Losing your “crojo” is the term we use when you’re out of project ideas or just aren’t interested in crocheting. Here are seven ideas for getting your crojo back.
Help! I’ve lost my crojo!
This is something that comes up more often than I actually expected in crocheting circles. In case your’re not yet aware, “Crojo” is simply a mash-up of the words “crochet” and “mojo” and means the will to crochet or generally enjoying crochet.
So if someone is saying they’ve lost they’re crojo, they’re basically experiencing the crocheter’s equivalent of writer’s block. And this is actually a rather difficult situation because so many of us kind of love to crochet and really want to do it, even if we can’t quite bring ourselves to be excited about any of our current projects.
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First, Consider Why you’re having trouble
Before we get into my thoughts on getting your crojo back, it would be completely remiss for me to not address this first. You see, sometimes when crocheters don’t feel like crocheting(or generally when people don’t feel like doing anything worthwhile) there are some very good reasons why.
If you try to ignore those reasons and just go straight to “fixing” the surface issue(wanting to keep on crocheting and finishing your WIPs) then you’re not going to see any real progress. I hate to break it to you, but ignoring a legitimate issue(big or small) with crochet isn’t going to make it go away.
If that worked, I’m sure we would all be crocheting even more than we do now!
So before we go over the strategies that I’ve compiled for helping get your crojo back, take a moment to consider a couple of reasons that might need attention. Then, we’ll get to some ways that you can (hopefully) get back to your awesome crochet projects.
Simple need for Variety
As you’ll see if you keep reading, several of the practical tips I’ll share for getting back into your crochet mojo (also known as your “crojo”) are about trying something new. Sometimes its very beneficial to change things up a bit. Depending on your personality, you may crave variety more than others. But regardless, it may be worth your while to try something creative or refreshing other than crocheting. You may be surprised to find how much it may help you get back to your favorite hobby with fresh enthusiasm.
Major life changes
Second, I’d like you to ask why this is happening. Is there a specific reason that you don’t feel like crocheting, maybe even a serious one?
Many times, when I hear people saying that they don’t feel like crocheting like they normally do, they actually preface it by acknowledging that they had a recent loss. Often, they’ve had a death in the family or another major upheaval, and that’s why they can’t bring themselves to pick up their projects and just keep on crocheting.
Dear friend, if this might apply to you in any way, then please take any pressure off of yourself to “perform” like you normally would.
There’s a very good reason that you’re not feeling creative-you are grieving. In fact, even something that seems small might need your attention before you can really use the tips that I want to share. Just give it a little thought.
Now, if you’re sure that you are actually ready to dive in and get out of a rut when it comes to your crochet hobby and projects, then read on!
7 Ideas for getting your Crojo Back
Below, you’ll find all of the ideas and strategies that I have found so far for breaking out of a creative slump and getting re-energized about crochet. Some may be more practical or attainable than others depending on your specific situation, but I daresay that at least a couple of them are worth a try for you!
1. Get organized
Okay, so how many of you feel great about working in clutter? For some of us, clutter and mess might be how we work best, and if you are in that camp of crocheters, then I rather admire you.
For the rest of us, creativity and getting things done tends to work better when there is some element of order in our space and in our crochet supplies. Tangled yarn and lost hooks do not make it easier to get into our most creative and productive zone!
My first tip for getting your crojo back, then, is to get your things in order in a way that is pleasing to you. This could mean arranging a few skeins of yarn in a pretty basket, sorting your hooks by size, or doing a complete and major overhaul of your entire yarn and supplies stash!
Whatever level of organizing is going to make it easier for you to work and maybe make your materials look more welcoming, consider investing a little time into taming some chaos or just freshening up the look of how your yarn and tools are arranged.
2. Change Your Setting
On the opposite side of working on your crochet space and supplies, is working outside of it. By this, I mean literally going somewhere else, with or without your crochet.
Simply taking a walk or sitting in an unusual place like a coffee shop or park is a fantastic way to shift our perspective, regardless of the kind of rut we happen to be in. It’s definitely a great way to work on getting your crojo back, because you never know when something outside of your normal surroundings is going to spark an idea for a new project you’ll want to try, color you’ll want to explore, or new idea that you may not even know how to implement but that you’ve just got to look up on ravelry when you get home to see if anyone has done it yet.
As I said before, It’s perfectly fine to take a crochet project along and work on it somewhere new (I certainly do that whenever I can), but perhaps it will help you get back to crocheting with more zest if you just put it down for a brief outing and let your mind take in as much as possible.
3. Find Some New Crochet Inspiration
Aside from getting outside of your normal routine and looking around in the real world, another way to get out of a creative rut is to look for inspiration in other places. This is where online tools like Pinterest and Ravelry can be absolute goldmines of exciting ideas. But alternatively, finding inspiration could come from books and magazines, from finding vintage patterns, and from browsing what’s being offered from leading designers and yarn companies(such as looking at beautiful hand-dyed skeins or crochet pieces in high fashion collections).
