I need your help

[karin4christ]

Last week I reached my breaking point. I have too many UFOs and I can't take it anymore. I've managed to finish three small projects (one crochet and two cross stitch). But I can feel my resolve weakening. I just feel the need to start another afghan. I keep telling myself "No more!" but I can't help myself. Help me stay strong!!

[sparkles]

Last week I reached my breaking point. I have too many UFOs and I can't take it anymore. I've managed to finish three small projects (one crochet and two cross stitch). But I can feel my resolve weakening. I just feel the need to start another afghan. I keep telling myself "No more!" but I can't help myself. Help me stay strong!!

How do I help you stay strong when I think I'm becoming the UFO QUEEN:eek ? Have to admit, since coming here to C'ville I just keep starting new things. I see something, wanna try it, and then before I've finished I see something else I wanna try. SO MANY PIMs!! SO LITTLE TIME!!! Love you anyway!:hugIt must be the fault of...not lack of willpower... it must be the fault of THIS FORUM!!!!

[FelixLake]

I made a new years resolution one year to finish 2 projects for every new one I started. I didn't live up to it completely, but I did manage to finish quite a few. I keep my crochet projects in tote bags, so when I run out of empty totes, I know it's time to finish some projects.

Good luck with finishing your UFO's.

[crochetmama]

Come on, Karin! You can do it! Get those hooks a-flyin' before you even LOOK at another potential project.

[Sylviaf]

Wish I knew the answer. I have about an hour of work to do on a shawl for my mother but it is an exact duplicate of one I made for myself and I am so bored that instead of just finishing it, I made a bookmark this afternoon. At least I have until next Sunday night...

[nightowl]

I am just the same. . . I read something here and either get an idea for a new project or it sends me off at a tangent to read something else and that gives me an idea for another new project. . .

 

I used to regularly read a Usenet needlework group and many members there (mainly cross-stitchers) used a "rotation" method to get their UFOs finished and avoid getting bored with a pattern. They might have perhaps 4-6 projects on the go at once, and would work a certain agreed-with-themselves number of hours on one before picking up the next. They would keep working a few hours like this on each project in turn until a UFO was finished, when, as a reward. . . they could start another new project

 

Another idea I've seen people use is to have a "UFO day" every week rather like the Snowflake Mondays some here at the 'Ville practise. That way a UFO is getting worked on one day a week at least.

 

I'm not that organised; I just work on whatever I feel like at the time

[funkyreporter]

I know it seems overwhelming, but remember YOU'RE NOT ALONE! I don't think there are many of us that could stand up and say we don't have more UFO's than we're comfortable with, yet we start gathering the ingredients for a new project!

I always try to remind myself: I DO THIS FOR PLEASURE! THIS IS MY HOBBY! IF I'M NOT ENJOYING IT, THEN I MIGHT AS WELL BE SCRUBBING THE TOILET OR DOING SOMETHING ELSE UNPLEASANT!

STEP AWAY FROM THE UFO

Honestly, I know the guilt that comes with the UFO's, but on the other hand some projects, however wonderful and exciting they are when we start - and how lovely they're gonna be when we finish, can just become TORTURE! Seriously, how many double crochets can you make - 10,000? 100,000? before you want to go run screaming in the street... and how long can you look at the color 'taupe' before you despise it and everything it stands for?

I am currently working on

1) Breezy Duster - maybe halfway done and haven't gotten to the hard part yet.

2) Gray shrug that is ALL single crochet and I'm supposed to go until I get to 30 inches... I've gotten about 10...

3) A black and pink eternity shawl - maybe one-quarter done.

4) A filet lace stole (about three-quarters done).

5) A 'slightly thicker than thread' shawl that I got stuck in the pattern and haven't picked it back up (been about a month)

6) Another shrug-type thing that you start at one sleeve, keep going around, do the back/body part, and then down the other sleeve. (I'm about three inches up the first sleeve.

7) An afghan that will be however big the amount of yarn I got on eBay allows it to be 'cause it's a hand-dyed one-of-a-kind... I'm about halfway through the yarn.

8) Wrist warmers from S&B HH that I am completely lost on the pattern.

additionally:

9) a mosaic park bench (about three-feet wide) that is 80% done with tile placement and will then need grouting.

10) The matching mosaic chest that is tiled and has been grouted on the sides but not the top.

11) a mosaic picture frame - needs grouting.

12) Preparing Fugly for his World Tour and need to start his journal/scrapbook.

13) Haven't scrapbooked or journaled my daughter's senior highschool year (she's finishing her first year of college in two weeks) nor have I scrapbooked her winterbreak trip to New York that she asked me to do.

14) Haven't fixed the back of the dress for same daughter to wear to rennaisance fair in three weeks.

15) Haven't repotted BIG rose bush from little pot and it's wilting.

16) Haven't framed watercolor portrait of myself that an eBay friend gave me as a surprise (usually sell for $250)

17) Kitchen floor tiles are coming up and spent $300 on quality tiles that are sitting politely in the garage waiting for me to do it.

18) Ditto with tiles for bathroom shower which looks disgusting...

