Hello everyone,
I am suffering from knitting burnout after doing several projects this year, and I have a question: Have any of you ever suffered from knitting burnout? If so, what do you do to get through it and cure it? I am asking because I have been knitting for two years, and I have never suffered from knitting burnout before. Any help and tips are appreciated here.
poetknitter
Well what I do is go onto another type of project that I enjoy doing such as paint by number sets or cross stitching…even read a good book:grinning:
When I get tired of knitting I sometimes crochet. Sometimes I think, I’ll do something else. Before long the needles beckon, I get an urge to work on something specific, and I’m stuck again. lol
I think we all go through that at times. I go to a knitting group twice a week so I manage to at least knit there and if I’ve got nothing I feel like doing particularly I knit charity hats. I also read a lot. Reading a book with knitting in it… knitting mysteries, Yarn Harlot’s books, knitting novels can give you ideas that reignite your desire to knit, too. 
I crochet, but don’t knit. Whenever get crochet burnout I look at patterns that I have not done before. It doesn’t take long before I am itching to go shopping for supplies. I hope this helps you.
Vicki
I want to say thank you to everyone who has responded. All of you have given helpful tips. As for myself, I am currently taking a break from knitting, and doing other things, like writing poetry. Again, thank you for the helpful tips.
I first got burnout in my late teens. I put away my needles for a while and turned to crochet. A few years later found me spending all my time caring for a newborn. I didn’t pick up needles again until he was 5. Then I knitted like crazy: 3 sweaters, a hoodie, 6 hats, 19 scarves (the Harry Potter variety), and a full baby set for a coworker. Then I got divorced and lost almost all my supplies. I think I was left with 8 mismatched straight needles and one 11" circular. I didn’t even realize they were among all the stuff my ex returned to me. After 5 moves in 3 years, the only thing that really got unpacked was the clothing and kitchen stuff. My younger son found the remnants of my supplies in a box about 4 years ago and asked me what they were. He even asked me to teach him. I taught him the basics and he made the funniest-looking sampler scarf I’ve ever seen. Then he decided it’s not his cup of tea. However, I have been knitting since. My sons both tell me I have an addiction. I have to take frequent breaks from knitting because I’ve gone back to school. Once mid-terms arrive each semester I have to set the needles down because the workload seems to double.
I’ve never heard of anyone losing half their knitting needles in a divorce before 
Yep. Most of my needles, all of my patterns, all of the yarn, and all of the odds and ends like stitch markers, tape measure, row counter, point protectors, etc. Also, the WIP has long since gone. It’s the only project I’ve never finished–a toddler sweater for my now 17-year-old son.
I checked in his room last night where my old needles are. I was left with 5 10" straight needles (2 size 7 and one each size 5, 6, and 8), 4 14" straight needles (one each size 9 and 10 and a pair of size 2–one of which is bent) and an 11" circular in size 6. There’s not much you can do with any of those.
You’re still a beginner, so you don’t know this. ALL knitters do suffer from burnout eventually. That is normal. We don’t worry about it. There are so many other things we can do that just because we lose interest in knitting – for a short time – it doesn’t bother us! Yes, especially after completing a couple of huge projects in quick succession, you are bound to get burnout. Be easy on yourself! That is the way things are. If the muse was there, it will come back. Sometimes we go through phases, and will work on knitting, then crochet, then quilting, then cooking – it is all good, so don’t fuss over it! Creative people never have nothing to do!!
Thank you for telling me these things. They are very helpful.
I also write poetry, so I have done some of that during my break from knitting. Also, I have been working, and doing other things. I am waiting until my hands feel ready to knit again before I go back to knitting; I did do two Pussy Hats for myself and for a friend, four coaster sets for family members, three extra-large dishcloths, worked on one scarf, and started two more scarves. You can imagine how busy I have been with knitting this year!
Metylda, I feel for you, having lost so much of your supplies! Same thing happened to me when I moved out of my childhood home, and off onto college. I took my sewing machine, and a few essentials, but left my years of craft supplies. I had been doing paid childcare from the age of 11, and had spent much of those earnings on crafts and other homey things. (My friends were reading Vogue and Cosmo, and I was reading Family Circle, and Redbook, if you can imagine!) I didn’t have much of real value in the yarn and needles department, but I had an incredible set of sewing threads of every color (all neatly displayed on a rack), all manner of kitchen items (specialized baking pans, marble rolling pin…), and countless other quality, treasured homemaking things. My mother sold our home, and started clearing stuff out. I don’t blame her, as I had a lot of stuff, and she probably didn’t know, at that point, which things were hers, and which were mine, and had no idea, I’m sure, that many of those things were treasures to me! And for some reason it never occured to me to that I would need to go in and rescue my things, because they were getting cleared out! So yeah, I had to start all over again with my crafts and homemaking collection. I’m glad your son helped get your knitting gears turning again!
@poetknitter, this is such a great topic. You will probably see it live on long after you have lost interest in it! 
(If so, just unsubscribe if you like–that’s totally okay.)
Yes, yes, knitter’s burnout is real! I think on a minor level I get it every Spring! (Seasonal knitter, here!) Also, in my family, we’re in this awkward kids-bedtimes window the last couple of years. It used to be my kids were so small, they’d go to bed at 7/7:30pm, and the routines would be done by 8/8:30, so I’d have a couple of hours in the evening to relax with my husband and knit. Now, as they get older, bedtimes are later, and I only get about half an hour to myself before my own bedtime. This seriously cuts into my evening knitting time! No time for audio books or a show, which is when I always reach for my needles! So it’s a relative dry spell for me. Still managing to get a few things knit each year, but nothing like I would love to be doing. But that’s okay, because we’re enjoying our life in all its richness, which is the main thing! It sounds like you are too!
Metylda, sorry to hear that you lost most of your knitting tools! 
Were you able to replace any of them by getting new knitting stuff?
Buy yarn that is so soft and gorgeous you can’t resist.
Also I will go to you tube and watch many videos.
Great iinspiration!
I just change my focus for a little bit. Get into something else for a little while. I always seem to come back after a while. Usually it seems to go in seasons. I like to knit in the fall and winter, but give it up for the summer. Who wants to be covered in wool in summer.
An update on my knitting burnout issue: After close to two months, I may be starting to recover from knitting burnout. 
I finished a scarf this morning that I had started in August. Thanks for all of your help!
Nice recovery! Not only knitting but finishing off an unfinished object (UFO). Good going.
Yes, I have. Over the last couple of years I have spent quite a bit on new needles, yarns and other essentials. I had realized how awkward long straight needles can be when I was teaching my son. I bought almost a full array of DPNs (when I decided to try knitting socks) and circular needles (for everything else). When I learned magic loop, I retired the DPNs. I had one circular break and barely 2 weeks later my sister’s cat chewed up its replacement, but by then both yarn stores in my area had closed. I was able to find an inexpensive set of knitters pride interchangeable needles at hobby lobby. It was the only size 9 I could find. At first I wasn’t happy with using acrylic needles, especially with acrylic yarn. But now that I’ve gotten used to them I love them. And I’ve been knitting like crazy ever since.
Glad to hear that, Metylda, and glad that you can still knit as a result of buying the new knitting things. Do you have a favorite among them you would recommend to anyone? If so, what is it?
Thank you very much!