I have a crafty backlog seven miles long. I’ve finally begun to work on it, though, and I’ve already filled three crafty debts this year! (Pictured above: a pair of fingerless mitts I made for a friend who asked me to make them for her two years ago.) I can’t keep that pace for the rest of the year, but it’s a great feeling to finally have momentum. I don’t often make things for myself, since my job takes up so much of my creative energy, but I hope to change that with a bit of planning.

I’m not one for making sweeping changes to routines all in one go, because they never stick. Instead, I like to add one or two tiny things to my routines every year. Last year I decided I wanted to make the bed every day. That’s it. Just make the bed. I added it into my usual routine, and bob’s your uncle, now I’m the kind of person who makes their bed every day. Or nearly every day. This year my plan is to do the same with knitting and reading.

My routine til now has been to focus all my energy on work, burn myself out, then spend too much time aimlessly scrolling through Twitter and Facebook or whatever to decompress. Every day. It’s not a very good way for me to live, so I tried to think of a small thing I could change that would make me less likely to fall into that pattern. Instead of tooling around on the internet on my breaks, I now have a knitting project or a book nearby. When I need a break, I simply switch to either of those for a little while. A chapter of a book or a few rounds on a sock make me feel so much more refreshed than the same amount of time scrolling through blog feeds.

Bit by bit, I’m gaining time lost, or at least not losing any more time, which is just as good. It’s not quite like being a Time Lord, but it’s close.

Next up: socks are on the needles right now and mittens will soon follow, as well as continuing to work on my Doctor Who scarf . If you’re on Ravelry, be sure to add me as a friend. I’m also back at the gym after a very long time away. It feels great, but I had to find a way to make the treadmill feel less like a hamster wheel. After reading this article  about a knitting marathoner I just had to try knitting and treadmill walking. Turns out I’m pretty good at it. Well, I haven’t tripped or dropped my knitting yet. I may graduate to running while knitting, but for now I’ll keep it to a walking pace. Expect more on this in the upcoming weeks.

What about you all? What are you making for yourself? How are you making more time for your own craft projects?