I hope you all had a great weekend and got some knitting time in. I feel like I lost my knitting mojo for a week and it bothered me. Have you ever lost your desire to knit? What did you do to get it back? I’m thinking that a week isn’t anything to worry about, but still. It was weird. I knit yesterday again and was fully into it, happy to be back at it. But all last week? Didn’t feel like it. At all. I had time in the evenings to knit, and I never picked anything up. I think what snapped me out of my knitting-stupor was playing with yarn at Loopy on Friday. We’re always re-arranging the yarn to make room for something that has just arrived, and I was doing a bunch of that. I kept thinking, “This is such GREAT yarn. I need to make something out of this!” It wasn’t one particular yarn that I was comtemplating, but every single yarn that I was moving. (Because, you know, we don’t stock any yarn that I don’t love!) So I think that playing in your stash (yet another reason to HAVE a stash), or poking around The Loopy Ewe (whether in person or on line), is a good way to un-stupor yourself.
It’s going to be a nice calm week here at Loopy. We finished up Sock Summit stuff last week (more on that in a minute) and we have a week of peace before we head out to Portland. We’ll be working on getting all of your Anniversary Kit orders out in the next few days. Thank you for such a great response to the kit! I’m so happy that you like it and also happy that they lasted through the weekend and so many of you had a chance to get one. We had 600 available and we have less than 5 left as I write this.(So if you’re still pondering, ponder quickly.) Edit: Now gone. Since it lasted a few days, we won’t have to do a re-run. It’s always my desire to have things last at least a few days, here. I have high hopes that one day the Numma Numma/Bugga/Wollmeise knitting wells will be filled enough for us to be able to actually STOCK those lines, and not just have them visit briefly for 10 minutes, every month or two!
My hubby was in charge of shipping our inventory and fixtures to The Sock Summit last week. It all had to be crated and put on palettes, and we needed a dock for the truck to pick it up. His work location was a perfect place to do all of that. He said that when he called to schedule the pick up, they asked what was in the shipment and he had to repeat “yarn” three times before they got it. Finally the lady said, “Wait – you mean yarn …. like KNITTING yarn??” People continue to underestimate knitters, don’t they?
We have gorgeous naturally-dyed Earthly Hues and brilliantly colored Spirit Trail Fiberworks going up in the Sneak Up tonight. YUM.
Sheri flowerphotofrommyquicktriptoFLtwoweekendsago
Oh, Sheri, so sorry you lost your knitting impetus. It happens every now and then. For me, it’s usually either I’m not feeling great or I’ve worked really hard on a project and I just need a break to regroup.
Having many projects going at one time always helps me find a reason to knit. Whenever I finish several projects about the same time, I lose focus and meander around trying to figure out which of the many things I want to make are next.
So here’s hoping you’ve found your knitting mojo again and cast on many projects.
Thanks for all you and the elves do to make my life a joy.
That flower photo makes me want to move to Florida!
My favorite thing is to go to fastener store and buy o-rings for stitchmarkers. The sales guy always asks end use and I say knitting. He then shows me where they are and walks away. I also buy parts for my loom and wheel at hardware store where I work. The guys go why do you want that…when I explain they tell me it’s TMI.
I am a quilter turned knitter. For ten years I made quilts nearly every day. Finally, I got burned out. I turned to knitting and I love it. Socks are a real joy to me. Now I knit every day. Let’s see how I feel ten years from now. Thanks to you and your staff. I check out The Loopy Ewe often and really LOVE those yarns. Does anyone have a “favorite of all time” yarn? Sherri, do you?
thankfully, I haven’t lost mojo yet – I’m so sorry you did. Luckily, if I don’t feel like knitting when I get home from work, I can spin and vice versa. G-D help me if I take up dyeing or weaving (and my bank account too!!!)
Sometimes we do get in a slump, and like you said just go thru your stash and something you bought a while ago suddenly becomes the yarn you want to work with. I feel your pain at trying to stock numma numma and wollmeise for all. As yet I have not been able to get any (just one would be nice), especially when you see the stashes that some people have been accumulating, it would be nice to share the wealth. I guess you could call that my gripe of the day. Now I have vented and now I am done. Keep stocking your quality merchandise it is always neat to see what is coming out next.
I wish our company could have handled your transport/shipment. You wouldn’t have had to tell me twice. 🙂
Now, knitting MoJo? Well, I lose it all the time and find out I left it in the freezer.
Sometimes it takes a great pattern to feel the love. Right now I’m making some Spring Forward socks in Casbah. It’s a very satisfying knit.
*snicker* Yes, they do underestimate us. Silly rabbits. 😉
Sometimes I lose my mojo too, Sheri. What usually brings it back again is seeing a great pattern. I’ll drop everything to get the yarn and get it going.
I’ve recently lost my mojo for anything big. These days, I seem to be capable of booties, and other small things but I appear to have commitment issue at the moment 🙂
I lose my knitting MoJo every July. Or at least that’s how it’s been the last two years. I figure it’s ok and gives me time to focus on other things like cleaning the house. 🙂
I lose my desire to knit periodically. Don’t know why. Usually no logical reason although “life” gets in the way at times (i.e. graduation, house construction, or even household chores).
