Thursday, December 14, 2006

It's the Process, Stupid!*

I am a list-maker. I have a to-do list at work, a to-pack list when I'm getting ready for vacation, and a running shopping list on my fridge. And, often, a to-craft list.

Not a good idea.

A couple of years ago, I got fed up with how many WIPs I have. (To me a WIP is a project I have started and not finished, but also not given up on. I hop from project to project much too frequently to say it's a UFO if I haven't worked on it in a month--I might pick it up again tomorrow.) So, I crawled through my closet, pulling out project after project, any craft. And came up with a staggering total:

65.

Ouch.

So, I decided I had to do something about that. I only removed things off the list after I actually got it out of the closet, one way or another. I pulled out a couple of things. I "finished" a few things, even if they weren't exactly according to original plan. And, I gave a couple of things away.

I also ... ahem ... started a few new things. Because I was finishing things, right?

So, at the end of this year-long process I had:

61.

Because this was soo successful (not!), tried it again for a couple more years. What did I get?

63.

I don't think this is working...

So, at the beginning of this year, I tried a different approach. I listed a few things I wanted to finish by the end of the year. With, er, less than stellar results. Rehash, with pictures to come.

So, no more lists. Now I just need to figure out what to do with numbered notepads...

*Apologies to Margene for abusing her motto!

1 comment:

  1. (You updated! YAY!)

    So is that ALL craft projects and not just knitting? If so, kudos to you for tackling this endeavor even if you feel you weren't successful -- it was a start.

    There's got to be a way to unburden yourself further. If it's knitting, you can frog and then wind the yarn and then it's no longer in a WIP. (Okay, so that's what *I* did yesterday and it worked like a charm and I now have fewer WIPs!)

    I think our psyche has some sort of "equilibrium" it works toward and that any given amount of comfortable WIPs varies from person to person. For me, I don't even attempt to get down to "one" project, but more than "x" ("x" being the number of WIPs where I start acting crazy) would start to affect my mental health.

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