Why do crocheters do projects they hate doing?

[Darsa]

I made a great big granny square afghan for my sister for Christmas last year, and it was sooooo tedious at the end. But the look on her face along with the "you MADE this??" made it all worthwhile

[melmac51]

I made an afghan for one of my best friends as a wedding present. It was a crocheted version of the Irish Fans quilt pattern. I think I had about 17 balls of yarn attached to it at one time (that could be a slight exaggeration...maybe 9 balls). So, to keep them from tangling, I lined up as many bowls on the floor, put one ball in each bowl, sat on the floor, crocheted a row, got up and sat on the other side of the bowls, crocheted a row, etc. I don't remember how many motifs it had, but after crocheting all of the motifs, and sewing them all together, I had to go back and crochet "lace" on the edge of each fan.

 

She absolutely loved it, and still has it today (17 years later). I told her that it would be okay if I never saw it again. (She respects my wishes...LOL) Like some others have said, the look on her face made it all worth it.

[HappyOldCro]

Because it looked so great somewhere else, picture, person wearing it, person wanting it, etc....

You start off all eager to go, and about 1/3 to 1/2 way through, you discover it is boring or too complicated, has typos or big mistakes, doesn't fit, is taking too long, the yarn is a horror to work with, etc...

You have already invested alot of time or money in it, the person you are making it for REALLY wants it or you refuse to let it get the best of you!!

So you plod on, day by day, round by round, stitch by stitch, all the while trying to convince yourself it is going to get better, easier, and finished in no time at all.

Finally you are done, and it has one of two destinies. The best thing you ever made or in a closet somewhere, unseen and forgotten.

The options? Spend almost as much time as you did making it to frog the daylights out of it, or stuff it in a bag to spend years as a UFO.

The moral? Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

[Yarnluver]

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

I wish you long life but since none of us have any guarantee of being here "tomorrow", I'd recommend that you frog them rather than save them. One of the saddest things when my Mom was terminally ill was for my sisters and me to find all the sewing and knitting projects she never finished (she had done that quite a bit...) and we knew she could never finish and, worse yet, we could not finish for her - though one of my sisters said she'd retake knitting classes so she could finish a very pretty top that was almost done.

 

This is embarrassing but I'll add it anyway: I still have tucked away in a bag a dress I was making myself for the Spring of 1990 . The previous summer I'd gotten down to 110 lbs. after going from 99 to 124 during the previous 2 years. I lost my job and had to separate myself from my kids early that winter; loneliness and depression make me crave for sweets and before I knew it couldn't fit in the unfinished dress so it got bagged. After that the yo-yoing continued and each time my "thinnest" got a little bigger so I had no incentive to finish it. At times I wished I'd finish it at least to give away but because I didn't know anybody to give it to I didn't do it. I also once started a pair of slippers for my son but only made one foot, which still "lives" to remind me of my failure*... Due to poor health I've had no motivation for anything for years so now that I've found something that's helped me I try to exercise some discipline in order to finish things whenever possible so I won't feel so bad about it.

 

*to stick with something...

[Flia]

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

 

That's what I do to. Granted - I have ADHD and simply can't make myself finishing it, but still.... Crocheting is supposed to be fun and rewarding.

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

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.

 

That's just it.

[Flia]

If someone already paid for it.... well then I can agree that it migth be irritating. But if someone is going to pay when it's finished... a poor girl like me can always enjoy the thought of money coming in.

[lhasaapsolady]

I never hate a project, I just get bored with them sometimes. That's why I always have more than 1 project going, to break up the monotony of some of the bigger ones.

[faedragon]

I don't. If I find I am not enjoying the process of crocheting a certain thing, I stop, frog, nd save the yarn for something else. I do crochet for sale, but I only do things I have made before, so I know it's something I like to do.

[fc1123]

I don't hate the projects I do I just get irriated by people when they say make this and make that because I know that I will be the one putting in the work right now I'm working on a sweater coat for myself and right now I'm having a problem with the pattern. Other than that when I run into a problem with the pattern I will frog it and do it again and again until I get it right.

[terrijo]

I do projects that I hate because someone I care about has asked me to make it. The one I totally hated was about 9 years ago. My youngest daughter just loved her then boyfriends mother. So she wanted me to make a big afghan for her that would cover the back of this gi-normous couch she had. Oh yeah, it was for Christmas. I finally finished the thing and several times I was up there after that it was s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d over the whole couch. There's nothing wrong with that, it just looked weird to me and it really was a pretty blanket.

I've made many a project for people I don't care about only because someone I care about cares about them.

[Yarnluver]

That's what I do to. Granted - I have ADHD and simply can't make myself finishing it, but still.... Crocheting is supposed to be fun and rewarding.

Maybe it's not "fun" while I'm frogging and restarting but for me the satisfaction when it's finished triples. I will look again and again at the article and feel sooo accomplished! I'll say that's rewarding enough...

[Real Deal]

I stopped doing projects I hate.

[Schmetterling]

I can agree with everyone here, including Real Deal. If I'm not happy, it gets frogged. Sometimes I'll get bored with repetitive stitches, or don't like the yarn, etc. Personally I get frustrated because I'm such a slow crocheter for health reasons, so the king-sized triple-strand afghan is driving me crazy because it's taking forever. However, my husband picked the yarn, has made 3 trips for more, picked the stitch he wanted, everything so I'm not giving up on it. It's just slow.

 

All the great fun though makes it worth those few annoyances.

[cgd]

The reason I do afghans, which are usually mundane after a several rows is this: Yesterday I asked my 8-year-old niece what she wanted for Christmas. She named a few toys, then looked at me and said, "Aunt Cindy, you know how you crochet so good? I want a blanket!" I couldn't look into those blue eyes and say no, so I asked her what color (pink of course)!

[tryptikangel]

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!

 

Ditto. lol