Are you goal oriented or a seat of your pants style knitter?
Occasionally I knit with a deadline, usually a specific event. But as a rule I knit on a whim, it is the one thing in my life that I use as total enjoyment. So I have never given myself goals.
I have recently been rethinking this. I was inspired to finish as many UFO’s as possible and destash. Refusing to purchase anymore yarn or fiber….until….I can’t stand it anymore.
As a result, I have gotten an amazing amount of knitting done, and have lost my need to find the “perfect” yarn or pattern for a match, after all it is just yarn, (I know *gasp!*)
So I’m rethinking this strategy. After an injury, that I am still recovering from, I was amazed at how much knitting I could accomplish, (of course what else was I doing?). This began a UFO attack, that turned into a big stash bust. Soon I had set a goal to knit a top down cardigan in two weeks, I took me slightly less than three, but this was the ah ha moment for me.
I always thought I didn’t want any deadlines, I needed relaxation, but found that in setting some goals, I actually started growing as a knitter and thinking less about all of the other stuff. Now I don’t know if this new philosophy will last when I return to work, and real life, but I’m going to give it a try. I’ll remind myself to return to read this post , when I’m crazy stressed out. That is the nice thing about knitting, it’s always waiting for you when you need it.
Stash Busting Ideas..
All of the One Skein books are great.
Knitting for children, and babies doesn’t take much yarn, also knitting toys (toy patterns)
Mittens, and wrist warmers. (mitten patterns) Hats (hat patterns) are good, and you can donate these to a shelter
From Kristin Roach a pattern for some stashing busting socks!
And don’t forget you can donate some of your stash, see the Knitting Behind Bars article, (Interweave Knits lists of charities that accept yarn )
Now Bust some Stash….
May your knitting needles fly as fast as Dragonflies
I have a goal: knit up some socks using the 100g skeins of sock yarn in the stash. It is the oldest yarn there and has aged well. *grin*
ReplyDeleteI agree, as much as I dislike goals, they do make me achieve more in my crafting. I always feel like it would be better to just have no limitations, but I think my creativity is better when there is a goal/deadline.
ReplyDeleteKnitting behind bars! How cool! I like the one skein books too.
ReplyDeleteGosh, I'm a snail compared to you! I've been working on my top down cardi (the one made from the yarn that was originally the Slinky Ribs top) for... oh.... several months! LOL! Course, I have been in the garden almost every weekday morning for the last two months. That's my excuse anyway.
ReplyDeleteGreat goal!
ReplyDeleteI have been trying to stash-bust FOREVER. The yarn just seems to multiply when I'm not looking... going to open up some of those One-skein books sitting on my shelf! Thanks for the reminder about those.