Now that Christmas and the Christmas knitting frenzy is over, I have to admit that I'm feeling a bit uninspired in my craft life. I find this happens a few times throughout the year - after Christmas, during the dog days of summer, and other times when the responsibilities of life are all that I can handle.
Fortunately, there are a couple of tricks I play on myself to get that "gotta knit now" feeling back.
1) Take a trip to the yarn store. Looking through some of the newest knitting books and touching the newest yarns make me excited about knitting and I usually leave with a list of at least 5 things to queue up on Ravelry.
2) Look over old (or new) issues of Interweave Knits and knitty.com. I love that I have a few years back copies of IK. It's absolutely my favorite knitting magazine and the one magazine subscription that I couldn't possibly live without.
3) Have a knit night with one or more of my girlfriends. Usually this takes place at a bar, so even if I decide I still don't want to knit, the night isn't wasted. I get to enjoy a favorite brew and chat with the ladies. Luckily, the enthusiasm that my friends have about their current projects is enough to jump start my interest in something fibery.
4) Bust out my spinning wheel. I have a gorgeous, gorgeous Louet Victoria that I got as a Christmas gift a few years ago. I love learning to spin on this wheel. Usually, after an hour or two, I'm feeling somewhat defeated as I am not a world-class spinner, and it makes me want to turn to something that I am great at - knitting!
So, if you ever find yourself in the same don't-wanna-knit-and-you-can't-make-me-spot, give these ideas a try. I'm sure you'll be back to your favorite needles in no time!
