Crocheting in Phases

By A Guest Writer – 12 Comments

A Guest Post by Sarah.

I’m obsessed with crocheting slippers. At the moment. Before that it was scarves, and then shirts, and then cozies. And I never seem to finish them all. I think a new type of crocheter has been discovered: The phase crocheter.

All it takes is for me to look at one type of crocheted item, and I’m ALL over them. Not too long ago, I looked at a pair of crocheted slippers, and now I have a million ideas in my head of slippers that I want to make. Right now, I could probably make 10 pairs of slippers in a week, even though I know only one or two would be worn. As you can tell, I’m stuck in a slipper phase.

About 2 weeks ago, I had my cozy phase. In about a day I had managed to make a cell phone cozy, a portable DVD player cozy, and half of a Kleenex box cover. (To be honest, I still haven’t finished the Kleenex box cover, and I’ll probably be ripping it all out).

My shirt phase didn’t last too long because I could never design a top that would fit well and look good on me. I do, though, enjoy making clothing for other people. The scarf phase was one of the strongest ones. It occurred last winter. I made a scarf a day for a good couple of weeks. I have SO many scarves now, I wouldn’t notice if half of them went missing.

My crocheted purses top the list. I have tons and tons of them because purses are, by far, my favorite thing to crochet. Purses are my only thing that doesn’t come in phases; I make them ALL the time.

So, would you classify yourself as a “phase crocheter”? Do you have a million crocheted items of the same type? Do you become obsessed with one area of crochet at a time? If so, you just might be: The phase crocheter.

Sarah is 15 years old, Canadian, and has been crocheting for 5 years now. She loves designing and making crochet apparel, and she is a yarn addict. (Just the sight of yarn makes her all warm and fuzzy inside. Yes, that pun was intended).

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12 Comments

  1. Diana S says:

    HA! That’s amazing, and kind of applies to me as well. I have that “phase” condition, except mine isn’t a specific category but instead a whole bunch of random projects I give to myself at the same time!

  2. sarah says:

    I guess I am a phase crocheter too. I find something that I enjoy making, then I make them until I burn out! I also have what I call “craft ADHD” If something is too big of a project, I get bored before it is done 🙁

    I have a local community market that sells some of my little stuff, so I *have* to keep making them. Luckily, people have gotten hooked on some of my simplest things–dishcloths, circle tawashi, and lip balm holder zipper pulls. I make several hundred dollars a year selling my stuff at the community market, and another few hundred at craft shows.

  3. Angie says:

    I enjoyed this post very much Sarah! I am totally a “phase crocheter”! I’m COMPLETELY OBSESSED w/ hats! I just LOVE making and wearing them! I’d even wear them in the summer (IF they weren’t so darn hot). 🙂 I am also and a yarn addict…I have TONS of it and it’s still not enough. 🙂 I’ll wait anxiously for your next post. 🙂

  4. Alex Greif says:

    I would say i’m a phase crocheter, but its more like phase crafter. Getting hooked on crochet for a while and i make 3 hats in 2 weeks, then knitting and get halfway through a scarf, then beading, then friendship bracelets, the origami, etc. I cant stick to one thing at one time.

    but if anything i’m like angie above, i make a lot of hats, but i dont wear them, i usually give them as gifts for Hanukah. Also im really happy to find that im not the only young person who crochets. I remember when i brought my crocheting to school and everyone stared…But the teacher was oblivious. It got me through a really dull lesson (I’m thirteen, started crocheting when i was 8 ^-^)

  5. Stacey says:

    Oh, I’m totally a phase crocheter! I didn’t know there were people who weren’t 😉

  6. Jessica-Jean says:

    You are NOT the only one who gets into fits of making dozens of one thing. Here’s a list of my knitting or crocheting ‘fits’ over the years: knit one-piece Chullo hats – 29; knit London Beanie caps – 78; crocheted beanies – 64; crocheted cloches – 6; knit scarves – 80?; crocheted or knit blankets – Only God knows how many!; knit washcloths – dozens; knit or crocheted shawls – maybe fewer than a hundred, I think; crocheted potholders – more dozens, and there’s always one ongoing in the bottom of whatever backpack I’m using now.

