It's the shizKNIT!!! discussion

Hi All,
I'll just jump in here with that dangerous question. I have more unfinished projects than I do fingers or maybe even teeth!!! My problem is I LOVE to start something. I also love finishing, but sometimes the thrill of starting overrules the plain old work in between. Anyone else out there have the same problem????

haha I'm in that boat too. I saw a post yesterday on Ravelry that referred to it as "startitis," which sounds just about right to me. It's like a disease! :)

Right now I have...argh 9 projects in various states of limbo, anywhere from "it's on waste yarn and hasn't been touched in over a year" to "it's on needles I haven't had to use for something else in awhile" to "I'll just come right back to this after I've got the first sock done!"

So true! I have projects so old that I've forgotten what size they're in, so now I'm going to have to do some MATH to get back on track. The good news is that the styles don't waffle that much--knitting is timeless!

I have a sweater that needs sewing up (the part I loathe the most) that's been sitting in my stash for three years now. That's just wrong.

Maybe its an age thing...you girls all sound about the same age as my daughter the above super knitter Christy! So I'm gonna plead the 5th and admit to way too many to say out loud in public - my problem is that with 4 grandboys under five I've started an awful lot of baby things in the last several years (and have even managed to finish quite a few), but alas, not all. We have a son still in college and I'm always seeing some socks or a perfect sweater for him that I can't wait to start, and I've just discovered after 35 years that my sweet hubby has decided that he enjoys wearing sweaters too. Then with 3 daughters, 2 son-in-laws and lil ol me, well - thats a lot of exciting ideas, lots finished, quite a few not!

I currently have about 6 UFOs (unfinished objects). But most of them are in states of limbo for a reason - I realized I needed to learn how to minimize the jag in the stripes of a pair of pants, I hate the way the sweater looks, I knit a knee pad on the back of one of the legs of a pair of pants, I loaned out the yarn for a pair of pants and now it's only got one leg, a pair of pants that are virtually complete, just need to figure out how long the legs really need to be, started a sweater for my niece and it is just a hateful pattern...

I'm just finishing a up a sweater that was supposed to be for my husband, but came out too small (last time I let him estimate what size he thinks I should make him). Then I'm on to finishing the final sleeve of my niece's sweater, starting a new sweater for my husband and starting a baby gift for my brother-in-law's expected boy (due July).

Always scheming to start something new though.

-Kerste

I learned a snazzy way to sew seams and it has inspired me to finish up some of those moldy projects. What do you loathe about sewing up?

darning in the ends!!!!! darn them!!!!

I know so many people who hate finishing! I don't mind it.

I have four works in progress (WIPs) right now -- Cigar gloves from knitty, Zombie Lace scarf, toilet paper scarf and a seed stitch scarf. I am burnt out on scarves which is why they are taking me so long.
The gloves I just cast on this weekend and they are scaring the carp out of me.

I just happened to go through all my bags and drawers...I have 8 UFO's - and I stupidly did a stash-reduction wherein I got rid of the yarn for one of the UFO's - d'oh!!!!

I have at least 5! I think I get to a point in a project where I get bored with it. Sometimes I quit because I get confused about the pattern, or there are just the last finishing details. And sometimes I quit because I just don't want a project to end. Ridiculous!

Yeehah! I just finished a sweater last night - black, lace-edged (it was pretty complicated) boat neck. It looks GREAT! I wore it today and was very excited.

So that takes my project count down to 4 active projects -

A cropped cardigan in a beautiful moss green silk-wool blend
Bright yellow socks
A felted handbag
A shawl knitted from my homespun

uh oh....
2 baby blankets
2 sweaters
2 tops
1 baby sweater
1 baby dress
baby booties
1 scarf
1 belt... and likely more that I can't think of off the top of my head...

Christy wrote: "darning in the ends!!!!! darn them!!!!"

I hate that too.

Marilyn wrote: "Hi All,
I'll just jump in here with that dangerous question. I have more unfinished projects than I do fingers or maybe even teeth!!! My problem is I LOVE to start something. I also love finish..."

