I am the type of person who goes through intense and cyclical phases. When I was a kid it was food. I didn't have weight issues, either too high or too low, but there would be weeks when the only thing I wanted to eat would be Spaghetti-O's. I would eat other things because I was about 10 or so and knew about nutrition and mostly didn't want to cause a problem for my parents...Anyway, this would continue for about two or three months and then I would move on to other food. I never ate so much that I got sick or anything like that, and I still really like Spaghetti-O's and actually would often prefer them to chocolate most of the time.
I really do have a point. Like my food phases, I have hobby phases. When I first quit my job and moved 600 miles while my husband was on a temporary assignment, I spent a great deal of time quilting. I made two quilts for a charity group called Quilts for Kids, an organization that collects crib sized quilts for children in the hospital for extended periods or other needy children and families, a twin sized quilt for my daughter, a psuedo queen sized quilt for myself and my husband's bed, and a lap quilt for my mom, as well as various sewing crafty things, like a pencil roll for my niece and a car holder for my nephew.
I watched, and still do watch, a lot of Leah Day's video's to work on free motion quilting. I was working on getting through her designs, but then I got into my spinning. I found the other day that I got my first, low whorl spindle in December of 2012. Things went slowly for a while, but I would always get excited again when I would get some new fiber, like my first Cotswold- which I'm still not through, I got a pound- four ounces of Merino, eight ounces of BFL, and then the Cotswold/Border Leicester mix fleece- we won't go there.
As I've said with my knitting, I like the beginnings and ends of projects. All projects, or even stages of projects. I will very eagerly spend a few extra hours quilting to finish a top, spinning to finish the wool, or knitting through a piece of a project, even if there are more steps to come after.
The problem I am currently in is that despite having only about half an ounce left of the Cotswold left, I predrafted it, making it look much longer, and failing to excite my "almost done" enthusiasm. I know that kind of smacks in the face of what I just said, but I think the issue is that spindle spinning just takes so long. I enjoy it, but after talking to a wheel spinner, spindle spinning takes four to six times longer. I spend an hour or so spinning and don't seem to be any nearer the end.
I also still have the vast majority of my fleece left with no end in sight, although I have great plans for all of it, but I have to get through what is currently on my high whorl.
It also doesn't help that there have been many, let's call them disruptions lately. I finished grad school, traveled 800 miles to visit family, and when we returned our cat got out and is now missing. All within a week. Nothing too monumental or utterly devastating, but together, they have shaken things up and I just can't settle into a crafting mode again. We also have friends coming over tomorrow night for dinner because apparently the only way I can make sure my house stays clean it so invite people over (Sorry to any friends who are repeatedly invited over, but yes, you are used as motivation to clean).
So despite having several projects going, and being very close to the end of my Cotswold, I have little motivation to spend intense time crafting. Another issue may be that I have been spending my time reading. Since we returned home on Tuesday, I have read Uglies and Pretties by Scott Westerfeld and have begun Specials and am about halfway through that. If you don't know, there are more than 400 page books, and I read slowly.
Hopefully, I can push through and spin a few hours a day until I get into the groove again. Hopefully, I will finish Specials soon and can find a book about spinning or knitting to get me back in the mood to craft.
What about you? Do you go through crafting cycles? Do you have projects sitting off to the side waiting for inspiration to strike again? What do you do to make sure you finish your projects? I'd love to here your ideas! Hopefully, this will get us all a bit more active and start working again, even if only out of a feeling of obligation (though I only expect that to work for me, if even then).
Good luck and I hope you finish something soon!
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