How to Become More Creative - Go Fast!

"In art, truth and reality begin when one no longer understands what one is doing or what one knows, and when there remains an energy that is all the stronger for being constrained, controlled and compressed."— Henri Matisse

Or in other words go fast! Get out a sketch pad and start drawing sweaters. Do as may as you can as fast as you can. Don't allow your logical mind to stop and say things like that won't work because..... Just generate as many ideas as you can with out stopping. The theory behind this is that from the brain's perspective extreme speed can unlock creativity. When you force yourself to come up with ideas under time constraints, you're forced to rely on the more intuitive, subconscious parts of your brain. The time pressure can help suppress the logical, rational and critical parts of your brain. It helps you access your subconscious creativity in your right brain and limits your ability for the conscious thought of left brain.

If you get stuck trying this try limiting yourself even more. Try focusing on one technique only and generating ideas around that technique. If you still need prompting try it this way. Set your kitchen timer for ten minutes and sketch fifteen ideas for Fair Isle projects.

Get ready! Get set! Go!

How to Become More Creative

Photo from Jackie Egginton Dreamstime.com



Designers are often asked where they get their ideas from. Most often they quote their sources as fashion, vintage knitting, art, landscape and a variety of other visual inspirations. I often work from the yarn and my sewing background has been a big influence as well. I love stitch dictionaries and I spend a lot of time swatching using traditional stitch patterns as well as playing with them and making changes. I think people are really asking how do we get from the idea to a real knitted item because they are overwhelmed by the possibilities when they review the suggested sources. The sheer vastness of the available options limit their ability to make a single choice.

One of the other ways I develop an idea is to pick a technique (just one!) and read all of my technique books on that topic. Next I start swatching in an appropriate yarn and I play with what ever ideas pop up. If I wander too far from the targeted technique and have a great idea I note that one down for future experimentation and then I go back to my chosen technique. Essentially I force my brain to go down one path and generate idea's. It keeps me focused and gives me specific problems that I have to develop solutions for.

Krugle co-founder and CEO Steve Larsen says there's a reason that early-stage companies produce innovation: the financial and time constraints they operate under force people to come up with new solutions."These constraints breed creativity," says Larsen.

So give it a try and let me know how the constraint technique works for you.

Creativity - Twyla Tharp

I'm a ballet fan and have been for years. Twyla Tharp is possibly the leading choreographer of her generation. So when she put out her book The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life. I looked forward to reading it. Her basic premise is that there is nothing magical about creativity, it is the product of preparation and effort, and it's within reach of everyone who wants to achieve it.

Her focus is often on process not product which is a common topic for Knitters. Much of the book does refer to dance as she inhabits that world, however she uses exercises for creativity that would apply to anyone in any creative endeavour.

She uses many other artists as examples and speaks of the power of practice. I especially liked a section where she tells us to accept that there aren't totally new ideas and to stop worrying that we won't be seen as breaking new ground. Instead that we are rearranging things in a new way. This comes up a lot among Knitting Designers as we all use the same stitch dictionaries and work with similar silhouettes while being influenced by main stream fashion. This is a book that I will reread again in the future as I pursue my own creative career.