Multiple Projects
When I am in my pottery workshop it is impractical to make
just one pot from start to finish.
If I throw a pot today, it will be wet for at least a week.
It has to be covered in plastic and dried slowly so it doesn't crack. Then it
has to be trimmed, then left to dry, then fired, then glazed, then fired again
at least once. The whole process might take a month or more. So during the rest
of the workshop I’m not just going to sit there twiddling my thumbs. I’m going
to throw another pot.
In oil painting, a painting may be too wet to do anything else
that day. It must be left to dry another week or so. In the meantime, I will
start another painting. In a week or two I may have a dozen paintings in
various stages of being finished. Sometimes I won’t know what to do next. Or I
might have a commission to finish. Or a birthday deadline. Or maybe that painting
just wasn't working out to begin with and needs to be painted over. Or I may
not have the skill level to finish it at this time.
But for some reason when it comes to knitting and
crocheting, the artist often feels they must finish one thing at a time from
start to finish. They punish themselves by not allowing themselves to start
anything new. Often their current project begins to bore them and grinds to a
halt. Or they can’t go on because they broke or lost a needle or a hook. Or the project has so many mistakes they can’t
bear to pick it up again. Or maybe they realize they didn't charge enough and
have lost their motivation. Or they don’t have the skills yet to finish.
No matter the reason it is always good to have another
project on stand-by. I like to keep one mindless project I can grab if I am
going to be stuck at an auto mechanic or a doctor’s office or a train ride. I
switch off between knitting and crocheting because each uses different muscles
and my hands don’t get so many repetitive injuries. I like to keep a hard
project handy so I can improve my skills and not get stuck in a rut. And I like
to keep something super fun handy, like crocheting teddy bears, so that when I
just want to relax and have fun that’s my go-to project. And I have seasonal
projects going, like hearts for Valentine’s Day or potholders for wedding
presents. And now I’ve learned the hard way to always have a prayer shawl in
the works long before its needed. Oh, and a charity project. I think I’d kill
my creativity if I stuck to one thing from beginning to end. I’d go bonkers! I’m
not saying you should start 100 projects and not finish anything. I’m saying it is not unreasonable to have 5
or 6 going at any one time.
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| I had to stop working on this because my cat always used to pounce me and then we lost the cat so it made me too sad to work on it. I just started working on it again this week. |
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| My current favorite project is this Hitchhiker Scarf from Ravelry |
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