I do exactly what you did and hit my lys. Seeing all those new fibers and colors seems to break me out of non-knitting. Same happens with my needlepoint. Right now I can’t bring myself to even look at it! I have a new project coming in the mail so maybe that will work for that particular hobby??? I’m hoping~
When i loose my knitting mojo I switch the projects. I was completely overdosed with sock knitting, I switch to hats and voila, works great for me …..
Anna
Whenever I lose my knitting mojo (which I always seem to do right as I finish all of the Christmas presents I make every year) is to just stop worrying about it and wait. It always comes back, because even though I might be a bit burnt out for a while, I LOVE knitting and I know I’ll want to do it again! I usually “warm myself back up” by reading the Yarn Harlot’s books, or looking through a pattern magazine… you get the picture. And sometimes wallowing around in my stash helps too! 🙂
I’m glad you found your knitting mojo again sheri. With me it’s not so much losing the mojo as having the ability taken away from me ( deep tissue damage in my arm means some weeks just getting dressed is painful enough much less doing anything else that is repetative) I have spent the last week and a half not being able to knit – i have all this beautiful yummy yarn that loopy ewe has sent me and the most i can do is pick it up and squish it and go “oh it’s so yummy!” Mind you, this inability has not prevented me from ogling yummy yarns online as frequently as possible 😀
I know what you mean, I have gone weeks (yes plural… as in more than one week!) without wanting to pick up any knitting. However, about 3 months ago, we relocated the cabinet that I keep my stash in to the wall that my bed faces. The cabinet has glass doors, so as I lay in bed I can gaze upon my lovingly arranged yarn. Ahhh, if that isn’t daily inspiration, I don’t know what is!!
Yes, i have lost my kniting mojo until last night. For the last few weeks I haven;t had the energy to knit or needlepoint after work.
we’ve had a few layoffs and a reduction in pay at work. not been a good year.
But Danielle opened a new yarn store in Alexandria last week and Michelle and I went to the grand opening on Friday and I bought some yarn.
Yes, new yarn got me knitting again.
And I’m sure when the new anniversary kit arrives it too will motivate me to knit.
Happy Anniversary.
Hi Sheri!
I can’t say I have lost my knitting mojo, but I have certainly hit a slump. My last two projects I have had to rip all the way out, one project was my Hourglass Sweater that was completely finished. After reading on Ravelry how the yarn GREW for everyone I chose to do the size that I thought would fit best if the yarn did grow. Well, mine didn’t grow, I couldn’t get it to even budge! So, I ripped and rewound all 8 skeins of my Noro yarn.
The second project isn’t quite as painful, a hat. But I have had to rip it twice! The first time was because I realized I forgot to switch needle size after completing the inch of ribbing. The second time I chose to rip it because on the larger needle the yarn pooled terribly.
Now, I just want to FINISH something successfully!!
I lose my knitting mojo now and then too. When I do, I just go along with whatever I have the new urge to do such as read, cross stitch or sew and then all of a sudden one day I’ll get the biggest urge to start knitting again. I’ve loved knitting all my life, so I never worry about losing my mojo forever. Besides, it’s kind of fun to take a break and then have it all seem new and exciting when I get back into it.
I’m the type who always has to have something I am working on. If I start a long term project (knitting, wall hanging quilt, etc) I usually have to have a short one or two day project somewhere I can fiddle with to satisfy my need to finish SOMETHING. Sometimes I just don’t feel like doing anything – so I give my mind and creative side a rest but not for too long ’cause I actually get “down in the dumps” if not working on something creative. If my “heart” isn’t in what I am working on – then it becomes work and takes the joy out of it – when the joy comes back – I pick up where I left off. When I don’t feel like knitting – lost my mojo – I kick back – look at yarns on line, read knitting blogs, look at patterns on line and magazines, etc. Usually if I have too much on my plate – that’s when the creative block hits. It’s hard to knit and refinish your hardwood floors at the same time 🙂 Which is what I am bouncing back and forth with now. I guess if writers can have writers slump then knitters should be allowed knitters slump also – I like to think of knitting as one of the arts anyway.
It always inspires me to read knitting blogs and see what other people are knitting. I am a spinner, too, so when I don’t feel like knitting I spin and so it goes. Looking at my stash is always fun, too!
Sometimes I don’t feel like knitting. Usually, this is when I’ve had such a tough day that I don’t feel like doing anything except sitting next to my sweetheart watching a good movie or something like Masterpiece Mystery or The Daily Show. I don’t think this means I’ve lost my knitting mojo, especially since I always get a hankering to begin to knit again at some point. Maybe it’s the next day, maybe it’s the next week — no worries either way. Plus, after this summer, I have something that will keep me sure of my knitting mojo forever: I was named the 2009 Sock Knitting Champion by the judges at this year’s Rice County fair. This after never having had the guts to enter my knitting before!
