When You Lose Your Crochet Mojo

I don’t know about you, but it seems like every so often, I go through a period of life where I lose my mojo when it comes to crocheting.

In the summer of 2021, although I had been working on a few patterns for dyers, I just could not come up with any ideas on what to work on for the Karen Whooley Designs line of patterns. Partially this was because I was so focused on my daughter, driving back and forth to and from her home two hours away, being there to help while she battled preeclampsia, delivering 5 weeks early, and finally dealing with the gall bladder issues that pregnancy brought to a head. In this case, there isn’t any room to be creative, even during downtime.

Other times, it could be that I just don’t have the mojo at all, even to work on a project I have already designed. I just don’t want to pick up that hook and start.

Or maybe I am in the middle of a project, and the desire to finish has waned. It’s all the frogging, the lying gauge swatch, the backward cable, the missed repeat, or the split-y yarn… the reasons can go on.

Isn’t crochet supposed to be fun? Not to mention all the stress relief it is supposed to provide.

YES, crochet is meant to be fun and not stressful. But many times it is we are the one who gets inside our heads and lose heart. And sometimes we take things much too seriously!

As I have gone through this season in my own life, I have come up with a few ways that have gotten me through – and I am sharing them with you!

1. Don’t take gauge personally.  I truly mean that! It is not a failure when your gauge swatch doesn’t match what the designer of the pattern says it should be. Even when that designer is you! Before you toss the project into the black hole of failed WIPs, read my post Swatching Woes – What To Do About Them. There are so many things you can do to figure out what the reason is.
2. Stop forcing it. Sometimes you need to take a break. That is actually what I have been doing.  I have picked up knitting baby hats for charity and my new grandson. Yes, your read that right, knitting. Sometimes it takes doing another craft, knitting, spinning, painting, embroidery, weaving, or whatever else you might do. Or possibly taking up a new craft you have been wanting to try.  Sometimes doing something else for a while will spark something to bring back your crochet mojo.
3. Don’t forget, you get to decide. You are the one that picked the yarn, the pattern, or maybe even designed the pattern.  Don’t like the edging? Choose another you like better and use that. Maybe you want to use a different weight of yarn.  Orange is not your color? You don’t have to use the color(s) the designer did in the pattern sample.  YOU are doing all the work, which means YOU get to decide.
4. Stop being a perfectionist. While some mistakes can cause serious consequences later on in the pattern if you are a savvy crocheter you know some mistakes can be fixed on the fly.  Have an extra stitch in a row and don’t realize it until the next row? Make a discreet dc2tog in that next row to fix the stitch count. The more mistakes you make, the better you will become at fixing them.

Now it is your turn!

What do you do when you lose your crochet Mojo? Drop me your thoughts in the comments 👇🏻