I mean, yes, I’ve knitted two hats lately. They were already an attempt to get out of the knitting funk, however!
You see, after my poll a couple of weeks ago I decided to knit the Storm cardigan by Kim Hargreaves. I bought the Polar yarn I mentioned in said post, although I purchased it in the aubergine colourway instead of in black on a whim. It should have been a quick knit – it’s a super bulky yarn and the pattern shouldn’t be very difficult. “Should” is the key word here. “Storm” being a Kim Hargreaves pattern is of course written in the most backwards way possible and riddled with errors to add insult to injury. Attention knitters: I don’t recommend Kim Hargreaves’ books, at least if you actually want to knit some of the projects. They are very pretty to look at, but her patterns hold my personal record of rage-quit per project.
For “Storm”, you first have to knit two front pieces that then get joined together to knit the back. The problem is, I just can’t get the front pieces to match up. If it were only a reverse stockinette pattern, I could just make one piece longer or shorter to match it to the other piece. I even tried that, but the yarn overs didn’t line up at all so it looked weird. I got so frustrated with the pattern that I considered frogging it completely to start a different project with the yarn. Sadly, I told myself I could only knit from my insanely long queue, and I can’t find anything I could imagine with this colour.
I knit up the two gift hats to distract myself from my frustration, but still I don’t feel like coming back to “Storm” for now. I then started two projects for myself from my yarn stash, a shawl and a pair of socks. Unfortunately, I just don’t feel the shawl and I realized only after turning the heel that I didn’t have enough yarn for the socks; I’d need to frog it to make the leg part shorter. In a nutshell, both didn’t help me to get my enthusiasm for knitting back at all.
My question to you, my dear reader, is: What do you do to get back your knitting mojo? I don’t think it’d help if I tried going back to “Storm” right now. I could keep knitting gifts since Christmas is coming up, but I sort of crave the satisfaction only bigger projects can give you. Then again, money is tight right now and I promised myself to finish my big project before I could buy new yarn.
7 responses to “How do I get out of my knitting funk?”
I don’t have a recipe to get knitting muses back to inspire me, but perhaps sorting out what is in progress would help?
For example, if you don’t like the shawl, then there is no point in finishing/keeping it – frog it and reuse the wool for something that gives you pleasure and you will use.
For the socks – any chance you could get an extra ball to complete them? A single ball shouldn’t cost much and then you wouldn’t have to frog the beautiful work you’ve done.
Sorry I don’t have any better idea 😉 Hopefully, letting the steam out for a bit will help you get back into your knitting
Take a break! It’s quite possible to get burned out on knitting if you force yourself to knit when nothing feels pleasing or interesting. If you’re not depending on commissions to make a living, then there’s nothing wrong with putting all your knitting down and doing something else for a while!
I do this often, and usually after one, two weeks, maybe a month or so, I have my knitting mojo back for months at a time.
My mantra is that if it’s a hobby, it shouldn’t become a chore. 🙂
I second the take a break comment.
One thing I like to do is switch hobbies, so try taking on a challenging sewing project, or the like. It could either make you frustrated at sewing (so that you want to get back to knitting), or the accomplishment will empower you to return to the cardigan!
I just put away knitting for some time and wait when I feel like knitting again, no rushing things or buying new yarn, nothing like that. I concentrate on other crafts, like sewing.
I totally agree with your opinion on Kim’s patterns!… Pretty projects but descriptions are full of mistakes, and she sells the book like that!… Where’s the knitting proof reader?! Nobody tests the patterns or what?
A friend of mine had the same problem with Kim Hargreaves pattern. Points to you both for not quitting! 😉
I have knitting and writing funks but I always come back to both, I love them too much to give up. The best way to begin, is, to begin…and it works!
Great post! 🙂
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