Shall I go on? Everything I've mentioned is something I get enjoyment out of (including laying the kitchen floor and tiling the bathroom).

I see hubby outside doing something he 'enjoys' and cussing up a storm and I remind him, "Honey, this isn't working for you right now. Just stop. It's okay to start another project."

When I get done at the computer here I'm going to pull out my beads and make bead markers for my new set of Brittany crochet hooks and also a 'leash' for my little circular yarn cutter... and I'M NOT GOING TO FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT.

[denny]

Oh I am soooo a member of this club! I finished four projects this week, but I was printing out more patterns today and trying to visualize what yarn I want to use. I can't help myself! and I think my ADHD grandchildren have short attention spans. Wonder where they got it?! I am really trying to finish all the things I started-----a little at a time, and still keep the enthusiasm for new yarn and the next thing to start under control. I finished up hemming a pair of pants today for my daughter's boyfriend and told my husband "One more I can check off the list!"

[Julie]

I found myself dreaming about searching for the perfect yarn for a baby blanket this morning, digging through my stash for the exact shades of yarn I needed. I even dreamed that somebody taught me the pattern and I remember it vaguely right now. I'm forcing myself to ignore it (mainly because I don't think I have those shades of yarn in my stash) as I have a doily in progress that I must get finished in time to send to my mother for Mother's Day (and it's looking iffy), a knit scarf about 1/3 done, another doily for a birthday in June... the list goes on and on. I don't know who the baby blanket is for and I'll get to it, but one thing at a time!

[funkyreporter]

Check out the thread Saturday Night Live for one idea to do with your UFO's...

[sprtsbear]

Help! It is this forum. For yearsx I have always started and completed a project. Now, a different story. Everytime I see something new, I have to try it. I seem to get so bored with what I am doing. If I didn't come here twice a day, then maybe I could finish something.

[sparkles]

Help! It is this forum. Everytime I see something new, I have to try it. I seem to get so bored with what I am doing. If I didn't come here twice a day, then maybe I could finish something.

 

HIGH FIVE! And it's more than twice a day when I'm home...

 

In reality, tho, I like the idea of a UFO DAY once a week,(errr, MONTH?) and the rotating factor before starting another..Nah, that's not reality!!

 

Think we could band together and try finishing MORE than we start? Would I survive it?

 

Its this forum's fault!! Not :nahnahmine And not yours either!!!

 

Sorry, not being much help, am I?

[Shelleden]

I think I'm a charter member of the UFO club. I tried making a new rule - so far, it's not working for me though.... My rule is - Sundays, I can make/start/work on ANYTHING I want! No guilt, no pressure, just forget about what I SHOULD be working on, and do whatever I want - all day Sunday. Then thru the week, I have to do what I'm supposed to do - i.e. housework, finishing orders, and that sort of thing. It's like Sunday is my "day off". Weeeeell, it works perfectly for Sundays, but then the rest of the week I seem to "forget" what day it is, and pretend it's Sunday. HULLLLLLLLLLLLL.................

[eyenowhour]

I think I'm a charter member of the UFO club. I tried making a new rule - so far, it's not working for me though.... My rule is - Sundays, I can make/start/work on ANYTHING I want! No guilt, no pressure, just forget about what I SHOULD be working on, and do whatever I want - all day Sunday. Then thru the week, I have to do what I'm supposed to do - i.e. housework, finishing orders, and that sort of thing. It's like Sunday is my "day off". Weeeeell, it works perfectly for Sundays, but then the rest of the week I seem to "forget" what day it is, and pretend it's Sunday. HULLLLLLLLLLLLL.................

 

 

That's a great idea. Then, I would only be creating UFO's on Sundays. The rest of the week I would be finishing items. I shall have to try this out.

[tlisley]

You could always join the "Crocheters against UFO's" Cal!! I'm a new crocheter but already feel like I should join that one!! :lol

[karin4christ]

Just a little update: I have been strong!! I have not (not yet anyway) started a new project. But oh is that afghan pattern calling to me to start it. I was just thinking how of what the average person's (noncrocheting person that is) fantasy would be and how a crocheters fantasy is something else. I just fantasize that one day I would finish every single project that I had ever started and then I would COMPLETELY use up my stash of fabric and yarn. Then I would have to go out and buy more because it would be all gone. Of course, that will NEVER happen. But a person can have their fantasies.

[tlisley]

Way to go Karen! Keep up the good work!!

[salos]

Karin, I also have this trouble. One thing that saves me is blocks. Each new block is its own self and quickly finished. So when I get the urge to start something new, I do a new block. Better a one hour UFO than a 25 hour UFO.

[karin4christ]

At about 7:00am I gave in. I started my blanket. I'm surprised that I fought off the urge this long. I'm trying to focus on the positives: I am using up my stash. Of course I would be a negligent crocheter if I let my stash get depleted. So I'll have to buy more yarn.

[dazy]

come on over to the UFO CAL. we give out atta-boys:woo when projects are finished and gentle nudges when necessary. i'm down to one UFO and another girl has finished 2 in the last week. and some are things that don't take that much time or effort. just getting out the hook and getting ourselves in gear. we have fun, but we take no prisoners.