One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that crocheters are often very hard on themselves.

If they haven’t crocheted for a while, they feel guilty. If they’ve abandoned a project, they feel guilty. If they’re not as excited about crochet as they once were, they worry that they’ve somehow lost their passion for it.

But I’ve started to wonder if we’re sometimes asking the wrong question.

I learned to crochet in my 40s and, since then, there hasn’t been a single day when I haven’t picked up my hook. Some days it’s only for five minutes. Other days it’s for hours. Crochet has become such a natural part of my life that I don’t really think about whether I’ll crochet today. I simply do.

What has changed over the years, however, is how I feel about the projects I’m working on.

When I first learned to crochet, everything was exciting. Every stitch pattern was new. Every technique felt like an achievement. I was happy to make almost anything because there was always something to learn.

The longer I’ve crocheted, the more selective I’ve become.

I’ve discovered that I enjoy some stitch patterns more than others. I have favourite yarns. I have projects that I can’t wait to work on and projects that feel like hard work every time I pick them up. I’ve also learned that when I lose interest in a project, it’s rarely because I’ve fallen out of love with crochet. More often than not, it’s because the project itself isn’t aligned with what I enjoy making.

That was a surprising lesson for me.

For a long time, I assumed that if I wasn’t feeling motivated, the problem was me. I thought I needed more discipline or that I simply needed to push through and finish what I’d started.

Now I see it differently.

Sometimes a project has taught us everything it was meant to teach us. Sometimes we’ve learned that we don’t enjoy a particular type of construction, stitch pattern or yarn. Sometimes our preferences have evolved and we’re no longer excited by the things that excited us when we first learned.

I don’t think that’s a sign of failure. I think it’s a sign of growth.

The more we crochet, the more we learn about ourselves. We develop preferences. We discover what brings us joy. We gain the confidence to say, “Actually, that’s not for me.”

And that’s valuable knowledge.

So if you’ve been feeling disconnected from crochet lately, perhaps don’t assume you’ve lost your crojo. Instead, ask yourself whether you’ve simply outgrown the project that’s currently sitting in your project bag.

The answer might not be that you need to start over.

The answer might be that you’re ready for something different.

These days, when my crojo starts to disappear, I don’t automatically assume there’s something wrong. Instead, I get curious. Is it the project? Is it the yarn? Is it the stitch pattern? Or have I simply learned more about what I enjoy?

More often than not, the answer isn’t that I need to crochet more. It’s that I need a project that better aligns with where I am right now.

Seona x