Do you have a project that you just can’t seem to finish?

Hi :)

Here’s my situation: About 1.5 years ago, I started crocheting a complicated amigurumi following a pattern... I’ve definitely put close to 40–50 hours into this project—I spent an entire weekend just sewing the tiny pieces together...
But before I was done, my motivation just kind of completely faded, and I haven’t continued with it since... Even though I’ve actually done most of the work... Somehow I keep starting something new and can’t bring myself to finish this one :D

Do you feel the same way? Do you also have a project like this that’s been waiting what feels like an eternity to be finished? I can’t be the only one :D

Best wishes
Tina

Oh, if only it were just one... lol

I’ve been working on a poncho pattern for weeks... and on slippers, amigurumis...
I always have 10 half-finished patterns, and while I’m working on them, I come up with something new... it’s enough to drive me crazy. Right now I’m on a hat kick... I’m already working on the second version. It’s Carnival season in my head... ideas are just bubbling up right now. I really need to slow myself down a bit...
Best regards, Chaosclaudi :-)

Oh well… it happens. Two years ago, I wanted to make a hat and wrist warmers to go with my Nenya shawl. I finished the hat and one of the wrist warmers—the second one sat on my set of double-pointed needles for over a year until I finally threw it away while cleaning up (the yarn couldn’t be unraveled) ;-).

Then I have another shawl on my needles that’s been waiting to be finished for a while now—which it will be soon, unless another flash of inspiration pops into my head that I absolutely have to work on first. :-D

I’m glad to hear others feel the same way :D

With my own patterns, I can still keep myself in check and stick to one for now, even though I already have 1,000 new ideas swirling around in my head... (Well, I’m just getting started, after all)
but with other projects, I often work on several at once... A row here, an ear there, a little hat here and there... It’s just that this one thing never gets finished ;) 

I think I have about 20 projects just lying around: single socks, gloves, angel wings, etc... Quite a mess, at least for everyone else... :-)

Right at the very beginning, I made a rule for myself not to start a new pattern until the last one was completely finished—written and uploaded.
That’s exactly my personal sticking point. If I were to start something new, I’d keep putting off writing it up and probably never publish it at all, because then the second one would be finished at some point and I’d have to write two patterns...

That’s why I only have UFOs lying around here that weren’t even meant to be patterns. But most of them end up being unraveled or thrown away, like Michaela’s wrist warmer.
At first, I thought it would get better, because theoretically you can keep working through more and more ideas. But now I feel like it’s getting worse and worse, and the ideas are coming faster and faster. 

Oh, that’s good to know—that you feel the same way and I’m not the only one with a different UFO lurking in every corner.

To bring a little order to the whole thing, I recently bought several small baskets—one for each UFO. That’s where I put all the small pieces, half-finished parts, and the yarn I’ve already picked out—that way, I have everything neatly together and things don’t get lost as easily.

What tricks do you use to organize your ideas and UFOs and keep track of everything?

So I’ve had a UFO sitting around for 3 years… all the individual pieces and the yarn neatly organized in a basket… but the basket’s tucked away in the cupboard and just won’t come out on its own :-( It’s supposed to be a granny square blanket, someday or something!

I also have a special basket: that’s where everything that hasn’t been unraveled goes, since I might need it someday… Little bits and pieces like a hand or a foot for amigurumi.

And it’s normal for me to leave everything that isn’t finished lying on the table, since I usually work on 2–3 projects at the same time… total chaos :-)

If anyone has a trick for organizing this… please share it. My gratitude will know no bounds…

@ Otterthaler_Häkelmaus,

a genius can handle chaos......lol
For me, everything ends up on my desk first; as soon as two more things are added, it all goes into a closet—that way, I can get the stuff out of sight for the time being. Otherwise, my guilty conscience completely derails me when I get the next idea—which, of course, I’ve already started working on long ago......
But when I’m out of ideas (which does happen from time to time), I just rummage around in that “UFO closet”... either I finish one of them, or I come up with something new... a vicious cycle..., but a very nice one^^

Best wishes, Claudia

I'm really enjoying your posts right now because I can totally relate to them :D
I was starting to think I was the only one ruled by creative chaos (that doesn't sound nearly as bad). I started a rainbow blanket over a year ago. Half of it is finished, but the repeating pattern bores me too much, and then so many other ideas come along that promise more variety, so of course I keep crocheting those instead, right? :D
By the way, I've also packed it away at the bottom of a box, together with the matching yarn and hook. After all, everything should stay together... That's also why I have so many crochet hooks and so much yarn by now (hehe, just an excuse).

