When Your Maker Motivation Goes on Vacation

A couple times a year I finish a project and then suddenly don’t want to start another. Or am paralyzed by “which project to start next?” This typically occurs after Christmas, and then at some point in the spring.

Both these times make sense. After Christmas I’ve probably just busted my butt to finish making presents. And in the spring, especially for many areas of North America, the transition of seasons is highly questionable. So the point at which you could or should switch from the warmer, cozier hats and sweaters to the lighter, cotton-y shawls or t-shirts can be a tough call to make. And if you don’t know that you can wear something as soon as you finish it, then the motivation to make it (especially for project knitters – vs. process knitters) has diminished.

So if you don’t feel like making something or designing something, what can you do? It can be confusing or discouraging if something that at other times of the year is the thing you want to do more than anything else, suddenly is less interesting. And if making is your business, then there can be an added pressure to keep going.

First of all, even if making is your business, it’s ok to have down time. I often find after periods of intense work in my life that, aside from the expected tiredness, I am inefficient and my brain is sluggish. I have only become aware of this because of what happens after a break from the busy-ness: an increase in creativity and curiosity.

Here are three things that have helped me recover and take a break, without some big vacation.

1. Read a book. This has really helped me in the past in recovery from intense periods of work, and also played a role for me this year. I participated in the first round of Hello Stella’s Kniterary Society reading Where the Crawdad’s Sing. I probably wouldn’t have picked up this book on my own, and probably wouldn’t have even come across it, as it’s not the typical novel I would chose. But it was good, and seeing the world from someone else’s perspective, especially when so different from your own, awakens different parts of your brain than you may have just been using. I’ve noticed this in the past as well. Whether reading fiction or non-fiction a book can trigger my curiosity and really take me out of myself. When you’re exhausted I think we tend to focus on ourselves more and the very small part of the world that we are occupying with our very small problems. A book can be your escape.

2. Try a new technique in the thing you’re taking a break from. This year for me the biggest thing that rescued me from an impending rut in my knitting was the Ursa Sweater. I have a huge list of projects I could be working on, and want to make, but what to make after testing the Easy Eyelet Sweater I couldn’t really decide. I wasn’t even sure what kind of project I wanted – socks, sweater, shawl, mindless, challenging, etc. So the organization of a cast on party for something I wasn’t really planning on making put it on my list. And it was going to be a bit of a challenge. I find any time I try a pattern from a different designer, that alone feels like a bit of a challenge, just getting used to the style of how the pattern document appears, but then also to their style of designing and instructing you how to make their design. And then there was the half brioche stitch. Not really that hard or complicated, but to learn it I needed to focus. And the interest to knitting that was added by that focus re-awakened my interest in this thing I’m usually so obsessive with, so that when that pattern was done, my slump was over.

3. Learn something new & unrelated to the thing you’re taking a break from. A few years ago I had finished a horrific semester of teaching 2 brand new classes, while also working full time. I wasn’t really knitting much at the time so I didn’t have that therapeutic medium to help me through it, or to help refresh when it was all over. But some of my other passions, as you may know, are food and royalty. And through Future Learn there was a free online course called History of Royal Food and Feasting. I would come home from work every Monday for a month SO excited to read the next lesson. Then after I’d finished it I could spend the rest of the week planning my “homework” of making the recipes. Which also stimulated my desire to bake even more stuff. Focusing on something fun, but also still learning and stimulating my mind so that my curiosity was revived.

If you’ve experienced the slump, hopefully one of these can help you out! Let me know what strategies you’ve used to bring back your Maker Motivation!