I lose my mojo ever once in awhile. I know it has come back when I see yarn colors when I close my eyes to go to sleep at night. 🙂
Losing your knitting mojo sounds bad to me I dont think I lose my mojo but there are days after a long day dealing with jerks at my job that I dont want to tackle that especially challenging pattern. That is when I pick up a simple knit project or I do something totally different like crocheting or tatting. I like to keep busy so if something does not want to be worked I know I will find something else.
Whenever I’ve lost my mojo, it’s usually because I’m way too busy, or just plain tired. Exhaustion takes all the fun out of everything. I have a number of strategies to bring me back, though. Among them: sorting my stash; taking a nap; flipping through my book, magazine and pattern collection; going into the LYS without a project or a purpose and just breathing; scoping the pages at TLE; talking to my knitting friends about their projects, and looking at the beautiful work of others. Some combination of those always works for me!
I have had times that I have lost my knitting mojo…but it usually doesn’t last long. It usually happens when I am way over-tired. I had a burning desire to knit over the last couple of weeks and did virtually no knitting (except for one “boob Hat” that I knit for a friend recently diagnosed with breast cancer…my sister did a breast cancer walk a few weeks ago and I knitted boob hats for her team so when my friend told me of her diagnosis I knew that she needed a hat too).We were too busy getting a room renovated before my oldest came home for a visit, needing a bed. And then we were getting ready for my younger son’s graduation party, which was a ton of work but even more fun. But, I am going away on Saturday and have packed a very large tote of knitting, including my gorgeous skein of Wollmeise, and I know that I will get a bunch of knitting time over the next several weeks…thank goodness.
I periodically lose my knitting mojo, too. Usually it’s because I’m tired of the current project but have a deadline to meet—the baby blanket I’m making for my husband’s niece, for example; I’m really tired of looking at it but the baby is due next week!—so I can’t pull my usual trick of switching to something else. (This is why, despite my best efforts at monogamy, I can’t help casting on multiple projects.) It never lasts too long. Looking at patterns and playing with the stash helps get me back on track. And meanwhile I catch up on my reading!
Sheri, sometimes knitting just needs to take a break, too. It always comes back when it is ready!
“Numma Numma/Bugga/Wollmeise knitting wells will be filled enough for us to be able to actually STOCK those lines, and not just have them visit briefly for 10 minutes, every month or two!” Oh, boy — I absolutely, wholeheartedly agree!!!!!
My knitting mojo has been missing for more than 6 months. I’ll pick up and pick at a small project here or there, but I’m no longer rushing home to dive into a project like I used to. My brain decided to roam elsewhere for a while and I know it will eventually find it’s way back around (it has to, the two sock clubs I’m in are still growing the stash even though I’m not knitting it down any).
I have lost my knitting mojo on occasion, but usually it’s when I have really lost interest or are just not crazy about a project underway. What I do then is to put that aside (for a while) and look at some knitting stash/books/patterns that excite me…then it comes back, but unfortunately – I also usually just want to chuck the boring project and start the new!
Good luck at Sock Summit, try not to work too hard (may you sell it all and not have to crate it up to send it home!). I and thousands of other knitters wish we could go too –
And TRIPLE ditto on Wollmeise, Numma & Bugga.
can’t believe no one’s said it yet, but, mojowise: go look at some pictures of gorgeous knitting, even if it’s something you would or could never do in a million years. look at some finished objects in some awesome, awesome yarn. a lot of us started knitting in the first place because we wanted to create stunning objects of beauty, right? and we ended up making a garter-stitch scarf. but that was all right because were *knitting*. i know when i see really beautiful pictures, my fingers twitch. i bet yours do, too.
also: feeling guilty about it only makes it worse. it’s like wanting to take a vacation without your husband/boyfriend/whatever. you need some time, everyone does, absence = heart fonder, etc. so relax and come back when you’re ready.
(i noticed that someone’s comment said you’d gotten your mojo back already. if so, well, disregard the advice. save it for next time, i guess. and i’m glad you got your groove back, if you did.)
I knew I was going to miss the kit, but I just couldn’t justify spending the money before pay day. Obviously I’ll have to keep some aside for it next year!
I tend to not so much lose my knitting mojo for a few days but have something else overwhelm it. So, I’ll have 4 or 5 days where I don’t want to do anything in the evenings other than read or bake or play video games. Then that will pass and I will go back to knitting with a random movie going on in the background.
Usually when I dont want to knit, I’ll either read a book, spin (though I lost the hook to thread the roving through my wheel), or quilt. If I just focus on those for a little while, my knitting mojo usually comes back and all is well again. 🙂
I seem to have lost my mojo due to some unfortunate circumstances. I might
say that I lost more of my ability than my mojo to knit. I think I lost them on
Olive Street Road somewhere. The next time I go out I will see if I can fnd them
again. I also am looking forward to seeing your scarf in the Malibrago silky.
Would like to make one of those. Want to see what yours looks like.
Get your mojo back and happy knitting.
I lose my knitting mojo when I have something OTN with a deadline. I work on it so much, and then I don’t want to, but I know I should be working on that and nothing else, and so I end up working on nothing. I just have to plough through til it’s done, and then work on something I really love. I always get my mojo back though. Sometimes I think my brain just needs some time off.