What is WRONG with me?

[victoriarose]

I do not know what is happening to me here, but I have not touched hook or thread in over two weeks. I'm bored! I'm tired of the same old patterns, the same old stitches, doilies, potholders, dishcloths, ponchos etc...you know the routine. THATS IT!!! ROUTINE! I have been crocheting for over 30 years. I have created everything under the sun and on God's green earth. I need a change! Something NEW...THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME. My "crochet career" is far from over, but i feel as though I need to advance beyond "advanced". What do I do? Where do I go? Can you suggest a therapist ? Suggestions anyone? I am serious...This is serious! I want my grandma

[InStitches]

Ok...I don't have the degree yet but I am a learning therapist! Does that count?

[Yammy]

Take up knitting???

[victoriarose]

Absolutely...InStitches!!!

[OnceUponAHook]

Knitting

Beadwork - another obsession inandofitself!

[moonspinners]

For something fun and never boring, how about scrapbooking? Along the same line, you can crochet "frames" for some of your favorite photos or use crocheted frames for gift-giving.

 

Good luck...and please, let us know what you decide to do.

[Mom w/a Motif]

I agree, maybe try another hobby for a while. That's what I did (knitting) when I got sick of the same old thing. Now I am trying to crochet wearables, which is a little bit more challenging. (For me, anyway.)

 

Tina

[victoriarose]

The knitting suggestions are great! I have some of NaNa's old needles, more than enough yarn, and 4 or 5 different "How To Knit" books BUT, I am thinking CROCHET challenge of a lifetime...ie.wedding dress/bridal gown, a christening outfit valued at 2 or 3 thousand, (am I stepping out of bounds here)?. I need something NEW, EXCITING, BEYOND THE REALM OF CROCHET, yet within crochet. I think my passion has turned to obsession.

[love2crochet]

How about some of Lily Chin's patterns. She tends to come up with very creative challenging projects??

 

http://www.lilychinsignaturecollection.com/books.php

[pinkroses]

I agree . When I get bored with crochet I turn to my knitting and turn about around. I do a lot of different needleworks.

I was into quilting really heavy. I need a break and reutrned to crochet and knitting.

Learn something new in the needleworks that you can add your crochet talents to.

I love to make and sew aprons. I crochet a lot of lace and add that to my aprons.

I make aprons for my Mother-in-law. She likes to see the different tecqniues I use on them.

I got bored to like that when I didn't know anything but crochet. That is why I started to learn to knit and quilt and sew. I thought myself to knit.

If you can crochet you can knit.

Oh, I am into cro-tatting too. It is fun when you get the hang of it.

I also love to do regular tatting with a shuttle. My husband's great -Aunt taught me how to tat. Good luck. Try something new. PINKROSES

[sammimag]

Have you done any free form crochet? That could be a something new.

 

Crochet with roving. Before you do you could experiment with dyeing the roving yourself with kool-aid.

 

You could also learn how to spin your own yarn.

[victoriarose]

CRO-TAT!!!! Thank you Pinkroses!!! I have always wanted to learn to tat (looks somewhat complicated, will need to learn to hold my thread a different way...I think ) I do not understand the way a shuttle works but I DO know fine threads, as I have worked with 20, 30, and even single-strand embroidery floss (out of desperation cuz I couldn't find the color I wanted at any hobby store). I will definitely need a tad bit of help with this. Any suggestions?

P.S. I have thousands of pictures (family photo's) that need to be placed in albums. Thanks for the scrapbooking ideas. OMG! ALL the ideas are wonderful. See...I told you I needed help X's & O's to all of you!

[victoriarose]

Free form? I have done many Irish crochet projects. Is that similar to free form? Details pleeeze?

[Afghaniac]

Have you mastered the bullion stitch? When I get really bored, I'll go back and try it again.

[InStitches]

Ok, report in to me once a week for therapy, and then take all these other suggestions and use them for fillers between therapy sessions. It will be lovely!

 

What in the world is cro-tatting?

[chichiwawa]

What is the bullion stitch. I've never heard of it. I feel like a newbie all over again....

