Christmas Crocheting Gone Awry, Part 1

When December arrived, I was ready to Crochet All the Way. I had three Christmas-themed crochet projects I wanted to try. This is surprising because I prefer knitting to crochet, but these projects interested me. I even began a post called “Crocheting for Christmas.” Obviously, being a third of the way through December has forced me to change to title—and the post.

First up: the Avent CALendar

For at least the last two years, Crochet Society has run a December Crochet-ALong (CAL) in the form of an Advent Calendar, or CALendar. I first learned of this event via @madewithlovebytomdaley. Last year’s blanket was gorgeous! This year’s kit included a darling “cupboard” with little drawers numbered 1-25. (See below.) The cupboard is so adorable, I just had to have it!

Did I mention Crochet Society is based in England? Hearing so much about the “supply chain backlogs” (and seeing bare shelves in some stores) I was worried the kit wouldn’t arrive in time. But it arrived in plenty of time. Did I peak into some of the drawers? Yes I did, but only a couple.

The idea behind the Advent CALendar is that each day you open the corresponding drawer to find some yarn, plus a little giftie. Then that day’s instructions post to YouTube. I love the idea of an Advent Calendar. It’s a Christmas tradition I’ve missed for many years. And at the end, I’d have something that would last throughout the year.

Then I saw a photo of this year’s completed blanket. I was not happy.

Even though the finished product didn’t thrill me, I was still excited to open drawer #1 on Dec 1st. Instead of crocheting a couple of rows using a particular stitch, as was done last year, this year’s pattern included motifs. I’m not really a fan of motifs.

Day 1: The task was to make seven snowflakes. I struggled through the day but completed the task. Or so I thought.

Day 2 added a purple background around four of the motifs. That’s when I realized I’d messed up one of the snowflakes. Worse, I couldn’t unravel it. Fortunately, I had leftover yarn and made another one. But I fell behind.

Day 3 added a green background to the other three snowflakes. Another day, another messed up snowflake found. I still had enough yarn to complete a good one, but barely. Thankfully I didn’t need to make a 10th. Now I was a couple days behind.

Day 4 added another border to all the motifs and attached them together. At this point, I was really sick of these fucking snowflakes! Lack of motivation led to falling further behind.

Day 5 finally moved away from the snowflakes. Unfortunately, it called for four rows of a pink edging. Not just four rows, but four different rows with very difficult (for me) stitches. While this might have been day 5 of the CAL, the actual date was closer to the 10th of December. After an hour or two, I’d only made it one-third of the way through the first row.

I knew I’d never be able to complete the project by Christmas Day. I was okay with that. I could aim for January 6th, aka, the Epiphany, aka the 12th Day of Christmas. But the more I struggled, the more frustrated I became.

The project was much harder than I anticipated. Plus I was spending so much time on the blanket, I wasn’t making any progress on my other projects. If I kept this up, I’d never get to them. So, I put the CAL down.

I’ve abandoned the CAL for now, but will get back to it after the holidays. It will get finished. For now, it’s just one more unfinished project to add to my list.

I’m a bit discouraged that my project doesn’t look as nice as most of the other crocheters’ efforts. But, as my new Instagram friend Lucy Emma says, it’s okay not to be perfect, that’s what makes it special.

And now, since I’ve spend 3-5 days working on this post and the photos, Part 2 will highlight the other three projects. Did I say three others? Yes I did. Because I’ve added a knitting project that I do hope to finish before December 25. Stay tuned.