On being multicraftual

People who like crafts often like many different crafts. In the knitting and crocheting community, people who both knit and crochet are sometimes referred to as "bicraftual." Since I engage in other forms of crafting in addition to knit and crochet, I think of myself as "multicraftual."

There are many advantages to being multicraftual. You can use supplies and techniques from one craft to augment another. You can use a craft to make supplies for another craft. You can combine crafts in one finished work of art.

As far as I can tell, there is only one disadvantage to multicraftual status. I call it "I can make that" syndrome. I see something in a store or on a website, and it is lovely and I covet it, and it may be reasonably priced or it may be way out of my budget. But I think to myself, "I could make that," and I immediately start to think of ways I could improve upon it. Then, I will not buy the one I saw, even if it is reasonably priced and would take me hours of work to reproduce. If I think I can improve upon it, I will try to do so. Sometimes I succeed. More often, I spend a large amount of time and effort (and occasionally even money) thinking about the project, planning it, shopping for supplies for it, and then never get around to finishing it.

Lately, I have taken to asking myself whether I can truly do it better than the original and how long it would take me to do so. If I don't like the answers, then I am better off just buying it or forgetting about it entirely.