Why do crocheters do projects they hate doing?

[Jempast]

I was just wondering I have noticed on here that some fellow crocheters are working on projects that they hate doing. Then why do crocheters do projects they hate to do even if it is for a gift? I am new to crocheting so maybe that is why I don't understand.

[butterflie]

For me, I don't hate it when I start it. It's realizing 2/3 through that the work you put into it is a LOT more than you thought it was going to be. And you're so close to finished that you just keep going. Or someone paid for it already and you have to finish it.

[happy stitcher]

Yep, or it seems easy and then I realize it's so repetitive that I'm bored to tears. Sometimes it's just that I know the recipient will love it, so I keep going until it's done.

And sometimes it's because I've invested so much time in it already, it would be a shame not to finish it.

 

Lots of reasons!

[JennyBunny]

Sometimes you hate the gift but love the 'giftee', so you keep going.

 

Like making bright orange socks that drove me up the wall between the color and the shaping... but the look of joy on my sister's face made all the frogging worth it.

[Pear-Kitten]

Yep, or it seems easy and then I realize it's so repetitive that I'm bored to tears.

 

This. It is the reason I still haven't done much work on my afghan.

[Selune]

I just hate finishing. I have several projects that lie in pieces, because I just don't want to sew them all together. I just like the actual crocheting part. Other times, I crochet something that I know the recipient will really like, so I just bear through and get it done.

[Nonie]

A lot of my yarn is donated for my charity work and it isn't always my choice of colors. I use what I have and have to keep telling myself, someone will like this:)

I have to remind myself that we all like different things!

[Miss Crochet]

I generally don't "Hate" it but half-way through, I've got my plans all ready and prepared for the next project ... so finishing the original becomes a drag!

[Yarnluver]

When I got back to crochet earlier this year I also didn't understand but now I do and I can agree with all of the above. The item itself seems great but actually making it turns out more difficult or boring than expected, now I've begun to avoid excessively repetitive patterns (i.e., anything made only with sc ). I've also gotten a little too adventurous for my own good and have tried to make some things without a pattern when I can't find one. I have succeeded with most things but I've given up on a couple of others. Right now there's the bottom part of a small tote bag I started back in May which will probably get frogged entirely one of these days...

[Krakovianka]

There are many things we do in life that we dislike, but do anyway because there are good reasons. I *hate* making amigurumi--can't stand the endless counting and then I hate the sewing part afterward. But when my kids fall in love with a particular pattern, I set my personal feelings aside and make it because it's a way of making them happy. All the "critters" I've made are well loved, and I'll probably relent and make more at some point. Gritting my teeth all the while....

[Hildy48]

I love making afghans for people, but they do take time and sometimes the repetition of the patterns can get really boring - especially squares. However, the joy on the recepient's face when gifted with a beautiful afghan made just for them makes it all worth it. And so I start another one . . . . .

[SlowCrocheter]

I don't do projects I hate. Life it to short. If I start to hate it I put it away or frog it.

[YarnMover]

I get bored when I have to make umpteen 'squares' etc. So, whenever possible, I rewrite the pattern and instead of making the squares as separate pieces, I make the afghan as one piece that looks like it is the squares sewn together. Now I find that half the fun is remaking the pattern!

[CLLinda]

I just get bored with it after a while. I started a baby afghan in the spring, and just finished it last week. I didn't want to give up on it, but I didn't want to do it either.

 

Finally, I just forced myself to work on it and get it done.

 

We don't start out hating the project, but towards the end, if it is a big one, you can't wait to get it done so you can move on.

 

My daughter asked me to make a red and white afghan for her for college in the Fall. She's going to Illinois State. So I will be attacking a project this size for her. I mostly make small blankets and hats, booties and sweaters for babies, so undertaking a large afghan is an act of love and I will probably never use red and white again in an afghan.

 

[Cliffnote]

For me its pretty much the same as everyone else. Its repetitive and I get bored, I have so much time invested it would be a shame to stop, I am making it for someone I know would like it, .....ect..... But when I see the smile on the persons face when I give it to them then it made it worth while....

[Craw]

It never starts out being something I hate doing or I wouldn't have started it! Some patterns get boring and repetitious and I really have to force myself to finish. I'm always glad when I do finish! Then there are those patterns that you just stuff in a closet and forget about because I know I'll never put together all those squares. Makes me wonder what I was thinking when I started the project!

[crazycrochet]

I don't do projects I hate. Life it to short. If I start to hate it I put it away or frog it.

My sentiments exactly!

[jillybean]

...because it seems like such a great idea at the time and then once I realize it wasn't so much, I'm too stubborn to stop.

