National Craft Month - CRE8TIME to Craft

March is National Craft Month.

The Craft and Hobby Association has teamed up with CRE8TIME.org this year to encourage people to make time for their crafts. People get busy and it can be difficult to find time to do things you enjoy.  Work and family obligations often take precedence.  Making time to do something you enjoy is an important part of self-care.  It will help you recharge so you are more easily able to meet the demands of your schedule and obligations. Here are our top suggestions for finding time for your craft: [caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="640"] Tuesday evening knitting group Christmas party.[/caption]   1. Join a group.  Here at Alpaca Directwe have several groups that meet weekly.  There are Tuesday evening and Thursday afternoon knitting groups as well as a monthly spinning group that meets on the first Friday of the month.  If you're part of a group that meets regularly, and you make it a priority to attend, you're guaranteed that you'll have at least that amount of time on a regular basis to work on your craft.  You'll also get the added pleasure of making new friends and getting to spend time socializing with people who have a common interest. 2. Craft while waiting for other things.  Bring along your current project to your next appointment and work on it in the waiting room.  Portable crafts like knitting, crochet, and spindle spinning are great in these situations.  Waiting for water to boil before you put pasta on?  Knit a couple of rows, or at least a few stitches.  If you keep your project with you, it's easy to get a little bit done in these pockets of found time.  Little bits of time here and there add up, and you'll eventually finish that project. [caption id="attachment_4765" align="aligncenter" width="604"] Knitting while I wait.[/caption]   3.  Work on a project in front of the TV.  I think this is probably when most of us get the most work done on our current works in progress.   It's fairly common to sit and watch TV for a while in the evenings.  This is prime time for working on your fiber crafts.  I know I do the majority of my knitting while watching TV. 4.  Put it in your calendar.  I know that may seem silly at first.  But, taking care of yourself is important.  Pursuing hobbies that you find enjoyable is part of taking care of yourself.  People schedule other hobbies - sports, fishing, camping - why not craft hobbies?  When I was in college two of my friends and I had a standing Monday knitting date in my apartment.  They'd come over and we'd watch our favorite TV show and knit or crochet, depending on our preference and current project.  It just happened one time and we enjoyed ourselves so much it turned into a weekly thing.  We all made sure not to schedule things over it if we could help it. I always have a project that I can stuff in my bag and take with me.  I usually have several projects on the needles at one time, so I just pick whatever seems appropriate for the situation.  I work on larger projects (like my top down raglan cardigan that I'm currently knitting) at home or at knitting group.  I have a sock to stick in my bag and take with me if I get stuck waiting somewhere. With a new baby it's a bit trickier to find time to knit.  But I try to do at least a little every day, because it's something I enjoy and it recharges me. How do you find time to work on your crafts?  Let me know in the comments.