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Old Habits

I have been making an annual calendar project for some years now. In 2025 that was a mini quilt every week, which grew pretty challenging as the condition of my hands deteriorated.

For 2024 I crocheted a mood blanket entirely out of thrifted yarn, with a new row every week. That was fun and no problem at all.

Back in 2023 I embroidered a new line on a piece of linen every week, which was when I first realized my ability to hand stitch anything was becoming limited.

This year I've been making a new tote bag every month and, like 2025's calendar project, that proved more challenging than I thought it would. I'm still having fun, but my ability to meet a weekly or monthly goal for a calendar project is swiftly diminishing. This is a bit depressing, but like all changes in life, I need to embrace rather than fight it.

I considered doing a small crochet project every month for 2027, but a few mornings ago I woke to find the knuckles of both of my hands locked up because of my arthritis. It didn't last long, but it was a grim harbinger of things to come, and I fear pretty soon. When my hands become permanently locked up I probably won't be able to do much (I might be able to crochet if I can strap the hook in place. We'll see.)

I like finishing what I start more than anything, and to begin a calendar project next year and then becoming physically incapable of completing it would hurt me a lot. I believe it's time to end my annual project habit, and from this point on just focus on what I can do in the moment. Does that mean I have to stop challenging myself? Nope. I just need to do so at a pace and project length that I can manage, given my increasing limitations. Doing one-skein projects on the blog has been fun, and I'll likely keep doing that. So has testing new-to-me yarns. I can still manage smaller/more modest projects, so that's what I'll do.

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