What's the secret to keeping interest in a CAL?

Hello.

How successful have you been with completing a Crochet Along? I was in a good space to start a CAL because I had just completed a project and was looking for something else to do. I found an awesome pattern and it just so happened that a CAL for the pattern was going to start the following week. Perfect time to join was what I was thinking, and did so. I went to my stash and found the perfect yarn for the project and just in case I didn't have enough, was lucky enough to find a few more skeins at JoAnn's...ON SALE. Everything was lined up perfectly for me to start on the "official" start date.

The first thing we did was make a gauge swatch and I finally met the gauge after a few tries. I loved the stitch and found it easy and interesting. Except for posting my progress, I pretty much kept up with the steps. A few weeks in, and I came down with the flu and was too sick to keep crocheting. It's been almost two weeks and I still haven't continued with the project. I would pick it up and do a few rows only to see that I made errors that were too blatant to hide and frog those rows. So far, this has happened at least three times. Now, I just don't seem interested in doing it at all.

I'm kind of bummed out about this because I really wanted to complete a CAL.

For those of you who have completed a CAL, what kept you interested to the end?

I've never done a CAL, but I have experienced the middle-of-the-project doldrums. The fact that you became ill certainly doesn't help anything, either! I believe the idea of a CAL is that you have a group of people all working on the same project and each one encouraging the others by posts and pictures of their progress, along with the finished products. By the time you were well again, it seems you had lost your motivation. But you don't have to get sick to lose motivation - that's why so many of us have several WIPs going at one time! Most of the time the desire to see the finished product is what keeps me going, but I do have a bad time with "shiny object syndrome" (or should I say "pretty yarn/pattern syndrome"!).

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Originally Posted by Nova55

I've never done a CAL, but I have experienced the middle-of-the-project doldrums. The fact that you became ill certainly doesn't help anything, either! I believe the idea of a CAL is that you have a group of people all working on the same project and each one encouraging the others by posts and pictures of their progress, along with the finished products. By the time you were well again, it seems you had lost your motivation. But you don't have to get sick to lose motivation - that's why so many of us have several WIPs going at one time! Most of the time the desire to see the finished product is what keeps me going, but I do have a bad time with "shiny object syndrome" (or should I say "pretty yarn/pattern syndrome"!).

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Hi Nova--

You are so right. Being sick, I hadn't realized that not completing the CAL was just par for the course when I work on a large project. I usually start on something then jump to another thing. Thanks for the perspective. Also, I like your phrase "pretty yarn syndrome". I have to use that to explain why I jump from project to project.

Take care

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Originally Posted by donzgurl

Hello.

How successful have you been with completing a Crochet Along? I was in a good space to start a CAL because I had just completed a project and was looking for something else to do. I found an awesome pattern and it just so happened that a CAL for the pattern was going to start the following week. Perfect time to join was what I was thinking, and did so. I went to my stash and found the perfect yarn for the project and just in case I didn't have enough, was lucky enough to find a few more skeins at JoAnn's...ON SALE. Everything was lined up perfectly for me to start on the "official" start date.

The first thing we did was make a gauge swatch and I finally met the gauge after a few tries. I loved the stitch and found it easy and interesting. Except for posting my progress, I pretty much kept up with the steps. A few weeks in, and I came down with the flu and was too sick to keep crocheting. It's been almost two weeks and I still haven't continued with the project. I would pick it up and do a few rows only to see that I made errors that were too blatant to hide and frog those rows. So far, this has happened at least three times. Now, I just don't seem interested in doing it at all.

I'm kind of bummed out about this because I really wanted to complete a CAL.

For those of you who have completed a CAL, what kept you interested to the end?

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I usually pick up something small & work on it for a bit to get me back in the mood for the bigger project. say like maybe work on a dishcloth or something little like that. I hope this helps you

I know exactly what you mean;)