    Do they all get finished right away? The smaller items, usually. The larger ones get finished/will be finished … eventually. My current count of WIPs/UFOs is about 70. I actually dug through all the corners of the house where they were stowed and wrote them down as I handled each one … but stopped looking when I hit 76! Since then a few have been ripped as I was sure they were not ever going to attract my attention again, and a few have been completed. Only two new have been begun and one of those (a baby sweater) is completed.

    When a new (to me) pattern gets my attention AND is pleasing to work, I either finish one and make another – or another few others – or I begin several in different colours or yarn weights/needle and hook sizes.

    I began knitting and crocheting in 1954, and have never been without something on my needles or hooks. Obsessed knitter am I!

  7. Sandie says:

    *raises hand* I have been in a scarf phase for a while now. While I also do other things on the side like squares and hats and such, primarily I am making scarves. And if I find or design a pattern I particularly like I will go through a mini-phase of making that pattern over and over again with small changes, either in color or design. I did have a short square phase in the middle of my scarf phase where I made dozens of 6″ squares. Then I went back to scarves. It’s not that I can’t make anything else. It’s just that I enjoy making something that I can finish quickly yet can still experiment with different patterns. Just about any pattern design can be adjusted to a scarf. 🙂

  8. Cami says:

    I hear ya, girl! I’m usually in a recurring scarf phase, but I’m getting into the granny square phase now. I had a bag phase last summer, and well, you know how it goes… 😀 Nice post!

  9. Wendy says:

    I’m definitely a phase crocheter. It usually depends on the weather, and weather-related needs. In the winter, it’s hats, scarves, blankets. In the summer, it’s smaller stuff. Right now, I’m crocheting shoes, or outdoor slippers, if you will. I need “barefoot” shoes that I can beat up in the garden. They get filthy, they get WET. I’m constantly changing shoes. Crocs are great, but slip dangerously as soon as they get wet. Vibrams are wonderful, but at a hundred bucks a pair, I own one pair, and that’s it. When they get wet, they have to be left alone until they dry. So, I need barefoot shoes that I can kill,and cheap enough to have several pair.

    So, out come the slipper patterns, to which I add a sole crocheted from hemp or jute. These double-soled (cotton or acrylic insode, hemp or jute outside) “barefoot” shoes wear like iron, machine wash, help a lot toward protecting my feet, and cost about five bucks a pair.

    When summer ends, I’ll go into my winter phase again.

    Toys, of course, are all-season projects…and wonderful for that short attention span!

  10. Pamela says:

    I confess, yes I am a phase crocheter. Sometimes my phases are inspired by learning a new crochet skill ( waffle stitch phase) or by a new pattern (blossom bag phase- made several in different color combos, different types of yarn, long strap, short handles, snap closure, button closure).
    Other phases have included : hats( made my dad several when he was going through chemo and I’m known as the “hat lady” in my crochet group) scraves, afghans(made husband and each kid one, mother, mother-in-law,sister-in-law),scrunchies,tote bag/purse. I like learning new stitches and techniques and trying new and challenging patterns. I love expressing my creative self through crochet!

  11. Jan says:

    I made my resolution for this new year, to finish all the projects that I had started over the years and never finished. I completed all but one (I ran out of one color and couldn’t find a match). It may get ripped out, or just finished with another color. But I have a number of them that I started again this year. I usually make afghans, scarfs, baby afghans, and hats. I have 10 more rows to complete for an afghan that I am making for my husband. I started this when he was in the hospital in the winter, and then it got too hot to finish during the summer. I have a scarf almost finished that I also started in April, that I am making for the Special Olympics. I had to start it then because I waited till Fall last year, and the store didn’t have any more of the colors that they wanted you to use. A few years ago when the fun fur yarn was popular, I showed a group of my co-workers how to knit with that yarn and as a group we made close to 200 scarfs. So I was all scarfed-out. Last year was hats for the homeless as I work at a hospital and that was their project. This year, I am only knitting for one group, and I am almost finished with the blanket that needs to be sent by November first.

  12. Varsha suraiya says:

    Yes yes yes me too.i work in phases on various projects and often get stuck too.Whoosh! A idea strikes during a shower or while doing yoga and I rush to start it or often note it in a diary for reference .it is a lifeline for me and thanks to crochet spot I am inspired ever so often.Just love crochet!!Tks again crochet spot for being there.

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