“Like so much in life, the joy of knitting isn’t necessarily in the destination, but in the journey itself”

I am sitting on my couch after a long day, pondering about what project to tackle next. I am still reading the book with knitting stories and came across this quote that I couldn’t shake off. It feels like lately a lot of my crochet is about the journey and not the destination.

My Doris Chan top is blocking in front of my eyes as I write this (very… slowly…) and the more I look at it the more I realise that this top is not really… me. Don’t get me wrong, it is a nice top. I like the rolled edges in the neck and sleeves, I like the stitch pattern, and the colour, though a bit too pink, it is not a bad pink at all. But if I look at my closet right now I realise that this top is going to be one lonely garment amid clothes which are not in that style at all. Lately I am very into neutrals, into large and long sweaters that don’t hug my body. And this is definitely not that.

I have been crocheting for many years and I do enjoy a challenge. After focusing mainly on crocheting accessories I realised garments were the next step but it has been very difficult to find patterns that catch my eye. Because of this I think I have lowered my standards when it comes to finding patterns for garments and will settle on something that is well above the rest of what I have seen, but maybe not up to what I would like to make. I am not saying there are no good crochet patterns out there, just not many I would wear which is a very personal thing.

I do like the concept of a handmade wardrobe and I thought that is what I had been doing but now that I think about it there are very few things that I have crocheted that I actually wear. I don’t wear fingerless gloves but I continue to make them for some reason, even design them! I do wear my Uva shawl and my Cobbled Street cowl, but I think that is it.

So I have decided to really start thinking about what patterns to do/design and truly work towards my handmade wardrobe. We put so much time and effort into our crafts and even though I do not consider the time spent in my Doris Chan top a waste of time at all (it has made me realise I LOVE top-down construction), I do want an extra satisfaction with my crochet by making sure that the finish product fits my style and gets along with the rest of my clothes. This means no more projects using yarn from my stash that I know I don’t like anymore just for the sake of using it and no more settling with patterns that are not me. I just have to go figure out what is “me” now… 🙂

Have a great week everyone,

x

Sol