Somehow, this all sounds sooooo familiar. :-)

I’m going through something similar right now—my head’s a mess, constantly coming up with new ideas, so I just leave what I’ve started on hold for now; otherwise, I might forget the idea again :-)

And there’s no one around to slow me down—I’ve got four patterns in progress and none of them really finished. I just have way too much yarn :-)

Best, Flima

Luckily, I don’t have any UFOs, but I definitely have way too many patterns and ideas that I think, “You could try that sometime.” And so my folders fill up with tempting patterns that I haven’t made yet. I really should sort through them..................in the fall, when the weather outside is... awful. But then I’m sure I’ll have something on my needles again and no time. It’s a disaster

I have two or three knitting projects in the big box with the yarn.
Then there are two more embroidery projects. On one of them, the symbols are split across two parts and so inconsistent—it’s no fun at all.
As for the knitting projects, I don’t like the pattern on one of the sweaters anymore, and the other is made with bouclé yarn—how could I ever have bought that??
I have plenty of patterns, neatly organized in a folder and on my computer, but unfortunately, there are always more.
I’m constantly tempted here—again today

I finally finished a little doll that my daughter ordered from me a year ago. In the meantime, though, I finished a few other things. Last year, I had trouble getting the hand to look just right. At some point, I already had another project on the go, which was of course much more important ;) whenever I thought about the doll. Her birthday was a good occasion to finally wrap up the project. So far, one UFO has ended up in the trash. Right now, I’m working on four projects. I store them in little pouches along with yarn and a crochet hook.
Ideas… yes, I have plenty of those. It can drive you crazy because you can’t keep up. 

This all sounds kind of familiar to me, too. It’s a good thing I’m not the only one who feels this way.
You start something, then your enthusiasm wanes because you’ve found another cute pattern, and then I get all fired up and want to try out the pattern right away. So the rest gets put on hold again.
Now there’s a 70th birthday coming up, so I have to finish that gift, and yet another UFO gets put aside. It all adds up over time.
Somewhere I still have an unfinished teddy bear lying around that just needs to be sewn together.
A half-finished amigurumi UFO is sitting in a bag because I didn’t write down where I need to continue crocheting, and I don’t want to unravel it yet. So one thing leads to another.
Once you’ve finished the UFOs, the joy is all the greater—and then the next pattern is already underway. :-)

Guys... I did it and finished 3 UFOs... I was so proud of myself that I started my daughter's wish list full of enthusiasm and ta-da .... I have a basket with three UFOs sitting there, because I crocheted everything and just don't feel like sewing yet

so the most important part got swallowed by my phone.

The moral of the story:
There’s no way around UFOs!

I discovered the perfect excuse for you on Facebook yesterday:

Common “jumping wool” is bred in balls all over the world and is then available in shops worldwide. Its most remarkable characteristic is surely that, at any time and without warning, it can jump into the shopping carts of crochet-addicted people, who are usually female, even from several meters away. There it remains in order to bond with the crochet addict and force her to take it home. It usually does this in such a charming way that the crochet-addicted woman (Lat.: Anima Cupida) simply cannot help but adopt the jumping wool. The jumping wool usually occupies the shopping cart in small to larger groups. Once home, it joins the groups that are usually already there, and together they form packs or even large herds. According to international reports, affected addicts even set up boxes, shelves, and entire rooms for the jumping wool and lovingly devote their free time to their packs. More recently, the jumping wool has even conquered the internet and, by post, slyly wins the affection of suitably conditioned people. Science is currently unaware of any effective antidote to the attacks of common jumping wool. Dr. Prof. Ernst Wollati from the Institute for State Research against Jumping Wool said the following in an exclusive interview:

“Although the phenomenon of common jumping wool has been a worldwide problem for decades, research into this topic is still in its infancy. We are working flat out on solving this problem!”

It is also said that the behavior of jumping wool is closely linked to the symptoms of Anima Cupida, since there is an emotional-energetic connection that has not yet been explained (Author’s note: This phenomenon and details on the topic of Cupidus Lana, wool addiction, are in preparation). Only if this were treated therapeutically might it eventually be possible to get the sudden attacks of jumping wool under control.

Oh yeah... We’re innocent

A very convincing post, scientifically sound and well thought out. Let’s go buy some yarn!!!!!!! It’s the yarn’s fault, not ours. I’ve been looking for that excuse for a long time.

Do you think the men will do that for us?

What are men? People who have no clue about the things that really matter (giggle)