Finishing Workshop: Getting Motivated

I think the hardest thing about tackling your unfinished projects is just getting motivated to do them. There’s a reason you didn’t finish them in the first place, and it can be hard to get excited about them again when you’ve spent a lot of time away from them.

That’s why I like to start with the easy projects that aren’t going to take a lot of time, because then you can build a little momentum for finishing and have a nice new stack of things to wear, use and gift, which should help motivate you to work on other projects as well.

Some simple deal-making with yourself can help, too. Tell yourself you’re not going to start a new project until you’ve finished x number of projects from your pile. The x will depend on how many unfinished things you have and how much work they need, but I’d say at least two or three. This is a way of bribing yourself, particularly if there’s a project you’re itching to start. Making yourself wait until you get those other projects finished likely will help you to get them done that much faster.

If you need to make a public commitment to finishing, please do so here. I’d love to hear how many projects you’re committing to finishing and any status updates you have.

As for me, I’ve ripped out one project I knew I was never going to finish, and that dress I was talking about yesterday is drying out after blocking on my dining room table. Day six and this month has already been a success!

If you have any tips for getting motivated to finish projects, I’d love to hear them. Goodness knows we all need help from time to time!

Next Pattern:

Many times when I write these posts I will say something like “you can use any yarn you want” or “this would be a great stash-busting project.” That’s just how my mind works. And my stash, too, since I probably have sweater quantity of two or three yarns at most, but tons of singles and odd balls and leftovers.

Blankets are generally a really good way to use up those bits, but in this case, I think you’re going to want to plan it out a bit better.

Looking at photos of the Color Study Blanket from Purl Soho, it looks like it’s made with two yarns held together, and that block in the center is worked with one of each color from the adjoining sides to make a mixed up color.

But that’s not actually how it’s done. This is three separate colors (four, really, with the neutrals in the corners) chosen form a yarn with an expansive palette so they play off each other. The project calls for a worsted weight superwash wool, which is a great choice for a blanket that’s both warm and washable.

This pattern was originally designed by Laura Ferguson and was updated by Hiromi Glover. It is worked in one piece in garter stitch intarsia, which is a great way to learn the intarsia technique if you don’t already know it. It comes in crib or throw sizes.

Despite the introduction to this post, I am going to go ahead and say that, yes, of course you could do this blanket with scraps or odd balls or even just choose five colors that don’t blend together so easily. But I really do love the look of the color play, and I think it would be worth your time to find colors that play well together to get a similar effect.

This pattern is available for free from Purl Soho.

[Photo: Purl Soho]

Next Pattern:

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