Most of my knitting and crocheting is for other people and their children. There has been many a time I’ve had to rip out rows upon rows of hard work because of a mistake that I had made at the beginning of the project. For me, when selling or trading with others, quality rules. Unfortunately for my family, when I finish up a custom order or three, I’m feeling a little stressed and a bit burned out. The high standard I hold my work to for others is daunting and it feels a bit insane to want to pick up the needles just to knit “for fun”.

I’ve deemed myself a pro”craft”inator. I won’t start a project unless I’m sure the end result will be perfect which usually results in the project never getting started. My poor kids are the ones who suffer the most from this. My daughter has been asking for a pair of knit pants for her baby doll since I made my first pair some 3.5 years ago. Why don’t I just cast on and go? I have no real reason other than, every time I do cast-on, I see something I don’t like and rip it all out. If it’s not perfect, it’s not worth it.

Lately though, I’ve been stretched outside my comfort zone and have come to an amazing realization – my kids don’t care about perfection. They don’t care about the dropped stitch in the fourth pattern repeat, they don’t care that I missed a cable, or that it’s a standard rib instead of a twisted one. They don’t care. What they do care about is that mama made it, with love, especially for them (or their doll).

So now I ask… what’s holding you back? Don’t be a procraftinator like me. Yes, quality can be important but, when you pour love into your craft, it doesn’t really matter.

1. CouponWebz | UPrinting Coupons Says:
   April 14th, 2010 at 9:55 pm

   Aww that’s sweet! I remember my dad doing something similar to me when I was a kid. Since he’s into building scale-models, I asked him to paint my green toy soldiers and wow it was amazing! I didn’t care if it was perfectly painted or not, but it certainly made me happier

   Cheers!