Even shopping in thrift and department stores can inspire you to make something yourself. Sometimes it’s thrilling to look at an item that you like in the store and then say “what would it take to make that?” and then go home and figure it out. Even if you end up not finishing something like that, it’s wonderful for learning and getting focused on a goal. In fact, that brings me to the next crojo strategy:
4. Challenge Yourself
Depending on your skill level and your inclinations, finding something to challenge yourself with can be a great way to jump out of a crochet rut. The key here is to pick some kind of a goal that will help you learn, but not make it so ambitious that you get burned out or lose energy.
Some examples of challenging yourself crochet-wise might be learning a new stitch, practicing a new technique like shaping or c2c, or simply taking a project you already have and putting a “due date” on it. If you choose something like that, you may want to find some accountability(see the next tip) to give yourself a better chance of success.
5. Go Social with Your Crochet
One thing that is worth noting about crochet is that it’s a skill that doesn’t necessarily require other people. Oftentimes we can learn to crochet from youtube videos, order yarn from our favorite websites or grab it from the store in a quick trip, and sit working on our projects in our downtime as a break from spending time with others. We may admire other’s work, but one thing that will often help to make crocheting more meaningful and exciting is to do it with others, as an active participant.
If you have any way of managing it, the very best ways to do this are going to involve meeting with people face to face. You could search and find groups that meet in libraries, community centers, or some other location to knit and crochet, and start by joining them one day when they are meeting. Another option is to take a live class, or even consider finding interest for a class that you could teach.
And whether or not you can meet in person(I would really challenge you to), you can also explore connecting with other crocheters online. Facebook groups are one particular option for this, and I know personally that there are a lot of Facebook groups specifically for crocheters and crochet projects. In fact, I have one! If you’d like to look it up, it’s called the encouraging crochet community.
Both online and offline options for connecting with other crocheters can go a long way towards inspiring you, and also keeping you accountable to work towards your goals if you let others know what you are working on.
6. Treat Yourself
Another fun idea you can try is simply buying yourself something fun to crochet with, especially some pretty yarn that you haven’t used before. Something new will pretty much always give you a boost and get you motivated to crochet. But, the trick is to find a project for your new goodies quickly, and then start on it right away before the newness fades. It may also help if you choose to make something that won’t take very long- an “easy and quick” project that you finish is better than a large, ambitious project that will overwhelm you and end up sitting undone.
7. Just Crochet It(For Someone Else)
Finally, I have one more strategy that helps me to “just crochet something” if the desire is there but no other motivation or goal is working. That strategy is pretty simple: make something for someone else.
Crocheting a meaningful gift is by far the best way that I have found to actually get moving, and the trick is to find a source for your gift that you can connect with and that allows you to fulfill a need. This also gives us the wonderful gift of taking the focus off of ourselves and instead allowing us to show love or kindness to someone else.
Obviously, this could mean crocheting an item for someone you know personally or semi-personally, or it could also mean donating to a meaningful cause where you won’t know exactly who will get what you have made.
In my opinion, the second option is better for getting yourself out of a slump, only because the experience of gifting things in person has the potential to hurt your feelings if your gift is not received as you were hoping. That possibility is simply not a factor with donating, so I would most consider creating something lovely and sending it off.
There are too many possibilities for this option for me to even begin cataloging them, and specific locations and organizations, but I will offer just one easy idea, which is to check your closest hospital and see if they will accept hats for premature babies and even precious babies who were born sleeping. There are also many organizations online who will accept donations for different causes.
Final Thoughts (and something that might help you)
So out of the strategies I shared, which one(s) do you think are going to work the best for you? Which ones have you already tried, and which ones are maybe new ideas? Do you have any other strategies to share?
I’d love to hear your feedback and thoughts on getting your crojo back, so please feel free to reach out by leaving a comment below OR by contacting me directly. Either way, I hope this has been helpful and that you feel excited and ready to try some things with your own projects!
Now before you go, there are a couple of things you can do to actually save these strategies so that you can keep coming back to them as you work on trying these ideas:
First of all, be sure to Pin this for later so that you can find it on your favorite crochet board. And secondly, go ahead and consider signing up for my regular emails if you’ve found this post helpful. As a bonus, I’ll send you my master list of project ideas!
In addition to getting constant access to resources like my master list of crochet project ideas, you’ll also get more encouragement and tips from me on crochet topics just about every week, and I’ll also send special offers and other content that I think might genuinely interest you.
As you work on getting back into your creative groove, remember to give yourself grace and remember why you love this wonderful skill.
Keep it delightful friends,
Amelia
Getting your crojo back may not be a quick fix, but sometimes a simple change can get you excited to crochet again
