Spring Cleaning Hits The Project Bag: How Many WIPs Is Too Many?

Pierre Thompson

I pick them up several times and put them back where they were. But my rule for myself is on the pick up number 3 it is my habit to rip them out and store the yarn. I have to be honest with myself by the 3rd time that I am not going to finish this particular project. I have learned to stick to this and find that I have fewer unfinished projects lurking in corners just waiting for me to see them.

Jennifer Sherman

I’m generally a one project at a time kind of person, but recently I started selling my work. Now I have work for others in addition to my personal projects. I am limiting myself to 3 projects at a time. Hopefully I won’t become overwhelmed by WIPs.

Mary Hale

I have 3 WIP going at this time. I have had 6 going. I decided to RIP out one project because the yarn is black. I have trouble seeing the stitches with dark yarns. So I limit working on them to daylight or brightly lit areas. If it’s a project that has been put away for longer than a year, it gets either ripped out or thrown out .

Mary Jo Burke

For the last 10 years or so I’ve usually had about 20, but not the same 20. Periodically I collect them on one set of shelves and attack them as the mood comes over me. Before I begin working (or frogging) one I ask myself why it’s a WIP. Did I stop it because I ran into a problem I didn’t want to fix?–like the kid’s sweater with only one and one half sleeves left, but which was also one and one half inches too short. So I ripped it back to the underarms and keep adding to the length. I have 2 scarves that get longer every few weeks, but are kept around because I need something small and mindless to work on at meetings. If I find something for which I no longer have enough yarn, it definitely gets ripped and the yarn reused for something else. Most are projects I put aside to work on something else that had a more urgent deadline, and I get back to them at a later time. But I actually like having several around as it gives me a variety of projects to work on..

Jera Meadows

I currently have 6 knitting wips. One I’ve promised to finish by Christmas – just don’t ask which Christmas. To make it worse I don’t stick with one craft and I have multiple wips for each craft.
My biggest fault is I don’t like to follow patterns, I see patterns as ideas and suggestions rather than rules to follow. Hence things don’t always work out and I stop working on them in protest. One wip just needs sewing up and I hate sewing up; seams or even weaving ends in are a bane.
How many wips are too many? When I can’t hide them any more! They stay since I would like them finished if I can find the time and energy.
Too rip or not to rip all comes down to one thing – do I still want the finished product I started making?

Pam Gean

Right now I have 6 WIP’s. I did have 9, but promised myself that I would get them finished one way or another by the end of this year. If that’s even possible for me. There are so many beautiful things to knit or crochet that I just want to begin them Now! Lol

Marcia Peatross

WIP I have 3 at the moment. One for myself one for charity and one I am just playing around with to see if I like it.two of them are knit and one is crochet. I usually rip out if I feel I will be bored with it or I am making too ma y mistakes.

Nancy Pawlowski

I have several WIP with some for charity donations, some samples for my classes, and some afghans in various stages of work for both of the aforementioned. I am not sure how many are going on. I come across one and leave a mental note as to what I was planning to do with it and put it back in the bag for “later”. Most times it will get finished or I figure out a different way to go.
I rarely frog anything as over time I get creative and figure out a use for it. I am getting better at leaving a copy of the pattern with the item for future reference. Most of the scarves are just knit so they are grab-and-go projects.
I try not to start “one more thing” but I make changes in my knit/crochet classes so I need some new samples. Other times I don’t have class so I end up donating the samples (teddy bear or scarf or afghan, etc.) and then have to make more samples the next time.
I don’t even want to start on how big my stash is now, mostly because I have been buying yarn that is discontinued before it is unavailable. I am waiting to hear what Erica does with her stash. (I couldn’t work for a yarn company or they’d have to build me a barn for all my yarn.)

Ann Hartnell

I have 5 projects going at present, but one is a “take to an appointment” sock and it fits in my purse. So there are really 4 in various stages; one just waiting for fringe. typically there are 3-4 in process. This is a manageable number for me.

Janet Bartol

I also finish a project. if I like it or not.

Linda Tibbetts

What does the word frog refer to, other than a green amphibian??????

Nancy Roozen

Feels Like Bdtta – sweater (cardigaan) on right – how do I get the pattern for that sweater so I know how much yarn to order?

Yvette Jiggetts

How many WIP is too many? I wish I knew. This is a question I asked myself in the beginning of this year. So January 2019 I wote all my WIP in my crochet day planner I haf 23 at that time….I now have 15…I did rip 1 or 2 and completed the 4 however I started 4 new projects since 2 are done 2 are EIPs…so I’m on a see saw kinda thing….every conference/ yarn show , magazine, new LYS visit bring new ideas…its a curse and a blessing to love color and be so creative.. So as you can see I still haven’t figured this question out!

Kristine Grotz-Kuch

I try to decide by volume. I have a space for unfinished yarn projects(a small shelf unit) & a larger one for unfinished sewing projects. (the top of a blanket box). I try to tell myself (it doesn’t always work) that I can’t start something new until I either move something to the finished & being used pile or put the materials back in the “stash pile”.It at least keeps my crafts from taking over the house. There are times when it’s really rewarding to put in the last hour or 2 into a project even if I’ve lost interest just to make room. And the local homeless shelter is happy to find a new owner for a handmade item even if the style or color no longer suits me.

Ceejay Shirk, Sylvania, Ohio

Hey there, I have you all eat ! Have one project that’s been on the needles since 2007. This is the year to finish, no matter what. Have other things to start with the instructions and yarn already wrapped together.
And a stash——oh my goodness. I can go to my ‘room’ (our third bedroom) and ‘shop’. Have so much neat stuff can’t go to Michael’s anymore or my favorite LYS. Keep knitting.

Pauline Williams-Grealsye

First of all, there’s no such thing as too much anything for us fibre-addicted people – not yarn, not thread, not fabric, not patterns …. Luckily for me, I don’t have a space problem since I’m even more inventive in that area than almost any other talent I have. Second, when time and energy coincide with honesty, I decide to go through the laundry baskets which store my WIPs and figure out which no longer add enough joy. I pull everything out individually of each little bag and spread it out and assess and re-assess: projects go into a (1) frogging basket (yarn/thread will be reused) or (2) give away basket (I don’t even want to see it again, far less re-work it: this happens very infrequently) or (3) the yes-I-will-eventually-finish-this pile. For the keep pile, I very often have to attach notes – ideas of how to change the direction of what I didn’t like, which was why that WIP ended up in the UFO pile to start with. Also, for the keep pile where I still don’t have any brighter ideas or solutions, I often tote them to one of my gatherings and ask my other addicted friends for inspiration – it helps other people to see and feel far more than a mere description – and very often a new perspective saves the day! I always have lots of WIPs: I both knit and crochet, so I end up with (1) the commuting/ waiting project; (2) the I’m too tired to think but I still need to hold a hook/needle; (3) the extremely difficult project that I must concentrate on because I need a mental/emotional distraction; (4) either of 1 or 2 which is now too big to lug around and can only be done at home. I have to admit that I’m not an impulsive project beginner because I view every project as a time and energy commitment so I consider very carefully, usually mulling over days, before I start a new project. While I’m finishing one, I’m already weighing options for the next project. How many laundry baskets? Currently at 2.5 and growing.

Cat Williams

Well, there’s no such thing as too many WIP’s for me. As I have a stash that takes up half of a room with yarn stacked on shelves from floor to ceiling, I now have SABLE. Stash Accuition Exceeds Life Expentancy. I have actually made plans as to who will get which yarn if I don’t live long enought to use it all. I have a really hard time controlling the urge to buy beautiful self striping yarns with solid of each color in them. As long as I have breath and yarn, I’ll have WIPs. I currently have 8 and I’m starting another project as soon as I finish the top I am completing tomorrow. It’s nice to have the WIPs because I can grab and go at any given moment and I have my contentment
at the ready. As long as I can still look at the WIP and say that “it’s going to look beautiful”, it won’t get frogged. I will not surrender!

Cat Williams

Correction to SABLE. It’s Stash Aquisition Beyond Life Expectancy. Oops, sorry about that.’

DeeAnne Putnam

Let’s see… I have around 7, so 8 would be too many! In my own defense, 3 of them are crocheted afghans and 1 a fabric quilt – all for my grandkids. I started them all at the same time so when I got bored with one, I had three others to choose from! Then I got bored with all four and moved on to a cowel. The problem there is that I procrastinated so long…it’s to warm to wear it. THIS is why I have so many WIPs I am just finishing a Halloween afghan I started 5 years ago – so I AM making progress…and I haven’t started a new project (yet…). There’s hope for me yet!!

Karen Claffey

I can’t count my WIPs. I literally have a yarn room with tubs of yarn almost to the ceiling, a fabric room with 2 -5 tier shelves stuffed with bolts of fabric, Christmas fabric in the other bedroom. I do about 100 farmers market and craft fairs a year so projects can be started and finished quickly or last forever. It’s not hoarding when you have to inventory all of it and include it in your taxes.

Kristin morgan

Reading the comments I learned something- “Yvette Giggetts” has hers written down! I think if we actually WRITE them down, just as I do with my “To Do” list, something happens in the brain thus motivating us to action. Having the WIPs just kind of, “floating around in the ether” without really addressing what’s there (as opposed to say, having a list!) is detrimental.

So- next on ny To-Do list: noting down all the WIPs!

Lucile Hammond

Thank you, Cat Williams, for the concept of STABLE..I am there due to my glorious COLLECTION, not STASH. I have no rules about how long or how many. I do want to finish the bedspread I started as a wedding gift for my niece in the ’70s. And I will, as soon as I find it. I stopped because I developed rheumatoid arthritis in my hands. Then when I began knitting and crochet again, I got started on the border, decided to measure (duh) and found that I had miscounted and the piece is way too big for her King size bed. I couldn’t face frogging all those little blocks : crochet cotton,, size 7 steel hook, joined in the last round). So I put it away. My niece says she will love it, even if she has to fold it and use it for a blanket. Now I have fallen in love with granny square blankets, there are so many beautiful designs. I get a lot of pleasure from beginning a project. Maybe someday I will count my WIPs. Sounds like we are kindred spirits!

Lucile Hammond

Sorry–SABLE, not STABLE.

Chris Wippler

At present, I have a swatching going on, 3/4 of another project almost complete, a doll dress that was started years ago tucked away in the closet, and lastly a Christmas project of grannysquares that need to be sewn together with some creative trim and embellishments needed to finish it off!!

However, don’t ask about dream projects that I have yarn for and have not casted or hooked on yet