Knitting Monogamously

· by · in talking about knitting. ·

Earlier this year, I said “Enough!” to the unfinished projects in my craft space.  A finished sock and its unfinished mate, a half-completed hat, and other random swatches went into the trash.  It was liberating!

I vowed to devote myself to a single project at a time, and the results have been pretty amazing.  However, working on a single project at a time has also become pretty monotonous.

Hmm, mono-gamous mono-tonous.

While at times I can get so bored with a project, I am so proud that I can perservere through it and have a finished project to show for it.  Had I allowed myself to become distracted with the next newest pattern, I would have another basket of unfinished and unloved projects that would likely get tossed aside and thrown away.

I admit on my last project I wanted a break from the never-ending stockinette stitch, but I stuck to my rule of knitting “at least two rows a day.” Less than one week later, it was done.  I was able to move on to the next project guilt-free.

I don’t see myself straying from any of the knitting projects on my current to-do list.  Especially this next one.  Never mind the curious little hands in the photograph, this one’s for me.

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Are you a monogamous knitter like me? Of If you knit more than one project at a time, how do you stay focused – and – how do you justify it?

9 responses to “Knitting Monogamously”

  1. I wish I were a monogamous knitter 🙂 I might get more done that way. However, I vow to have no more than 3 projects going on at one time. I always have one that is easy to take along and is mindless knitting (i.e. my Sockhead Hat currently) that might take me a long time to do. Then I have the other two, that require concentration, and I do a little work on each day; sometimes one more than the other.

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  2. Usually monogamous, I recently have had 2 projects going. One for times when I feel detail oriented. The other for times when I can’t focus too much–watching the kids at the park, watching TV, having a conversation. I have decided it’s a good system.

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    • I think that’s how I got suckered into polygamous knitting. One project for serious and another for distraction. Before I knew it, they were all distractions. And I was running out of too many needles! Even if my one project is serious, I can almost always find time in the day to knit two rows.

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  3. I have…um… 8 projects going, I think? yeah. not so monogamous! it does take me forever to finish anything, but it’s still fun – I never get bored!

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  4. I’m definitely a monogamous knitter. I usually have 1-3 ongoing projects. One a bit complicated or big, and one smaller that’s easier to carry around. If I get *really* excited about something, I allow myself to cast it on though. But I’m borderline obsessive when it comes to finishing projects, and I never have stuff just lying around (which is why I never complete stashdash or anything like that). I think I’ve had like one project ever, that I never finished. And maybe another one, that lived around for a few months before I pulled myself together and finished it. I don’t mind boring stockinette. That’s usually my TV knitting, that allows me to watch exciting shows while knitting. I can highly recommend knittng and watching TV for those slightly boring projects.

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