No matter what project, no matter what craft . . I have a serious issue with starting projects before others are finished. Some days I tell myself that it just doesn’t matter .. do what makes YOU happy. Other days, I feel very inadequate that so many projects are started and so few are finished. A real problem is that all my knitting project bags are full. I could go make myself a few more bags but I think that’s enabling my bad habit of starting too many projects.
Today as I was sitting here knitting what seems like miles of stockinette with fingering weight yarn (boring!), and thinking of several projects that I really want to start, I put my needles down, went to the yarn stash and then I said NO! I’m going to finish this sweater!
I do believe, at least for me, it’s the excitement of shopping for yarn, waiting for the yarn to arrive, opening the package! Ohhh, ahhhh!
Then . . figuring out the pattern, getting started, watching it take shape . . and then . . the rest is kinda boring. That’s when self-discipline should kick in and erase the thoughts of new projects from my brain but . . where is that self-discipline? Maybe I don’t even have any! I haven’t felt it or seen any evidence of it in so long, maybe self-discipline doesn’t last our whole life . . maybe some of us never had it.
Am I making excuses or did I just make a real discovery?
It isn’t like I need any more sweaters or shawls or sock . . so why should I care if I finish projects? Surely it isn’t just because I’m running out of needles and project bags! Surely there’s something left in me that says “the right thing to do is finish what you start!”
I don’t know what to make of it all. It isn’t like I’m losing sleep over it but . . there are a lot of unfinished projects collecting dust around here! I still love every one of those lingering projects. They’re not things that I’m wondering why I started . . they’re not things I will dislike once they’re finished.
I’m kinda thinking that I might say I have to finish two things before I can start something new but I know I wouldn’t stick with it. I guess I’ll just keep doing whatever makes me happy and not worry about anything else.
There are many others in this same boat with me. We’ve talked about it before. Quilts started and not finished. Needlepoint projects started and not finished. Clothing projects started and not finished. At least I’m in good company . . I keep telling myself that.
Vivian Oaks says
Yes, you’re in good company. I tend to do the same thing with my quilting. I am currently working on an applique wall hanging that I bought in 1994!!! I think I’ve started that darn thing 3-4 times….rip some out, start over. I loved the pattern, but when I bought it I knew very little about applique, so it was never up to my standards. Finally, I decided I was going to finish it, so I just signed it up to be in our guild Quilt Show in 3 weeks!! Now I have no way out. It MUST be done by judging day!! If you really want to finish something, put a deadline on it with no way out!!! 🙂
Dottie says
You’re definitely in GOOD company….Recently, I’ve been finding projects started, but not finished and the good thing is I am starting to finish some of the ancient projects. Won’t tell you how old they are because that would be too embarrassing, LOL.
Ruth says
Hmmm, Judy, maybe you and Vince should plan a Fall/Winter party with a bunch of friends and plan to finish something to wear to the party. Or you could plan to finish some knitting projects for your Friends to receive at the party. Or you could finish some projects and send them to Hurricane Harvey Quilters and Knitters…some way you could work with your mind and manage to finish something. Perhaps it’s the “oooos and aaaahhs” you need to imagine when you show the finished project to someone that would take over from the private fun you derive from purchasing yarn.
(Notice: I did not say finish “all” the projects.)
Tina in NJ says
I’ve been thinking of designating one day a week as Orphan Day. The only requirement is to spend a set amount of time – 10 minutes, half an hour – on a neglected project. Sometimes the project will click and I’ll spend way more time on it, and sometimes that’ll be all the time it gets. This may help weed out projects that just aren’t going to get done no matter what. Otherwise, any progress is progress.
Wendy says
You are definitely in good company. Too many things started – I need to finish quite a few before I start anything else.
shirley swift-bruner says
we could be sisters….haha. i have UFOs upon UFOs. things lay all over the flat surfaces in the studio…..until there are no flat surfaces left. then things get put into boxes and stacked against the wall. there are many boxes right now. i have about 7 projects going right now. they all get finished……eventually. some in a few months……some languish for years. occasionally, they just get thrown out.
but….it sure is fun, isn’t it?
maggie says
I am having better luck recently by breaking it up with something I want to do. If I am working on something I like, I can say 30 minutes and then 10 or 15 minutes of the boring part. Knowing I am going back to something I like makes the time go faster, and before I know it, the boring project is done.
Karen Sutton says
I feel your pain – I’m exactly the same way. Last night I was working on a sweater and at the same time trying to decide what to start next. I ended up ordering yarn for another sweater – that will go with the yarn I ordered for two other sweaters the day before. It’s an addiction – I wonder if there’s a twelve step program for yarn addicts? Several years ago when I was still working and complaining that I didn’t have time to sew/quilt a good friend suggested I set aside 30 minutes a day to sew. She said I’d be amazed at how much I got done just sewing 30 minutes/day. I think I’m going to start doing that with stagnant knit projects – 30 minutes for a project that’s been languishing in a bag.
Dorothy Matheson says
I have a lot of projects that I want to work on and a lot in partly done stage. I find that what stopped me for many of them is not enough time. I also found that many many times I have to stop a project and make one that has a deadline. Great Grand Babies on the way or high school graduation for the last Granddaughter in school. I am sure that in a few years there will be College graduation too.. Most of the Grandchildren have had the babies they are going to have. Two or three per family. So I may get the chance to make up some of the quilts I want to make for myself.
I also make donation quilts and have just finished one of those. Have three more mostly done.
No surgeries and less Doctor visits this year have helped a lot. Medical care is so time consuming. Both for me and my husband and my Mother.
I find the suggestion of 20 to 30 minutes on the boring project does help a lot. I also work on those at a bee where I am talking and paying attention is not quite so important.
I also find that DVD of old TV shows is a nice thing. Can listen and not watch nearly so much. I like the commentaries because I just listen. Right now I am watching Stargate Atlantis.
Sue says
Startitis I have it bad. I counted my project bags today and I have 16 bags of projects going..3 sweaters, 3 blankets, 4 pair of socks, a cowl, 2 hats, and 4 shawls. I rotate through them but I knit my socks to the heel then do all the heels at once and then take them on the go finishing the foots. I have more things I’m itching to do so I’m knitting constantly to finish some of these. 2 are memory blankets so they sit a bit then I do a lot of squares and put them aside again. I feel Guilty I have so many things going but I brush it off…:) Good to know I’m also in good company. Take care my friend.
justquiltin says
I’ve decided Startitis is a chronic condition – likely incurable – but I can live with that. 🙂
Sally says
I have the same disease as the rest of you. I’ve decided that the most fun I have is shopping with my friends, buying yarn or fabric, planning what I will do with it, starting it and then doing it all over again. I have so many UFO’s there is no hope of ever getting caught up. I can’t even imagine what my kids will be saying after I’m gone and they see this mess. My name will be mud. Lol
dezertsuz says
I’m speaking out for doing what you want or feel like in the moment. Life is too short to worry about those things. I know there was a time when I would have loved getting a box that held my mother’s unfinished things – or grandmother’s or aunt’s, or just anyone’s! I’m going to believe someone else will feel that way about what I die and leave undone.