen that cause us to abandon projects.
For instance, there are obvious reasons why we don't like a project:
The color or type of yarn is wrong.
The fabric that is being knitted is not what we had in mind.
A gauge disaster is imminent. 😔
I am not talking about these today. These are things we are able to identify sooner or later and solve the problem if it exists. We often hear knitters frogging entire projects, sometimes years after it's made, to re-knit it into something else that is more suitable. 🧶
On the other hand, there is the classic problem of too many projects - when we reach boredom in one, we cast on another one until there are way too many to juggle. 🤹🏾 That is a discussion for another day.
But today, I am talking about projects that are going well, yet we just don't want to work on them, or a number of other things suddenly start to look appealing or even necessary. There are so many times I suddenly embark on a full-fledged impromptu house cleaning, or resort to organizing my recipe collection when I should be working on a particular project. 😑
Or worse, I start doubting parts of the project itself and start researching problems that don't exist. It looks like I am still doing something related, but actually I am not. Anyone else with me?
At the risk of sounding so clichéd, what works for me in these moments is "acceptance followed by consistency."
Firstly, I have to accept that there is nothing else to do in this project other than the work itself and it is not going to be done until I sit down and do it. This acceptance is like a simple flip of some kind of switch in the mind. Once I have crossed this stage, it becomes easy to be consistent on a given project.
I have known and admired prolific knitters who have a beautiful portfolio of finished knits and keep churning out more of them steadily. I always assumed they have somehow developed skills to knit incredibly fast.
Comparing my progress to theirs, I have for a long time, described myself as a "painfully slow" knitter and pushed myself to knit faster. 😳
I would try to switch to techniques that promised to make me a fast knitter, without actually allowing myself the time to learn them thoroughly. I even tried switching tools as if that would solve the problem. Straights to circulars to DPNs and so on I went, without giving my hands and brain the chance to understand a tool or a technique well.
Over the years, I learned the hard way that magic is not in any particular technique or tool. It is the consistency that matters and brings about the magic, eventually. 🪄
W. Somerset Maugham described consistency best for me, without even using the word.
“I only write when inspiration strikes; fortunately it strikes every morning at 9 o'clock sharp”.
When asked about his inspiration, he didn't describe it as a grand arrival of some magical muse. Arriving every morning at 9 o'clock sharp 🕘, his inspiration sounds like a rather friendly, humble mailman who delivers quietly at the same time every day.
Put this way, the whole idea of inspiration becomes more accessible. After all, inspiration is not a rare or random phenomenon, but a reliable and regular companion that one can invite by being consistent. And it becomes a tad bit easier to pick up that project and work on it with calm acceptance.
CRAFTDOODLING DESIGNS UPDATE
I have been writing up a Beginner Brioche Class this week. I offer one for working Brioche in the round already. So this one will be all about 2-color Brioche working flat. I hope to get it up soon on my LYS.
I have been working on my sock design as well. I’ll have more updates on that next week.
OTHER THINGS YOU MIGHT LIKE
In case you had missed, here is last week’s post on “The art of starting and finishing (knitting) projects - Part 1”
Wordle Editor Tracy Bennett says her first crossword was published in Knitty Magazine!!
Books I Just finished reading 📖
Lessons in Chemistry - Bonnie Garmus
Books I’m Currently Reading 📚
Watchmen - Alan Moore
Reasons to Stay Alive - Matt Haig
Until next time,
Kavitha. ♡
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Consistency is the key. Somehow, I have to keep learning this over and over.
I dislike the finishing. Weaving in ends, stiching seams, etc. Very boring. I also put projects aside if I've made too many mistakes. Very discouraging! And mistakes are happening more often as I age - ugh.