anticrastination and the monk’s travel satchel

Those of you who know me well may know that I struggle with procrastination and have been trying to work on it lately. I’ve been reading this book called The Procrastinator’s Handbook as an attempt to rid myself of this nasty habit. It’s something that I’ve struggled with for as long as I can remember, so there have been times when I’ve felt like I’m doomed to procrastinate for the rest of my life.

Knitting was the one thing that I felt was exempt from this. I have lots of FOs to show for and persist on even a challenging project. Then a few days ago I realized I was wrong. I was working on my lace socks and it came time to turn the heel. I hadn’t turned a short row heel in a while, so I was going to have to look it up. Instead of looking it up, I went back to work on my Widdershins until it was time to turn the heel for those–I had modified the pattern so I was going to have to do some math. I began to look around for projects to pick up, I knew I couldn’t start another project and looking at my Works in Progress everything was at a turning point. Some were more challenging than others. I needed to find new yarn for the body of the Monk’s Travel Satchel since I had knitted the body into the Wave Skirt and I also needed to measure the strap to see if I could bind off. I had one glove for two different glove/hat projects, both of which I was unsure of. The striped cotton sweater was a mess, I couldn’t even think about that. Jane’s baby blanket only needed to be measured to see if it was time to reverse the pattern. Pretty much all of these were doable–maybe it required a little math, pulling out the measuring tape, or ripping back a few rows. I was perfectly capable of doing all of those things, but for some reason I wasn’t. It was then that I realized that my favorite thing to do had fallen victim to my worst vice.

I took a look around my Finished Object gallery and realized that many of the projects had been essentially finished in a few weeks, but I had put off the final details for months. Sometimes that’s fine, who can wear a knit skirt in this weather anyhow? Sometimes it prevents me from enjoying something right away or delays a gift for months. I had finished the Kittyville Hat for my catsitter in a weekend, but it took me 4 months to put the pom-poms on.

It’s time for this to end. So I’m starting at the beginning, my longest WIP, the Monk’s Travel Satchel. The satchel has a long and procrastinatory history, some of it is not my fault. I decided to knit the project after my first attempt at the Wave Skirt failed me (the small size was going to be too small and the large too large and I didn’t have the knowledge to adjust the pattern at the time). So, I decided to use the Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Provincial Rose for the body of the bag and exchanged the rest of the colors for Candy Apple and Prosperous Plum. Unfortunately, my ability to visualize how a color is going to look knit up and work in a knitted object is severely limited. I blame it on being labeled “unartistic” as a young child. I remember distinctly being made fun of for a watercolor painting I did in the 3rd grade. I was very proud of myself, I had painted a duck swimming in a pond in a nice forest. However, my grasp of perspective was limited and everyone thought it was a duck inside an Easter egg. It was all down hill from there. Okay, maybe I’m being a little dramatic-but I definitely wasn’t encouraged in the artistic realm. Knitting was probably the first thing where I ever felt “successfully creative”. If that even makes an sense, US public schooling definitely stomps the creativity out of you.

Anyhow, the body of the travel satchel was doomed to hot pinkdom and as nice as the pink looks on the skirt, I decided that a bright pink and purple bag was too much-so I put it down for a long time. There was also a point where the join of the circular needle needed to be glued back together, but I never did it. I had a pair of plastic coated metal needles, but they were way too long for the 6″ wide strap. Eventually I bought a pair of size 4 bamboo straights and decided to work on the strap. 74″ of seed stitch is enough to deter even the most diligent knitter. I knit to and from work, then I moved, changed jobs and there was no public transportation. It was relegated to the bottom of the knitting bag, about 14″ too short. This was probably October of last year.

Earlier this summer I decided that I wanted to finish the bag. I actually started knitting the strap again–did I mention that at this point I had lost one of the bamboo needles so I was knitting with one super long plastic coated metal needle and one bamboo? I was determined. I finally reached the point where I needed to measure the strap. This was about a week ago. I put it down.

The travel satchel would have been doomed to the bottom of the knitting pile again if I didn’t have this epiphany. I am now on an anticrastination mission. I am going to go through all my WIPs, in order of start date, and finish them or frog.

The finish or frog mission manifesto/rules/guidelines:

1. Make a list of all current WIPs and projects in need of finishing.
2. If you like a project you will resolve to finish it.
3. If you do not like a project you will frog it and save the yarn for a new project (neatly skein or ball the yarn).
4. Order projects in order of priority and length of time in purgatory.
5. No starting new projects.
6. Projects may be worked simulatneously
7. Buy the necessary yarn, materials or notions to finish the project.
8. Do any necessary math before you attempt to restart the project (if you leave it until you need it you will get frustrated).
9. Break the project down into steps.
10. Identify any other potential road blocks.
11. Engage resources and fellow knitters as necessary.
12. Weave in ends as you go (it makes it harder to frog later, but easier to finish, just leave long tails until it’s done).
13. Block as needed as you go.
14. Pick a reward project when all WIPs are completed
15. No starting new projects.

I understand that this may not work for some people, but for me, I cannot let my knitting get out of control. It is supposed to be my solace.