Monday, February 23, 2009

Help! I've fallen down and I can't get up.

Well, not literally. But my get-up-and-go got up and went and apparently it took my knit mojo with it.

I am not sick anymore, but my energy level has not bounced back and I am ALWAYS tired. I've been trying to recover and get ready for yesterday's concert (which went just wonderfully, thank you, if I do say so myself) and that's taken up the sum total of my attention, motivation and strength.

But it's a sorry knitter's state I'm in. When I look through the list of WIPs in my Ravelry notebook or pull things out of my mountain of projects to visit with them for a while, all the enthusiasm I can muster is a feeble: "meh."

Any suggestions would be welcome. What do you do when the knitting blues come down?

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Check your B12 levels. My body doesn't make it as efficiently as i get older, and I notice a lack of motivation/energy when I forget to take it.

Chelle said...

I'm in a major slump here too...busy and a pile of minor health issues have completely sapped my strength and concentration for knitting. What to do? I ripped out everything, EVERYTHING I had on the needles. I just hated setting myself up for failure. I cast on a few things that I had knit before successfully...figuring that I needed a couple easy wins before tackling new stuff. What's your fave sock pattern??

Allison L. said...

I get the "meh"s periodically as well, and oddly enough, the path that seems to lead back to knitting knirvana is... not knitting.

I throw myself into another craft for a while (the latest was making kusudama, decorative origami). After I finish one or two projects in my "mistress craft" (I always feel like I'm cheating on knitting when I do this), I can't wait to get back to the knitting. Sounds crazy, but that's my pattern.

I figure, why knit if I'm not feelin' it? I cheat for a while, and then I'm excited about knitting again. And cheating on my knitting doesn't hurt anyone's feelings, or end in bitter fiber divorce, and I end up with some cool new creation to admire in the meantime.

Maybe it will work for you, too :)

Carol said...

here I was afraid you'd hurt your ankle again! As for what I do, well, I go read the VLT on Ravelry. (very longest thread)....a huge timesuck....

Haley said...

everyone feels the 'meh', it is the february blahs.

your options ...

a. start something you want to wear in the spring

b. make a quick little baby project for a friend

c. bright, spring colours will make you happy

d. make a gift for someone else, it doesn't matter if you like it

eusebius said...

I hear you on this. I have 2 recitals this week and can only bring myself to do plain stockinette. The only thing keeping me going is that I'm doing my first ever toe-up sock, which is sort of fascinating.

Maybe a new sock-knitting approach? You've probably tried most of them ... like 2 circs, magic loop etc. but there must be something out there!

Unknown said...

To add to what Northmoon said, you might want to get your iron and vitamin D levels checked as well. Tiredness is a classic symptom of anemia I think, but D is also very important in metabolic functions. I had a slight deficiency of the first, and major deficiency of the second, and felt like absolute drek all of the time. I am on super supplements now to get back up to normal levels, and am feeling much, much better. (And taking just a multi won't really help, especially if you take it inconsistently or your levels are already low.)

Also: winter's almost over! Maybe think about making something for spring. :)