In Reply

Hello,

Thanks everyone for all your comments on my last post, you're the best!  Since there were so many good suggestions and insights I thought I'd sorta reply/add my thoughts to the comments here:

It was brought to my attention by Renee Anne that I may be a project knitter - and here all this time I thought I was a process knitter. The more I think about it though, I think she's right.  If I was a process knitter, then I wouldn't care if the thing got done or not, and to be quite honest, I do care that it gets done.  This definitely explains a lot!!

My cousin TL suggested that I keep my WIPs for crochet and knitting separate, which is genius!!  They are two different crafts after all, which I hadn't thought of before.  I don't count my sewing WIPs with my knitting WIPs, so why am I doing that with my knitting and crocheting?  From now on I will be keeping track of them separately and I'm sure that will elevate a lot of pressure about how many WIPs I have.

Jill is so right, we knitters do seem to go on kicks of finishitis and startitis, and I know I swing wildly back-and-forth between the two!!  I hadn't really thought about it, but I'm so glad Jill pointed it out to me.  It's like seeing my problem in a whole new light.  I think I've been trying to force my crafting into being in a constant state of "stable-ness" - not having too many WIPs and yet still having enough on the go to keep me interested, but really, why am I trying so hard to keep everything perfect? The swinging back-and-forth wildly is what makes my crafting life exciting!  Stability is something that I need to have in my everyday life, but when it comes to my creative pursuits, I don't have to be quite as balanced, I can loosen up a little.

Rae Lynne and I have a lot in common.  I too am usually so excited to start something new that I end up forcing myself to finish some WIPs in order to cast on.  I also find that when I have too many projects going at one time, I start feeling overloaded by all that I have to do and get stressed out.  That is why I go on a finishitis kick, to give myself some breathing room, so to speak.  And yes, I was also brought up to "finish what you start" and "don't be a quitter" and that definitely translates over to my knitting habits.

I think what it all comes down to is that I need to keep the fun in my knitting.  This is something I do for pleasure and when it starts to become a burden and I no longer enjoy it, then clearly I need to make some changes and get things going back in the right direction.  I used to look forward to my knitting time and it was a way for me to relax and work on something exciting or soothing and that is what I am working on getting it back to.  Thank you everyone for all the help, I think I'm ready to make steps in the right direction now!!

xoxo

P.S. Julie, your comment made my day! lol