 

I just finished a snowman afghan for my MIL made up of 250 or so squares. It seemed like a great idea when I started - I could easily transport a skein of yarn to work on the squares when I travelled for business without having to sacrifice a lot of space in my carry-on, I hadn't done an afghan from squares in years and it couldn't possibly be as tiresome as I remembered, and it was a nice pattern she'd like. By the time it became as tiresome as I remembered I was too far gone to stop.

 

Now that it's wrapped up and ready for gifting of course, I'm thinking of that beautiful saltine pattern...surely it won't be as tiresome as I think, will it?

[PBLKNP]

A lot of times, something that looks really cool in a picture turns out to be a monotonous nightmare once you start it. Either that, or it's so difficult that, in the words of The Yarn Harlot, you'd consider death a relief!

 

Either that, or a friend sees some pattern somewhere and just has to have whatever it is, and you don't want to disappoint them.

[mescovedo]

For me it's the afghan stitch Army graphghan... i by no means HATE it but.... I did not weave in the million zillion ends as I went along so then I had to go back and weave.. weave... weave... weave... and weave some more... THAT get's really boring and THAT part of the process I HATE. But I loved actually crocheting it together! I'm almost done weaving b/c I keep putting it down. My goal is when I'm off on Wednesday to finish the weaving. =)

[eurolyons]

For me a couple of things...like others have said, you see a pattern (or even have an idea for a project) and you're all excited about it, but you get into it and maybe it's not working out like you had hoped...maybe the pattern writing wasn't clear. For me maybe I couldn't get the concept, or in designing, one particular part that looks really cool is technically a bear or worse boring to do (I did a dressing gown with a shawl collar...that collar and the edging around the gown was BORING...it was sc ribbing, and around the collar it graduated to half double and then double, it took forever...) So if things aren't going well for one reason or another you can build resentment until you just hate the darn thing.

 

That's one...

 

If it's a gift for someone else and I don't like what I'm working on, it might be because 1) they insisted on a pattern that I would have never done for myself...a dear friend fell in love with this crocheted cat clock...my version of it turned out great, but I really didn't like the original design...but this is what she wanted and I love her, so I buck up and pour out the best work possible...

 

Also when making gifts for others, the anxiety level is a little higher because you do want a finish project that they will geniunely love and that can add added pressure...one gets more picky about how stitches turn out and as such you might you're having a harder time than usual working the pattern...mistakes get made and you have to frog and it just can get so frustrating...even more so if it's a pattern you love and have done before...

 

So that's why in a nut shell, at least for me...

 

Other than that, if it's something for me if the project is a nightmare and doesn't get better, I stop, frog it, toss the pattern aside and do something else...

[Kimblee]

In my case.... because my very most hated project (amigurumi elephants.... they're all fun and games until you hit the trunk) sells like NOTHING I've ever made before.

 

My other hated project, a baby blanket made from an ungodly amount of tiny granny squares, was made because my aunt was utterly in love with the pattern, and the baby was not expected to live long after bith. It was a faith gift. (Five years and two "deadlines" later... she's outlived the blanket pretty spectacularly. She's healthy as a horse, and the blanket gets repaired often to keep it from becoming a pile of ridiculously tiny squares again.)

 

Let me just say this... I hated making that blanket, but it earned sainted status when that child passed her first birthday, so sometimes the hated pattern turns out to be a source of pride.

[eurolyons]

In my case.... because my very most hated project (amigurumi elephants.... they're all fun and games until you hit the trunk) sells like NOTHING I've ever made before.

 

My other hated project, a baby blanket made from an ungodly amount of tiny granny squares, was made because my aunt was utterly in love with the pattern, and the baby was not expected to live long after bith. It was a faith gift. (Five years and two "deadlines" later... she's outlived the blanket pretty spectacularly. She's healthy as a horse, and the blanket gets repaired often to keep it from becoming a pile of ridiculously tiny squares again.)

 

Let me just say this... I hated making that blanket, but it earned sainted status when that child passed her first birthday, so sometimes the hated pattern turns out to be a source of pride.

 

Oh wow...that's a wonderful story, thank you so much for sharing...

 

In my previous post about the dressing gown, that project was my Sistine chapel and I am very proud of it...but that edging and collar about killed me...

 

Again, I love what you said about that baby afghan...

[Sugarcoatedlies]

I just am one of those finish what you start kinda people

[Kimblee]

Oh wow...that's a wonderful story, thank you so much for sharing...

 

In my previous post about the dressing gown, that project was my Sistine chapel and I am very proud of it...but that edging and collar about killed me...

 

Again, I love what you said about that baby afghan...

 

Thanks. I think its a pretty awesome story, but maybe that's because I got the reward from it. (My aunt's graditude, and one heckuva cute little cousin.... who most likely will be surgically attatched to my hit this thanksgiving.)

 

Eep. I hate doing sleeve edgings... mine never come out even on both sides. Kudos to you!