Everyone makes mistakes. To err is human, right? Well, when you're a crafter, a mistake can make you start pulling your hair out. Yet making a mistake might not mean scrapping the project and starting over. Sometimes it can be incorporated into your project to make it totally unique.

I'll give you a personal "for instance". My first project in crochet was a scarf. Being new, I hadn't quite figured out that you were supposed to stick your hook under the entire stitch, not just the back loop. I realized this about halfway through the project, and was tempted to start over. Yet after having sunk a good four or five hours into the scarf, I sought the advice of a friend (fellow crafter and fabulous jeweler ~starglo21 ) who suggested I take a closer look. Were the stitches straight? Yes. Was the over-all construction wobbly or the tension too tight in areas? No. Did crocheting in the back loops produce a cool effect? Absolutely. What came out of crocheting only in the back looks was a neat ridged effect. Thus, I continued and when I was finished, no one, other than those that I had already told, knew it was my first project!

So what happens when you make a mistake? For starters, ask yourself these two questions:

1)Does the mistake threaten the overall strength/integrity of the project? For instance, if you slip a stitch in a project like a sweater or purse, sometimes that can alter the over-all shape of the garment. Or it can cause the garment to weaken, thus making it less likely to last a long time.

2)Can I incorporate the mistake, or use it to my advantage later? Take that extra glob of silver in the summary. In something like a scarf, if you slip/skip a stitch, you can take note of the placement of the stitch. Is it in the middle? Then try slipping/skipping a stitch in the middle again, only this time a few rows up. If it's not in the middle, count how far it is from the edge, then on the next row, space it x spaces from the opposite edge. Or perhaps you made one end of the scarf too big? That actually does work out to an advantage. As long as the difference between the looser and the tighter stitches is not definitely noticeable, having one end slightly larger than the other can make the scarf stay in place better once you tie it around your neck.

If the answer to question one is no, and the answer to question 2 is yes, then proceed to:

3) Now, picture the completed project in your head. How does it look? If you think it looks alright, keep working for a bit, then look at what you've got. If you like it, finish it!

The best part of this is: You don't have to crochet or knit to utilize this. ANY crafter can use these questions to assess the "finishability" of a project.

Now, get craftin' and be creative!