Something old, something new
And a suggestion for a summer craft-along.
New things make you feel good. It’s official.
I’ve always been fascinated by my ability to be distracted by new shiny things, much to the detriment of older, less shiny projects. Projects that still need finishing but that my brain seems resolutely determined to ignore.
It’s good to know that there is a sound scientific basis for this and that seeing or experiencing completely novel images or situations helps our brains to develop and continue to grow, even into later life.
It helps me to feel a little better when I overlook the 100s of knitting patterns I already own in search of something new I saw just that day. But in my heart I know that those older patterns still have tons of value.
Just because I first bought and downloaded something five years ago doesn’t mean it’s any less of a valuable pattern. I still like the item and would ideally like to own it and wear it. But it’s so tempting to overlook it in pursuit of something brand new (to my eyes).
There is also an uncomfortable truth at play here which is that as a knitting designer I make a living from selling knitting patterns - ideally new knitting patterns.
Sharing an image of one of my older patterns never generates as many sales as sharing an image of a brand new one. Our brains are all hardwired the same way after all. We all crave novelty.
Something old, Something new craft-along
With this in mind I thought a ‘something old, something new’ craft along might be fun this summer - to go along with our Summer of Books and Yarn (prompts for this are coming soon).
We could cast on something new alongside something that we’ve had in our pattern store for a long time. Scratching our novelty itch (as it were) alongside the pleasing thriftiness that comes with using something that we already have.
What do you think? Our Summer of Books and Yarn starts on 22nd July so we could time this to coincide with that?
As we all have busy lives and even busier inboxes I would welcome your input on where we should hold the craft-along. I’m wary of holding it in my Everyday Knitter Facebook group as I want it to be open to all crafters, not just knitters, but I’m not sure where we are all hanging out these days.
Does Instagram still work? Are any of you on Threads? Or should we embrace Discord - even though that makes me feel like my own mother 🤣
Do let me know in the comments. Have you taken part it in any good craft-alongs recently and if so where - what worked well about it? Let’s chat.
I recently went back onto Ravelry and had a look at my queue. In the past if I had the pattern and the yarn it went in the queue. But due to you know, the Issue, I hadn't kept it up to date. So everything on there was at least 4 years old. But they felt new. So I reordered it slightly and then cast on a shawl that was first published in 2018 and I'm loving it. So yes, I'm up for the craft along.
What if we did a pairing- old pattern, new yarn or stash yarn, new pattern? It’s hard for me to do two at once. Thank you for considering and for the inspiration.