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When the Knitting Thrill Is Gone – Have You Lost Your Knitting Mojo?

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how to deal with loss of knitting mojoAfter I left About in the spring, I went through a period of not wanting to knit at all.

It has been such a big part of my life for almost 10 years, through three books and hundreds of articles, patterns, book reviews and tutorials.

It still is, but I just didn’t want to do it anymore once I didn’t feel like I had to.

I know that will sound strange to a lot of people — how can you ever not want to knit? — but when your creative outlets become your job, it’s tricky business to maintain the fire.

So I let it go. I didn’t pressure myself.

I started a couple of projects, none of which I’ve really finished (though a couple only need ends woven in, of course).

Now that the weather is getting a little cooler, I’m starting to feel that will to knit creeping back in. I have a giant, but simple, project on my needles. I’m ready to knit through the winter.

If you’ve ever lost your will to knit, you should know that it’s totally normal. And whether you have or you don’t think you ever will, you should read the piece “Of Knitting Mojo, Lost and Found” from Lee Ann Dalton in Twist Collective. It reminds us that shifts in energy and desire to knit are normal (though if you’ve lost your will to do anything, that’s a different problem).

For most of us, time spent not knitting does not mean lost income, so just let it go and trust that it will come back to you. Maybe on that first cool morning in October.

Have you ever lost your knitting mojo? I’d love to know what you did, if anything, to get it back, or what you do when you’re not feeling inspired to knit.

[Photo via Twist Collective.]

Comments

  1. Knit for charity. I’m in the UK and photos of children and babies in refugee camps in France or Greece spur me on to knit those warm blankets and clothes that may literally make the difference between life and death to a baby living in a tent in the snow. Homeless hostel 5m from me needs adult knitting too – so I never stop!

  2. As much as I love to knit, when the will to knit starts to go, I switch. I leave the knitting as is and work on a crochet project, or cross-stitch, or make jewelry. This way I never get bored and instead, see my knitting with refreshed eyes and a new perspective. It also helps to get together with my crafting friends. I met them on Meetup and our Meetup is open to all crafters so there is much to learn from each other.

  3. I separated from my husband last fall, suddenly and traumatically and it was all I could do to get through the day. Some days I would just hold the knitting, unable to focus to make a single stitch. When my desire to knit came back I knew I was turning the corner toward healing.

  4. As in life there are changes. This is not a bad thing it is how you handle these changes. So, give knitting a rest, garden instead, or do cross stitch, smocking, sewing, craft. Ask grandchildren if they would like something knitted scarf, fingerless gloves, head band etc.Even make some jam and add a pretty homemade label. Give one jar away.

Have you read?

Easy Knit Baskets to Use All Your Stash

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts. 

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts. 

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects. 

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version. 

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want. 

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do. 

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like. 

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.