What to Do When You Don't Get Projects Right The First Time

It's truly easy to get frustrated when a project doesn't go your way, but there's always something positive that you can take out of an experience. I spend so much time planning & visualizing how my projects will go, & sometimes they fall short of my expectations. There's a sense of defeat & that's only natural. I care very much about everything I create & falling short doesn't feel good, but I've learned how to manage things when that happens.

Usually, I can tell as I'm working on my project if I'm veering away from my expectations. That's when I stop and reassess to see if there's a way of salvaging it. Sometimes I have to backtrack & other times I've gone too far & I have to see the project through. It can become something even greater than I expected, but there have been situations where it's fallen short.

Prime example of an attempt at creating a crochet granny square bag & ended up with a top instead!

I've noticed that this typically happens with newer & more experimental ideas. In these cases, I have to remember that not everything is going to come out perfectly the first time. I have the habit of thinking that because I'm able to make other garments more easily, it should apply to everything I make & that's definitely not the case. 

After I've worked on something & it's gone astray, I take a breath and then I step back from it. I'll move on to other projects I have planned and try not to think about how my original idea didn't go according to plan. Once I've cleared my mind, I'll return to the project and analyze what happened, how it happened, and what I can do to fix it.

The trick is not to give up. Once I've identified where the issues were & how I should fix them, the project gets better Sometimes it takes multiple attempts to get it just right, but the beauty of it is that once I've done it, I know how to do it & the accomplishment I get from it afterward is one of the best feelings in the world.