Final Capstone Project Reflection Questions
(Please give specific detailed answers.)
1. In the process of completing your Capstone Project, what did you learn about your subject? What did
you learn about your skill set? What did you learn about yourself?
I learned how long and hard it is to make clothes. The process needs lots of thinking such as the measurement,
and the emplacement of textile, for instance the sleeves. Through my capstone project, I learned that I am a
faster learner and does not seek help from others. As I remain new to crochet, it should be hard to get used to
it, somehow it was quite easy for me to get used to crocheting. From my peers' review, it is also quite
impressive how far I have come with my project as it is very unlikely for beginners to start a big project and
succeed. Although I have not finished my final product yet at this moment, I am on the right track. When I
faced challenges, I kept it to myself and found ways to solve them. I did not reach out to anyone when I
needed help as I do not like asking for help and I felt that I would bother them.
2. How is your project relevant to you? How is it relevant to the school? How is it relevant to the
community?
This project isn’t relevant to school or future career at all. I wanted to use capstone as an opportunity to learn
a new skill. Although, my goal from the beginning was to make a sustainable project, it is somehow relevant to
my values.
3. What impact did your Capstone have on you?
It made me realize more about the clothing industry, it is truly unethical and there isn’t much we can do about
it. Crochet is a technique that can simply be made by hand, therefore if a clothing company were to sell
clothes that were made based on crochet, it would mean that the worker was overworked for a piece of cloth
that needs more than 40 hours of work. Capstone has made me become more cautious about the clothing
industry when I'm in a store selling clothes. Although I do not often buy new clothes, my capstone project has
made me feel less likely to buy new clothes. My capstone project has also impacted my mindset. When I first
started, I had very high expectations of myself and my final product. Now that I have arrived at the final part
of my project, my capstone is very different from my sketch and my expectation. It had made me realize that I
shouldn’t always have high expectations of myself, or things in general in life.
4. What aspects of your project are you most proud of?
I am not particularly proud of my project, but I am happy to have learned how to crochet. My overall project
did not look like what I had in mind, I am quite a perfectionist and would like to restart it again. Unfortunately,
I am running out of time and will go on with a project that I am not quite happy with. Everything looked good
until I had to assemble all my pieces together by sewing. I have stumbled across many unexpected situations
where I was not able to fix and was not able to reach out for help and I was in a rush. I am somehow happy
that I managed well my time. I was already aware that time management is very important when it comes to
capstones. I was quite motivated and have gotten more work done on my capstone project than I had
expected. I had two academic classes and one morning class and I was still able to get lots of work done for my
project. From the beginning of the semester, I always thought I wouldn’t be able to finish my capstone project
but overall, my time management was quite decent.
5. What was a difficulty you encountered while researching your Capstone project? How were you able to
overcome those obstacles?
Many difficulties have come along the way as I worked on my capstone. The first one was when I first made
my squares. Most things in crochet begin with making chains. It was hard for me at first, as my chains were
always too tight, and I could not continue working on my rows. I had encountered this difficulty because of the
tension I had put on my yarn which was another difficulty. To overcome these challenges, I learned how to
correctly place the string of yarn between my finger using the right position and movement. After many
practices, I was able to keep my tension the same through my work time. Another challenge was to find time
to work on my capstone, I was doing pre-calculus 12 and calculus 12 at the same time this semester and these
courses required lots of time to practice to understand the material. I had to dedicate most of my time to
these courses rather than my capstone project. To overcome that, I stayed late at night to work on my
capstone project and brought my materials to school to work on my project during lunch and class. Another
difficulty was when I was sewing my squares together. As I sewed and tried the cardigan on myself, it was too
big. I tried to remove some squares but some of them are in the middle which would take even more time to
finish my project. I had to decide and am still thinking about what I should do.
6. What is the one thing you would have changed about your project if you could?
I would make smaller products such as hats or scarves instead of a cardigan. Starting a first crochet product
with a big crochet project is unlikely and not recommended. I often felt stress about not being able to make an
actual cardigan and afraid I would use the wrong technique thinking it was right and messed up my work.
Another thing I would change about my capstone is to make it smaller rather than a baggy cardigan. What I
have made is too baggy and not as comfortable as I thought and wanted. It also doesn’t look aesthetically
pleasing because of its size and color combinations.
7. What advice would you offer to future Capstone students to help them with their Capstone journey?
If your capstone project consists of learning a new skill, try to start a few months before getting the capstone
assignment as you will have some time to learn and practice without wasting time during the semester where
you will have career 12.
Use winter break or spring break to get as much work done as possible for capstone. Exams from other classes
might come in the way if you wait last minute to work on it.
