Knitting and Joy

First things first 

Knitting and joy is closely connected for me. I can knit all the day long and feel perfectly content, so when I started noticing a lack of joy I knew something was wrong. For over a year now I've been very focused on the whole design aspect. I've learned so much and have grown as a designer, starting to discover my voice and using it. New things were on the horizon, an e-book and trying to get a design published in a magazine.

Frankly, the more exciting everything got the less I felt like knitting and with the whole #vatmoss deal, it was beginning to feel like a lot of work with very little reward. I'd love to say that month after month of no sales doesn't affect me, but that would be a lie. What really did me in I think was that so far my charity pattern, Everyday Rockstar has only sold one copy and I know that a close friend purchased that (and love her for it).

While I really want to some day have a decent side income from pattern writing, at the time being I'll be taking a break from it all to regain my joy and energy. During the next 6 months I'll be writing my BA thesis and I need knitting to be happy place during that time, not another thing in my life with obligations, deadlines and pressure.

Hopefully, by the time I'll be ready to return, I'll not only be rejuvenated, but perhaps the whole #vatmoss ordeal will be solved as well. I won't stop blogging though, fear not and I'm not saying a design or two won't find their way into my life during the next 6 months, what I am saying is that if they do so, they will do it because of an itch I must scratch, not because I feel obliged to work on them.

Now to reclaim the true joy...   

To combat the negative feelings I was beginning to harbour towards my knitting, I decided to knit something cute, something I didn't have to think about. I needed to not think at all, so I grabbed 3 different yarns and a baby knitting book and told my man to pick something, anything for me to knit. 

He chose the Bella Cardigan and some dark purple wool and off I went on my merry way. 

I'm already feeling a lot better about my knitting, less than a week after taking the decision to just have fun with it. Want proof? I've already planned what I want to cast on next: Baby Scallops.

Have you ever been in a similar situation and how did you regain the lost joy?