The Trouble With WIPs

 I love getting new yarn, tools and kits.  It’s like a new toy I want to start playing with it immediately.  And that’s how my WIPs are born.  

Why are WIPs a problem?  For me, one of several things happens.  The most common is I lose the pattern that goes with the WIP so I can’t finish it.  Once, I lost the rest of yarn needed to finish and I have no idea how I managed that one.  A few times, a WIP has become a “what was I thinking?” project.  Lots of WIPs take up a surprising amount of room.  And, I always feel a pang of guilt when I start a new project knowing I have so may WIPs lurking around the house.  I also feel guilty when I buy more yarn or kits for my stash but I manage to squash it down. 

 

Almost 7 years ago, I had to have major surgery with a 6-week recovery time.  To avoid boredom, I decided to gather all my WIPs and complete them while I was recovering.  I found 7 projects in total, with most about 50% done.  I tackled them in the order of difficulty, starting with the easiest first since I was going to be on medication.  At first it was very slow going and I started to get discouraged.  I was in the hospital for 5 days after the surgery and very weak for a couple days after I got home so I lost one week there.  The second week, I would get tired easily, so I got very little done.  By week 3, I was able to start making good progress.  I was extremely limited on what I was able to do around the house so seeing projects completed made me feel like I was doing something worthwhile.  It also made me enthusiastic to get the next project done.  As the weeks passed, I was able to spend more and more time stitching.  I tied off my last project the night before I had to return to work.  It felt so nice to be completely caught up.  I had finished a shopping bag, an afghan, fingerless mittens, three scarves (not all of them were for me) and a stole.  At that moment, I made a promise to myself to have no more than two WIPs in progress at any one time – one for home and one for travel.

 

For the most part, I have done a good job sticking to my rule.  I did break it last year during lock-down and I got up to 5 WIP projects.  They were smaller projects, scarves and shawls, so I was not too worried about it.  I found knitting and crocheting very comforting during the pandemic.  Because 2020 already had enough anxiety, I did not want to add to my stress level by forcing myself to work on a project to completion.  If I wanted to start a project with my new yarn, I did so.  My attention span was not at the normal levels last year it was helpful to be able to skip around.  When the vaccines started rolling out and I knew better days were coming, I went back to my 2 WIP rule again.

 

Fox Paws from Jimmy Beans Wool Kit

My Noro Yarn - From WEBS Site

The result?  My toy box has 5 skeins of Noro Kureopatora, one Fox Paws scarf kit and the Pine Hill scarf kit, all calling my name.  Plus, there my stash also calling, saying it wants more new friends.......