Top Five ways to deal with a craft slump

Feeling a bit low on inspiration? Katie Lee knows the feeling only too well, and has come up with some great ideas to kickstart your creativity.

Each year, around October/November time, I start making big plans to make everyone on my Christmas list a present - big or small. As soon as I make this decision I nearly always fall into a craft slump. A craft slump is what I call the periods in my life when I just can't even begin to muster up the enthusiasm to make something. And from years of experience, I know that there *are* ways to get yourself out of a slump - and here's my top five tips. If you've got any suggestions, please go ahead and add them in the comments!

Keep reading for my Top 5 craft slump killers!

1. Get friends to request something they'd like you to make for them.
If a friend has specifically asked me to make him or her something, I suddenly find myself feeling very motivated to get the crochet hook out. Making a friend happy is usually all the incentive I need.

2. Check out some crafty blogs and forums.
There's nothing more inspiring than looking at other people's crafty creations and working up a bit of excitement over a neat ideas they have suggested or free patterns they've provided.

3. Visit some craft shops.
Looking at people's blogs will usually get me back into the buzz of crafting, but seeing things on sale in a shop that I know I could make better myself is another great motivator. Most handmade stuff that has been mass produced is not a patch on the creations you can come up with yourself. But if you do find something really unique and special, it's another great way to get the creative impulse kickstarted again.

4. Just do 5 minutes.
Coax yourself into doing just 5 minutes of a project - maybe finish something off you started months ago - and you'll soon find you've been doing it for an hour.

5. Throw money at it.
Treat yourself to a new craft book, or buy some lovely handspun wool for a special project. Getting your hands on a new material is a great way to spur yourself into action.

If all else fails, just enjoy the break! The craft bug will be back again before you know it, and in the meantime you can enjoy actually watching a TV show without being distracted by a dropped stitch, or get away from your wool stash and out into the fresh air. The whole point of a hobby is that it's something you enjoy doing when you're not working. If you turn it into a chore, and beat yourself up for not doing it, you might as well just work an extra few hours a day instead!

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