Finishing Month: Should You Finish or Frog that Project?

Hello, and welcome to Finishing Month! Another popular New Year’s resolution (after stash busting) was the desire to finish more projects and/or to know how to finish those projects well. This may be a slightly shorter series than the last, but as always if you have a specific question or a topic you’d like to see covered, let me know and I’ll try to work it in.

The first step when it comes to finishing projects is finding and evaluating all the projects you already have on the needles. There may be more of these than you expect. And of course, “unfinished” projects can also include the single sock or mitt you never knit the mate to (I have one each of those!) or the project that’s done in terms of the knitting but just needs the ends woven in or seams sewn or a button sewn on (I may have all of those, too).

So if you’re following along at home, the first thing you need to do is get all these unfinished projects together. Set aside those that just need finishing beyond the knitting, because we’ll get to those skills later in the month.

Now take a look at what’s still on the needles. Ask yourself some questions:

How long has that project been languishing?
Do you still like it?
Is it the right size for you or its intended recipient? (Babies grow fast, you know.)
If not, do you have someone else in mind you could give it to?
Would you wear/use it if you did finish it?
Would you rather use the yarn for something else?

All these questions should help you evaluate each project and determine whether you want to finish it or frog it (rip it!). There will be some of both in your basket.

But the point of looking at each case is that you need to be honest about the projects you aren’t going to finish. Don’t let them linger any longer. Rip them out now. It’s actually kind of liberating to say goodbye to projects you know you don’t want to see through, and if nothing else you’ll replenish your stash of knitting needles.

If you decide to rip out some projects instead of letting them linger longer unfinished, I’d love to hear about it. I know I have at least one (that blue cabled scarf) that I’m going to get off the needles really soon.

Next Pattern:

Using your yarn stash is important to me throughout the year, but as I start to feel the end of the year coming on I get more excited about using things I already have in the house. Maybe that’s because I don’t want to go to a store in the thick of holiday shopping times, or I like the idea of having a little space in my stash when the new year rolls around.

It’s super satisfying to use up all the little odd balls you’ve made over the year (or years), and I have several stash busting blankets I work on when it’s cold and will maybe finish someday.

If you’d like to start a stash busting project that’s perfect for using up odd balls, check out the Soukish pattern from Neisha Abdulla. This pattern is made for fingering weight/sock yarn, and it’s worked in a tube with allover color work.

This is great for a couple of reasons. You don’t really have to weave in your ends when you can hide them in a tube (this is one time you might even get by just tying a knot when you change colors!) and you can change colors whenever you run out of yarn and it will look good.

Of course the pattern is made with blocks where the designer changed colors, but you can change yours more or less often as you need to make it work for your stash. You can use blank charts to design your own color combinations, or even your own stitch patterns if you like. You can also adjust the length of the scarf as needed or turn it into a cowl based on the amount of yarn you have.

This project looks like a lot of fun and would be a great thing to have on hand to stitch up and then to wear during the cold, gloomy months.

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Neisha Abdulla]

Another Way to Use Up All Your Sock Yarn Scraps

Gather Your Scraps for a Fun Wrap

A Scrappy Shawl Knitting Pattern to Use All Your Odd Balls

Use All Your Yarn Scraps on This Great Cardigan Knitting Pattern

Next Pattern:

Have you read?

Leave a Reply