[fuzzy ferret]

Try learning a different craft, like Knitting or the Butterfly loom or something of that nature. Something to get your outta that funk and back into the groove of things!!! Try learning a different Stitch technique you never had time to learn before.

 

Krystal

[sammimag]

Free form? I have done many Irish crochet projects. Is that similar to free form? Details pleeeze?

 

I think some incorporate Irish crochet elements into their freeform. You can check out the this forum right here on the 'ville. You will find tons of links, pics etc to learn more about it. You can see some of my experiments in freeform here.

[redhead54]

That's why I also cross stitch. When I get sick of that-- I go right back to crochet. Keeps me sane.

[busymomof7]

I know how to tat. It is really not that hard, but there is a "knack" to it. See, you take your shuttle and make a loop of thread around your hand and then you just use the shuttle to wrap thread around that loop in different knot formations. You actually don't have to have a shuttle, you can just use a bobbin. The trick is in the tension. This is really hard to explain in words, but each time you make a "knot" on that loop around your hand, at first, the knot is made by the shuttle thread and the knot is around the loop thread. But you change the tension and suddenly the "knot" is being made by the loop thread and the thread the knot is on is the shuttle thread.

 

Oh, I am failing miserably at describing this, but I could show you in 30 seconds!

 

I am afraid I know nothing about cro-tatting.

 

Good luck in finding your inspiration again.

[paah-paah]

I do not know what is happening to me here, but I have not touched hook or thread in over two weeks. I'm bored! I'm tired of the same old patterns, the same old stitches, doilies, potholders, dishcloths, ponchos etc...you know the routine. THATS IT!!! ROUTINE! I have been crocheting for over 30 years. I have created everything under the sun and on God's green earth. I need a change! Something NEW...THE CHALLENGE OF A LIFETIME. My "crochet career" is far from over, but i feel as though I need to advance beyond "advanced". What do I do? Where do I go? Can you suggest a therapist ? Suggestions anyone? I am serious...This is serious! I want my grandma

I bought a book at Wal-Mart called beginner's guide/CROCHET STITCHES/19 stitches. In this book there is a pattern called "SHOW OFF BABY BLANKET". There are four stitches in this pattern. Since I hardly ever do things the easy way I bought four different colors and worked them into the patterns as they changed. For the "Diamond stitch" I worked two colors one on top of the other carrying the unused color along the back as I continued the work. All of the stitches are in the book. You may already know most or all of these stitches. I hope this helps, but it seems as if you have already found a solution to your problem in "cro-tat"

P.S. I found that when working the single crochet for the ribs that it worked out better to work around the posts of the previous row if that will be a contrasting color as mine was.

 

http://s108.photobucket.com/albums/n25/paah-paah/

[aurora]

What about joining a prescriptive CAL, or a swap? Then you'll have something that you *need* to complete, and you'll have fun doing it!

[Tapanga]

Have you tried making Irish lace? At our local street market (fair) there is a lady who was selling an anitque crocheted wedding dress that she said was made by her great great grandmother. She said it was Irish lace. All I know was that it was breathtaking! She was selling for I think $4,500. And she had like 3 people bidding on it. But it would be worth it, I would have sold it to a museum.

Maybe something like that? You mentioned a wedding dress, so maybe you could go in that direction?

Good luck in finding your muse!

[Sylviaf]

I switch crafts. I get tired of crochet and cross-stitch or sew or quilt or forget it all and take a couple of days to just enjoy reading. Then my fingers get itchy and I start working again.

[funkyreporter]

I saw you mentioned the Cro-Tat and I just got the Annie's Attic catalog and it had some Cro-Tat supplies and books and this really pretty doily book (don't think it's cro-tat) but it looks like it combines pretty fine threads (sewing thread maybe) and they make a shading effect by combining the different colors gadually...

 

Take a look

http://www.anniesattic.com/pages/needlecraft/nc164/catalogspread01.html?source=ERG1AA

 

It's the 'painted mini doilies' on the cover.

 

If you need a new craft AND you're feeling frustrated, try mosaicing! Go break your dishes and then put them back onto something and make a pretty mosaic! I LOVE mosaicing... very therapuetic! Here's the tabletop I made recently: