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:

I’ve shared a lot of Christmas stocking knitting patterns over the years (see posts 1, 2, 3 for example) but what if you want to knit a stocking for a non-human member of your family. If you’re looking for Christmas stocking knitting patterns for your cats or dogs, this is the post for you.

These large paw print stockings are perfect for either dogs or cats, so they’re great to knit if you have both. They are worked in the round using DK weight yarn, and the stocking measures about 17 inches/43 cm from the top to the heel. You can get the pattern from nicolaluke.

The K4 Project has a super cute Kitty Christmas stocking pattern, which is worked in worsted weight yarn. They also have a dog version, or you can buy both and get a discount if you have both dogs and cats to knit for. Both projects have two patterns, showing how to work the stockings flat or in the round.

Put your dog into a Christmas scene with this stocking pattern from ifanhourChild. It shows a dog in a dog house in the snow, and has room for the dog’s name at the top. It’s worked flat using worsted weight yarn and the pattern includes charts for many small and medium dog breeds (there’s a separate listing for bigger dogs) so you can stitch a dog that looks like yours.

Annie’s Woolens has both dog and cat stocking knitting patterns that are worked in worsted weight yarn in the round. You can change up the colors to suit your pet if you want, and they come with an alphabet chart for personalization. Or you can stick with holiday colors and buy a kit to make the dog or cat stocking.

Waiting for Santa Paws is a pattern from Kate Agner on Ravelry that would be cute for a dog or a cat. It looks like a leg with a paw print on the bottom part of the foot and more paw prints running around the top of the leg. This is a great option if you don’t want to mess with a heel turn because it doesn’t have a heel, because dogs and cats don’t have heels so why would their stockings?

Book Review – 20 to Knit: Tiny Christmas Toys to Knit

Book Review – Knit Christmas Stockings

Next Pattern:

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