I somehow hate finishing pieces, all that darning in, and often the end of playing with that particular nice yarn.

I have several pieces unfinished, but recently I spurred myself on and finished a few outstanding pieces, finding in the process that a few were closer to completion than I thought!

However there are a few languishing on the needles that may take a while to gird my loins for... I have a sneaking suspicion that I may have to start again with a jumper for my husband and instead of the patterning just knit it plain.

So currently:
Own design shawl/cardigan cross
Fake biker jacket
Jumper/sweater for my husband
Art of Knitting serial magazine throw
Yarn Forward throw (which is starting to look like it will be ripped out as it's just lost my interest)
Baby Jacket for the next baby that someone has which is half finished, I ran out of yarn and have to match it, or contrast with it
A Belt in hemp
and I'm sure other stuff that I'm forgetting

Three.
A top-down cabled sweater I'm designing as I go along.
A cabled jacket for my Sis. Made one of these already for my Mom. Right now I'm mad at one of the sleeves.
A garter stitch Schaefer Anne scarf on big needles. Really boring.
I like to think I'm a knitting project monogamist,but the truth is I'm more of a serial monogamist. I work on one project for a period of time,then shift to another.
At one point I had fifteen!

Debra wrote: "I like to think I'm a knitting project monogamist,but the truth is I'm more of a serial monogamist. I work on one project for a period of time,then shift to another."

I know that feeling, sometimes, though, when I drop a project to work on another it's very hard to go back to the original.

I have a sweater that is all but finished from seven years ago. Seven. All it requires is the sewing up and then finishing the neck. I LOATHE sewing up. Sigh.

So many! There's a baby sweater that just needs the collar sewed on, a sweater for myself that I don't like, but had spent a ton on yarn for so the neck and arms are still waiting to be knit, a variety of fingerless gloves, and a car coat for my mom. I need to stop looking at new projects!

Ohhhh -- I see that I commented earlier in this thread about a sweater that has been sitting in my stash for three years without sewing up. It appears that's a trend with me. (shakes head in chagrin).

2 sweaters
2 socks
2 mittens

I'm so glad to see I'm in good company! "Startitis" is a label I wear like a badge of honor :) Glad to see so many of you feel the same way. My unfinished work tally runs something like this:

3 sweaters
1 dress
1 sock (I haven't even started on its mate)
4 scarves
1 bag (to be felted.... if it ever gets knit)

Whew!

Lori wrote: "I have a sweater that is all but finished from seven years ago. Seven. All it requires is the sewing up and then finishing the neck. I LOATHE sewing up. Sigh."

Oh Lori! I am totally with you on this! I have a sweater from about 4 years ago. Literally collecting dust! *Tisk*Tisk* It's shameful. For a while I actually kept it on the needles, in the hopes that it would some how motivate me to finish the project. Not so. About a year ago I finally rescued the needles from their lonely state of un-use, but now I realize they are probably destined for another unfinished project... Oh dear.

The way I see it, at least I finish more projects than I unfinish, so that makes me a responsible knitter, right?

Lets see, I have:

8 socks (hence "Sock Month")
2 Sweaters
2 scarves

1 alpaca fleece being spun

It's the socks that feel overwhelming, so I deticated this entire month to gettng them all finished. So far I've completed 2 pairs...but there are still 8 more to go.

I used to keep track in my knitting journal, but since I took a year off, I can't even remember. But I am sure it was about 6 sweaters 3 cardigans and a shawl.

Right now only 6 UFOs.... a bit of an improvement over where I was 6 months ago! LOL!

Lost count, don't want to know and way too many! Should get off computer and start knitting!!!

Way too many to count in my opinion. At least five that I can think of off the top of my head.

NOpe I found the journal, and it is more like 30 items and the scary part is that most of them are 80-95 percent complete. Just seaming or buttons or such.

I'm trying to keep this number down. I just have started socks that I need to restart and my loom project that I just need to sit down an do. Some drop spindle wool spinning to be done. All others are actually semi active, just many of them.

My mother leaves projects unfinished for years. I have learned by example of what not to do.