Typically you begin new habits at the beginning of the year, but honestly you can start them anytime. Temperature blankets take a lot of commitment, which is why making crafting a habit is important. Not doing so is part of why I’ve had trouble finishing my temperature blankets. So use your initial excitement and the tips in this post to establish a foundation of being in the habit of crafting.
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Credit where credit is due
I’ll get into the actual blog post in a minute. I wanted to take the time to note where a majority of these ideas came from. The source is a life-changing book called Atomic Habits by James Clear. (Amazon affiliate link)
It may seem over the top to call it life-changing, but it really can be. I’m not sure how it is with you, but when I read advice books I quite frequently like to apply what I read to my crafting. So this post is me taking in James Clear’s message and presenting it from the lens of a crafter.
Now on to the post!
A little goes a long way
A temperature blanket can be a pretty daunting project. You’re faced with the prospect of 365 days straight of crocheting. When seen as such a large task, it’s enough to scare anyone. But remember, you live your life day by day and, before you want it to usually, months and years just slip away.
Now that I’ve started myself panicking about lost time, let’s go back to our projects. It can be hard to carve crafting time out of your schedule. If you’re having trouble keeping up with your projects then you should start by working on at least a single project for a few minutes every day. All this daily crocheting, whether or not it’s a full row, will give you momentum and will start to add up.
Once you’ve at least established your routine of crafting you can start to add more time every day. If you add one more minute daily you’ll be up to an hour in just around 2 months. Extended the rest of the year, this habit would end up with you crocheting for just over 6 hours every day. While that sounds like a dream, I’m not sure I’d have the stamina for that. My hands hurt just thinking about it.
Never miss twice
I recently put this tip in my email newsletter, but it’s worth repeating here. The tip is just like the heading says, never miss twice. This means if you miss a day of crafting, make sure you don’t miss a second day. As James Clear says in his book, “Missing once is an accident. Missing twice is the start of a new habit.” So if you miss twice you’re potentially on your way to forming a new habit of not crafting anymore.
Even getting a few stitches in is better than not crafting at all. It’s small progress, but it’s progress nonetheless. As I was writing this post I realized I’ve spent well over half of January without knitting or crocheting a single stitch. I’ve allowed myself to get into the habit of not crafting and I know it will be hard to restart the habit again.
Mental barriers to crafting
There might be some mental walls you have to break through before you can form a crafting habit. If you’re like a majority of crocheters or knitters you find it hard to craft things for yourself. You feel guilty taking time to make something for yourself when you could be making something for other people instead.
This same guilt could make you feel you shouldn’t take so much time for yourself and that your time should instead be focused on others, too. That’s a noble goal, but make sure you’re taken care of first. You can take better care of others if you take care of yourself first.
I have to continually remind myself of this. To help remember the habit of self-care, I focus on a quote by Charlotte Mason, “Let the mother go out to play!” We who are giving of ourselves need to take a break and relax every now and again. No one can be running full tilt all the time. If you refresh your spirit by doing something you enjoy, like crafting, you’ll be in a better mental place.
Make it easy
The last concept from Atomic Habits I’d like to cover here is the idea of making your habit easy. If your habit is to read more, you could leave a book next to your favorite chair. This puts fewer barriers between you and your activity.
For crocheting or knitting, this can be keeping everything you need for a project in the same place. So you could put together a bag with your hook or needles, project, yarn, pattern, pen/pencil, scissors, and anything else you need for that project. Then leave the bag where you do your crafting, if possible. If you’re like me and you have little kids or pets that could get into your stuff then make sure the bag closes to keep out the curious or devious.
Other methods
James Clear lays out several other concepts and tips to help you establish desired habits and break bad ones in Atomic Habits. (Amazon affiliate link) I highly recommend the book if you find yourself wishing your habits were different. Reading it and putting it into action will help you in your crafting and beyond. I used the “Never miss twice” as motivation to finish this post and this week’s newsletter.
How do you make crafting a habit? Let us know your tips in the comments!
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