Artsy Crafty Library: No Pressure Crafting Challenges
If you follow craft content on social media, you've probably seen daily practice challenges that encourage you to make something new every day. I've always been interested in trying one of these, but I like to craft for fun and relaxation and sometimes these challenges can feel a bit like homework.
However, I realized there is no rule that I must complete a 30-day challenge in 30 days. The idea is to try something new, to build skills and to get in the habit of making. If your 30-day challenge takes 31 days or 6 weeks or 6 months, it really doesn't matter. The important thing is you're taking the opportunity to be creative on a regular basis.
Finding a practice to follow
When I decided to give a daily practice project a try, my first thought was to go to Creativebug. Creativebug is available free with your library card and gives you access to hundreds of video classes on all types of crafts from fiber arts to jewelry to cake decorating. There is a link on their website to Daily Practice classes so I started there.
I've been crocheting for a couple of years but still consider myself a beginner. I looked for a daily practice to help me gain more confidence in my skills. I found a 30-day crochet sampler that I thought looked fun because I could assemble all of the sample squares I made into a finished wall hanging.
Daily practice doesn't have to be daily
Because I already know the basic stitches of crochet, I skipped the first few days and went straight into learning the different types of stitches. Most of the video lessons in the daily practice class are less than 10 minutes long so I was able to watch a video and make my practice square in around 30 minutes.
Not worrying about making a square every day to keep up with the challenge allowed me to look at it as a fun time to learn something new rather than something I had to do to stay on schedule. Often I'd skip several days. Then on the weekend I made several of the stitched squares in one day.
Two ways to learn
The great thing about video lessons is I can rewatch them as many times as I need to to understand how to create the stitch. In addition to the videos, I downloaded a PDF for the class that includes all of the instructions to crochet each square. I made notes on any stitches that gave me trouble. When I use those stitches in a different project I'll know what to look out for.
Sometimes you just want to move along. I tried one stitch twice and messed it up both times. Instead of getting frustrated, I skipped that one and moved on to the next one. I can always go back and try the tricky one again later.
If you've been thinking about taking on a daily craft challenge, I encourage you to give it a try in whatever time frame works best. Go at a pace that works for you and enjoy learning something new in a fun, relaxing way.
