Rhythm and Flow

Rhythm and Flow

There’s just a rhythm to crocheting, not just the stitches or a pattern but the time that is spent crocheting. Recently, I realized that I complete more sets when I have a few hats made and then make the scarves later. For the past couple of weeks I have made a few hats and then made the scarves later in the week and found that I was more productive that way. When I made a hat, then immediately started working on a scarf, somehow the flow was interrupted and I completed fewer sets in a week. Not that it’s a race, even though I set yearly goals, I realize that by having several projects in progress at a time makes me more motivated.

From Friday to Sunday of Super Bowl weekend I finished four scarves. A couple had already been started with a few rows already completed on a couple of them. The routine starts with a few rounds of a hat on Sunday night so I can mindlessly crochet during webinars or large group meetings on Monday. Then Sunday through Wednesday make a few more hats. Then, Thursday through Sunday work on the scarves to match the hats and the cycle starts all over again. This pattern and rhythm has worked since the last weekend in January. I’ll keep working at it and see if the rhythm of making a few hats in the beginning and then the matching scarves works.

Maybe this new plan works or it could be that I can now go into my working stash and pull out yarn that I know I want to work with and just go. I don’t have to sort through skeins of yarn that I don’t want use for a project. Once I finish something, I can pull out enough for another project and work. The remaining yarn is being set aside to make individual hats, and it’s not put back into the working stash unless I have a lot of the yarn left or a coordinating amount to use another item.

This week I’ve finished five hats and may complete another to add to the “inventory” before transitioning to scarves. There’s no set schedule, I might start another hat and then start working on scarves since this is a long weekend or maybe make a bunch of hats and then switch to scarf mode not following a hard switch because of the day of the week. The rhythm of a group of hats then scarves is a more natural flow rather than finishing a complete before starting another.

Either way, I’m making good progress on the 2022 set goal – 14 sets are complete and I’m waiting for a good snow day or mental health day to just make a bunch of hats. The odd balls and remaining yarn from previous projects are being set aside for hatapalooza 2022.

Happy crocheting!