Long Term Projects
Jun. 2nd, 2025 06:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
luna_moon
I love long term projects! And I am horrible at ever finishing them!! But I love having a project to work on between bigger projects. Something I can do when I want to craft but I don't want to think much about it. Something where I can "finish" something in a day and feel accomplished. Something that has the memories of the passing of time in it. I have a memory blanket I have been making on and off with leftovers since I first started knitting in 2019.
I especially love projects like granny square blankets where you can make a little or a lot at a time and then join it together at a later time. Makes for easy travel or a project to take and sit outside with. I am following along with this tutorial TL Yarn Crafts gives on their blog for making this granny square blanket out of mini skeins and scrap yarns. A few years back my wife used to buy me a subscription to Row One Yarn, where I would get ten 10g sample skeins a month. After about 5 or 6 months I have a decent backlog of them and we decided to end the subscription. This squares conveniently use ~10g of yarn each, so it is perfect for using up the samples I still have. I also have plenty of other leftovers to use as well.
The pattern recommends having 80 squares total, so I am about 1/8th of the way there! I started this project earlier this year, sometime in mid February, I have no idea how long it will take me to finish this project, but I am not in a rush to finish it either! :]
I had some thoughts again about rest yesterday and today. I saw a post on tumblr that was like "autistic people; working on creative projects isn't rest and that is why you are still burnt out". Which, while I think I know the point OP was trying to make, it still frustrated me, because like all things in life. I feel like it is nuranced. So I had to sit and think with it overnight I guess.
Me laying in bed, watching a low stakes anime and slowly working away at these squares without much thought into it is much different than me doing physical work on the garden, even though both are a creative project to me. Also, I have also been crocheting for several years and I can make a granny square without even really looking at what I am doing, I am going to use less energy than someone who is just learning. It would be a bit different if I was doing something like amigurumi, which I don't do often. That would involve a lot more thought for me.
Even so, there are times that I don't even want to do a mindless crochet project. And it feels ridiculous, especially when it goes on for several days (or even weeks) where I don't want to do any crafts. I was talking about this with another neurodivergent friend who mentioned at times feeling lazy for not being able to bring themselves to crochet some nights when watching TV. I think these are the times it is really important to remind ourselves that we don't always need to create, we don't need to force the creativity, and it is okay to rest in other ways.
This all also reminded me of the concept of the types of rest, which I find very helpful. I kinda ADHD forgot it was even a thing, but I remember before when I would be tired and unsure why I could look at the types and say "Oh I haven't been getting enough sleep lately" or "I have been spending a lot of time socializing and creating, but have I been giving myself sensory and emotional rest?" Sometimes my brain says to itself "Well we have been doing crochet and we are happy with it, so we must be rested enough. why are we still so stressed? why are we still so tired?" And I think remembering to make sure I am getting a variety of types of rest is important. It isn't that doing a creative project can't be rest, it is a type of rest, it can't be your only rest, and you cant shame yourself when you just dont wanna do it.
I especially love projects like granny square blankets where you can make a little or a lot at a time and then join it together at a later time. Makes for easy travel or a project to take and sit outside with. I am following along with this tutorial TL Yarn Crafts gives on their blog for making this granny square blanket out of mini skeins and scrap yarns. A few years back my wife used to buy me a subscription to Row One Yarn, where I would get ten 10g sample skeins a month. After about 5 or 6 months I have a decent backlog of them and we decided to end the subscription. This squares conveniently use ~10g of yarn each, so it is perfect for using up the samples I still have. I also have plenty of other leftovers to use as well.
The pattern recommends having 80 squares total, so I am about 1/8th of the way there! I started this project earlier this year, sometime in mid February, I have no idea how long it will take me to finish this project, but I am not in a rush to finish it either! :]
I had some thoughts again about rest yesterday and today. I saw a post on tumblr that was like "autistic people; working on creative projects isn't rest and that is why you are still burnt out". Which, while I think I know the point OP was trying to make, it still frustrated me, because like all things in life. I feel like it is nuranced. So I had to sit and think with it overnight I guess.
Me laying in bed, watching a low stakes anime and slowly working away at these squares without much thought into it is much different than me doing physical work on the garden, even though both are a creative project to me. Also, I have also been crocheting for several years and I can make a granny square without even really looking at what I am doing, I am going to use less energy than someone who is just learning. It would be a bit different if I was doing something like amigurumi, which I don't do often. That would involve a lot more thought for me.
Even so, there are times that I don't even want to do a mindless crochet project. And it feels ridiculous, especially when it goes on for several days (or even weeks) where I don't want to do any crafts. I was talking about this with another neurodivergent friend who mentioned at times feeling lazy for not being able to bring themselves to crochet some nights when watching TV. I think these are the times it is really important to remind ourselves that we don't always need to create, we don't need to force the creativity, and it is okay to rest in other ways.
This all also reminded me of the concept of the types of rest, which I find very helpful. I kinda ADHD forgot it was even a thing, but I remember before when I would be tired and unsure why I could look at the types and say "Oh I haven't been getting enough sleep lately" or "I have been spending a lot of time socializing and creating, but have I been giving myself sensory and emotional rest?" Sometimes my brain says to itself "Well we have been doing crochet and we are happy with it, so we must be rested enough. why are we still so stressed? why are we still so tired?" And I think remembering to make sure I am getting a variety of types of rest is important. It isn't that doing a creative project can't be rest, it is a type of rest, it can't be your only rest, and you cant shame yourself when you just dont wanna do it.
- Luna
no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 12:16 am (UTC)I should really get back into crochet. I made a few hats (all far too big or small for my head) and would make a granny square, frog it.. repeat. ;u;
I hope your blanket turns out wonderful!
no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 06:06 pm (UTC)If you still have the hats, you might be able to donate them to the library! But yeah, it is nice how you can pull back and redo crochet items like that :3
Thoughts
Date: 2025-06-03 01:57 am (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2025-06-03 06:07 pm (UTC)Re: Thoughts
Date: 2025-06-03 06:27 pm (UTC)https://daisyfarmcrafts.com/50-free-crochet-patterns-that-use-granny-squares/
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2025-06-04 10:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2025-06-03 02:01 am (UTC)