Perfectionism

[jillybean]

DH has been following my recent crochet frenzy (I'd put it all away before we were married, four years later I'm back with a vengeance) with some interest until this morning when I started to take apart the squares I'd joined with slip stitches. He'd have been fine with it except I started to whipstitch them together when I had just finished taking out the ones I'd whipstitched this weekend to slipstitch them. Now he thinks I'm crazy obsessed...well really, he should have picked up on that by now ! Oh, he's also the type who can't start a new project until he finishes the one he's working on .

 

Does anyone else have a problem with perfectionism when it comes to crochetting for others? If this afghan were going to stay in my house I'd be much lazier about correcting booboos and attempting aesthetic changes.

[leaette]

i am. i'm a perfectionist for everything i make. my opinion is that if it's not going to be perfect, i'm not going to waste my time then. i would pull it apart too

[crs5]

Yep!!!!! It would bother me too much, so I would take it apart and do it over.

 

Carol:hook

[EMedley]

yah, sadly i am.....

 

its why i try so many different patterns for one item trying to get it to look just right, i never trust myself apparently.

[Sugarcoatedlies]

yep

[Crocus58]

If I don't like how something looks, I'd rather take it apart and redo it than give something I don't like - - - -

[Gran]

Maybe it's part of being a crocheter. There we are with one little hook and some yarn or thread in our fingers. Every stitch counts. It's like drawing with ink.

 

I like how I can feel every stitch in my fingers. To me, every stitch matters.

 

I may think of something else later. I'm still tired from my travels.

 

Meanwhile, it's comforting to think of you all here, enjoying every stitch.

[countrykids]

yep, it needs to be perfect

[grandmalolly]

Yes, same here. I frogged 3 rows on a round ripple just a couple of days ago, because I had one v-stitch in a large shell row. It just had to be right.

[magiccrochetfan]

Just tell your husband that experimenting is part of the creative process! You have to experiment with different joining methods in order to find the very best one for the piece.

[Empress Busy Bee]

Does anyone else have a problem with perfectionism when it comes to crochetting for others?

It depends on what I'm crocheting and what the error is and how much it bothers me. If it's small and something only I would notice, then I'll leave it. Especially if there is a lot of tearing out involved. If it's obvious, then of course I tear out and correct it.

[Flia]

When it comes to crocheting for others - yes.

Crocheting for myself - no, I tend to make lots of mistakes and covering them up.

[eurolyons]

You know I honestly am of the opinion that "perfectionism" should be a deadly sin. It's one thing to want to strive for excellence, but perfectionism goes beyond that. Perfectionism is a time waster. Yes I suffer from perfectionism to a degree myself. If it's for me I can let certain things slide...but if it's for someone else, especially if I'm trying to impress someone else then I can get a little obsessed and then that perfectionism steals my joy in my craft.

 

9 times out of 10 the other person will not notice whatever it is that seems like a glaring error to you...and I do get that whole mindset of, "but I'll know..." So it begs the question, who are you (general you) trying to impress? Yourself or the other person...and if you say yourself, up to a point that's fine, but the item is suppose to be for someone else...right?

 

If you say yourself, then if the item was for yourself why would we slack off and accept the stray error in the first place?

 

I find that when I go to the dark side of perfectionism, I'm acting insecure, I tense up and as such I make MORE mistakes...

 

I don't have time to waste on perfectionism so when I find myself in that neighborhood I have to give myself a stern talking to...some errors can become happy mistakes, some errors can be forgiven and looked over and yes, by all means some errors should be corrected.

[Cherri]

I guess I'm somewhat of a perfectionist. And, like eurolyons says, it should be a deadly sin. When you're a perfectionist, you'll always be disappointed. It takes the joy out of everything. We should all strive for excellence, but not perfection. It's futile.

That said, I have no problem tearing things out if I make a mistake. Most of what I make is for charity and I won't give anything away if I'm not happy with it.

[jheatherley]

Not even something that's staying with me will escape being perfected.

[CLLinda]

When it's a gift, it has to be perfect.

 

The only time I let something go is when I had used two skeins of white, same dye lot, and to me, the second one was a bit off. I noticed the difference, but no one else really did. White can be tricky.

 

But i do like things perfect, because it may become an heirloom object because you took the time to hand make it.

 

[Craw]

You know I honestly am of the opinion that "perfectionism" should be a deadly sin. It's one thing to want to strive for excellence, but perfectionism goes beyond that.

 

What she said! I am NEVER happy when I try to make something "perfect" and the amount of stress involved sucks all the joy out of crocheting. Not to say that I don't do that, because I do. I just have to recognize when I'm doing it and stop myself. Nothing is perfect! I can keep my standards high without driving myself crazy.

[threadlover]

Yes. If I know a mistake is there it buggs me till I fix it.

 

Marcia

[crs5]

I made a rr and was all done with it and took the whole blanket apart, because it wasn't right and it was bugging me. I haven't had a chance to start over.

 

Carol:hook

 

Yes, same here. I frogged 3 rows on a round ripple just a couple of days ago, because I had one v-stitch in a large shell row. It just had to be right.

[butterflie]

lol I calmly take things apart that I'm working on to fix something and my husband freaks out. "You just finished that! You just WASTED an hour doing that to take it apart and do it again?" I just let it go. I don't fight him about what he does when he works in his shop. lol

[moggy]

Stick me on the list too - I used to be almost Obsessive Compulsive with it but I now have the ability to physically stop myself being totally perfectionist. If it's going out for someone then I will strive to get it right. If it's for me then I will let myself get away with mistakes but only if I can't find them again - if it's one of those mistakes that keeps niggling at me every time I pick up the piece of work then I join the frog pond!!

[hmltwin]

If I'm not happy with something or it's not turning out at all right, then I'll pull it out as far as I need to in order to correct the mistake. If it's a small mistake... I'll leave it and work around it. The baby blanket I just finished is a perfect example. I made a mistake in the first row that I didn't notice until I'd reached the sixth row. But it was such a small mistake that I am the only one who will ever notice it. I made another mistake much further up that was throwing off the next row, so I pulled out the blanket back to that mistake and fixed it.

 

I don't remember what it was called, but I remember reading about a group of monks who would intentionally work a mistake into every tapistry they made. After all, only God is perfect, right? I sort of view my crocheting in a similar way. If I made a mistake and it's not standing out enough to matter, then it was just meant to be.

[oliveoil]

I'm sorry to say, but I am also a "perfectionist"!! I'm making my grandson and two nephews "spiderman" afghans for Christmas. I was on the last rows of the first afghan, when I noticed I had a "small shell" instead of a "large shell in the v-st. Yup, I tore it apart and fixed it. And you all know how long it takes to work on one row when you're getting to the last few rows of been finished!! And another project I was working on was a market tote bag. I just didn't like the way the joining was looking, so I ripped out about 14 rows, looked at some other tote bag patterns and finally came up with one that I was happy with!! But if I'm such a perfectionist, why is my "craft room" such a big MESS!!!

[MaryPat]

I'm not that much of a perfectionist. If you can't tell, I don't fix. If I can see, I'll fix it.

[auntieshe]

I've been known to rip out an entire afghan back to the starting chain because of a mistake that no one but me would notice. But then thats just me. If theres a mistake in something I've made my eyes are drawn to it every time. I never seem to notice them in things someone else has made unless they are pointed out to me.