WIP | Knitting Something from Scratch

Transforming your hobby (in my case knitting) into a business sounds like a dream come true, but the reality is something quite different. Things started out simple enough. I found ways to make my hobby time do double duty while I swatched and knit samples. Gradually, the hobby I loved became something else... WORK. Knitting was no longer something I could turn to for a creative release.

I think the same outcome can gradually occur to knitters who push themselves to produce (or at least cast on) a lot of projects. In this era of over-consumption there's always a new yarn to buy, a popular knit along to join and endless social media posts showing some amazing must-try project on someone's needles. Eventually you have closets full of yarn, a library of patterns, and bags, and bags, and bags of unfinished projects. And of course there's the unspoken guilt because there will never be enough time to knit it all.

In both situations, our hobby morphed into a chore because we've lost sight of the reason we started knitting in the first place. It's slow and helps us unwind. It's simple (just two sticks and a piece of string). It's satisfying to solve problems and create something beautiful and useful with our own two hands.

With that being said, I'll admit my knitting needles have been remarkably empty for much of the year. I've had to step back and take some time to figure out how to regain my work-life balance, or maybe work-hobby balance would be a better description. After a lot of thought I've decided to devote more time to what I call "scratch", or patternless, knitting.

I have always enjoyed scratch knitting because it allows me to make something perfectly suited to my needs. I can take my time to choose the perfect fiber, in the perfect colors, with the perfect stitch as I create something absolutely unique. I don't have to worry about the mass marketability, color choice (there are some colors I can't use for patterns because they don't show up well on camera), or grading.

Now this doesn't mean I won't be doing any design work or creating any knitting tutorials for you as I plan for the new year. However, I'm excited to start sharing an exclusive, members-only, behind the scenes peek at how I go about knitting an object from scratch in hopes it will inspire you to take a fresh look at your knitting process and practice.

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