I will be honest, it seems like I finish up crochet projects super quick.I really don’t finish them up that quickly but I do have different things I do that help me finish several projects at a time.

To start with I will lay out all of the yarn within a brand on my table…or the couch or …. well you get the idea.

I sort them into color groups like the one shown above. I am playing with the colors to figure out color combinations that work well.

I also dovetail my work and work on several projects at a time.  Usually, I have at least three  projects in process at a time. One is in the portable phase and goes with me where ever I go that I might have to wait; orthodontist/doctor appointments or music lessons are usually where they get the most work. One I will work on during the evenings when the family is watching tv. The last one to three projects might be waiting on yarn, an uninterrupted block of time when I can concentrate, or simply inspiration to finish it up.

I also use my scraps as I go…

So I love crocheting Granny square blankets. They are usually scrap busters and are always so pretty. It helps me use up bits and pieces of yarn. I simply crochet the center rounds of the granny squares or even the second row on a square until I have used up the bits of yarn to short to keep. I  stored them all in a bowl until I was ready to start on this crochet afghan. It is crocheted out of a dk weight yarn and there were others that are vanna’s choice mixed into the bunch. So I pulled out the other vanna choice and wool, and just use the dk yarn centers I have been collecting centers since January of last year.  So when I started on this blanket on Tuesday I already had all of the centers and some had a second or third row on them. When I started on Tuesday the bowl was full and it now looks like this.

This current red bordered Granny square blanket started out as small granny square centers from left over bits and pieces of yarn.  I have used most of them but the blanket has 36 granny squares now.

The next part of the blanket will be the longest but I am inspired by it and will keep working on it every night until it is done. It is jump started and will move along quickly and finish up before the month is over.

One other thing that I do is to… buy only a couple of brands or weights of yarn so that a majority of them go together for scrap granny blankets.

So in a nutshell.

•  I keep several projects working at the same time.
•  I take crochet work with me if I expect to wait anywhere for any time.
•  I have a set time to work on my projects.  I usually work on them in the evenings. I take a break several times a week.
•  I also work on several different size projects at a time. I tend to get discouraged working on long crochet blanket projects so I work on little fun things in between. I am still finishing up work here and there and I get to look at something else for a change of pace.
• Just frog the things that you don’t like and don’t want to finish. Roll that yarn up in a ball and put it aside. Another day you will have fresh inspiration.

Like this blanket that has changed from this

To this…

and I am still not sure if I like it enough to finish it. So it is waiting until I decide!

I am crocheting as a business and I try to keep my spending on a cash basis. I refuse to spend money on yarn for a blanket with credit. I will start several different crochet blankets even if I don’t have all of the yarn I need to finish it.

(I know that our grandmothers’ and mother’s didn’t start a project unless they had all of the yarn for a project. I work mainly with synthetic fibers and have never had a problem with dye lots being different, at least in the past ten years. I think dyes and  yarns are much more stable now than they were. IF you are using natural fibers or hand dyed specialty yarns then you need to be careful to buy enough of the yarn  in the beginning as the colors among dye lots may vary. When I crochet a custom blanket I try my best to order more than enough yarn at the beginning of the project to cover any dye lot inconsistencies.)

Talk to you later…

Karen

Do you work on more than one thing at a time?