Want to complete projects faster?

Browsing the internet, there is no end to the click-bait with promises of titillating news about this or that celebrity, adorable images of baby animals, and quizzes to test your knowledge of the arcane.  I've been known to click on them from time to time myself, when I need a few minutes of guilty pleasure.  Then there is the click bait promising you instant success at whatever your heart desires: Earn $100,000/year working from home, or Increase your IQ in just three hours, or Drink this every night and never diet again!  No one ever clicks on these promotions do they?  We all see them for the ridiculous hype they are, right?  And yet, advertisers wouldn't use these schemes if they didn't work at least some of the time.  The fact is, it's super appealing to imagine that there are shortcuts to what we want -- that success lies at the other end of just three easy payments of $39.99.  But it doesn't.

As knitters, we know this kind of intuitively, but if I had a nickel for everyone who asked me how to knit faster, I would not worry about Colton's college fund.  Here's the truth:  It doesn't really matter how fast you knit.  The secret to finishing lots of projects is not continental knitting, or any other special technique.  Sure, there are greater economies of motion associated with certain knitting techniques, but they won't substantially impact how quickly you complete a project.  Because, as I said, it's not about how fast you knit. It's about how much you knit, how often you knit, how regularly you knit.  And this is a good thing, because while you cannot really control how fast you knit, you can totally control how much you knit.  You know about the tortoise and the hare, right?  At the end of the day, the slower knitter who has spent time every day, week in and week out, is going to complete a project much sooner than the blazing fast knitter who goes days at a time and never picks up her project.  Like all paths, knitting is about the slow accumulation of tiny successes.  Each stitch is a tiny success building on the last until a gorgeous finished object emerges.  We're all super busy, but if you want to complete projects, there are ways to slip knitting time into your life.  These are not magic bullets, but little tricks I use to help me get more knitting into my day.   

1. Schedule knitting time for yourself. Put it on your calendar like an appointment, and do it.  Don't let housework or other ongoing obligations distract you.  Take that time for yourself -- whether it's 15 minutes, half an hour, or more.  You deserve that little respite.  Maybe combine a visit to the shop for half an hour or so of knitting with your errands around town. 
2. Have your project with you all the time. There are lots of times you find yourself with a few minutes of downtime.  At the doctor's office is always a biggie.  Or waiting to pick your kid up from practice.  If you have your knitting, you can get a few rows in, and you're less likely to be frustrated by the wait. 
3. Try to get your project past the tricky part. There's always some point in your project that takes a good bit of focus, and can't really be worked on the fly.  If you work through that point during one of those sessions you've scheduled for yourself, then you can cruise through the easy parts and get lots done.  Have a dead simple project handy too, for those times when you just can't get past the tricky part.  

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5 Steps to Better Knitting

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