Interesting post over at Naive Knitting on what motivates us to choose the projects we do.

I'm going to have to contemplate this a bit as I copy down county-by-county temperature and rainfall data for my Illinois project, and come back to it. I think her ideas are good; there may also be other things that motivate me to make projects.

I guess I have somewhat similar categories to hers. My "meet cool people" would probably rather be rendered as "attract the attention of those with similar interests" - as in, the DNA scarf, for example. Or my fondness for literary-themed shawls (Song of Hiawatha and the as-yet-unstarted Rosy Fingered Dawn, Eliza Bennett's shawl, Pemberley shawl, and Charlotte Bronte shawl). Or the Fibonacci sweater. Or contemplating projects based on fractals or probability. Or making a shark toy and naming him Kenny. (I admit I am somewhat of an intellecutal snob/dilettante - I like people who are interested in abstruse things and I like doing things that make me look smart). A lot of the projects that draw my attention I would describe as having "geek cachet" or "geek cred" - that is, they would appeal to the small subset of the population who is deeply interested in that particular subject.

I also would have to have a category of "I want to shake hands with people all over the world." This is why I adore the "Folk [insert project here]" books (I have all of them but Folk Mittens and I suppose I should rectify that oversight sometime soon; also I'm eagerly awaiting "Folk Hats"). I also love Shetland stitches and Scandinavian patterning. This probably also is a sort of "geek cachet" - I like that I know what the Crest O The Wave is or that I could recognize a sun circle if I saw one. I also regard this in the vein of Honoring Ones Ancestors (even though many of the "ancestors" I honor I carry none of the blood of).

A third category would be "It works." A lot of the simpler sweaters (see: SitCom Chic) are here. I see a gap in my wardrobe, I see yarn I want to try out, and I'm off. These are the things I love and wear all the time - cardigans are typical of this sort of thing.

A fourth category would be "I must have something that is that cute." I guess for me the immediate thing that springs to mind is the Bookworm Vest. It's a cute design. And, okay, I can kind of do the mental gymnastics necessary to convince myself that I might look *just a little* like Audrey Hepburn when I wear it...this one also might go in the first category as well - I tend to like projects that allude to other things, that have some kind of a "lifestyle hook" related to a lifestyle I want.

Fifth, would have to be the "it's so cozy" projects. The Sideshow Bob sweater (Artful Yarns "Circus" hoodie) would fall into this category. So would the knitted bathrobe in the Erika Knight book - which I want to make someday, even if I could never see myself paying for the Rowan yarn recommended. I tend to fall in love with some of the sweaters in the Fall issues of the knitting magazines - I love fall, I love the way the light changes from the hard bright white light of summer into a mellower tone, I love the coolness in the air, I love harvest, I love waking up early on a Saturday morning on a cold November day, hearing the furnace kick on, and knowing I don't need to get up at any particular time...all of the "cozy" patterns make me think of this - and they remind me that the days of 100*+ weather cannot last forever.

Sixth, there is a small category of "I want to learn that technique" projects. Although, more often, I will only learn a new technique if there is a project that grabs me for one of the other reasons.

Finally, there are the patterns whose names grab me. "A World Lit Only By Fire" - I might not have looked twice at that if it had been called "Variegated Diamond Lace" - but the name got my imagination going, and before I knew it, I had to have the scarf. I'm also looking again and again at "A Season of Mists and Mellow Fruitfulness" because I love that name too. (A lot of the Classic Elite patterns have these kind of funky names, but until now, I've been able to resist them).

I'm not even going to talk about the patterns I decide I want to make because I'm drawn to the yarn used in them, or the yarns I buy because I love the color, or the name of the yarn (Artful Yarns has my number on this one). I talked a long time ago about the scarf knit of "George Bailey" colored Cinema, and how I imagined it as having a sort of protective or sympathetic magic for me, to wear a scarf named after such a good character.