You know, I like to think of myself as the kind of person who finishes what she starts. And, really, usually, I am, and yet, there still end up being loose ends . . .

  Sometimes literally–like for this face cloth I made over the summer. It’s the one I brought to see Ragtime and whose double moss stitch ended up being messed up as I worked on it in the dark. I repeated the “ribbing” later on for balance, and finished knitting it weeks ago, but never got around to weaving in the ends.

  Or, maybe, my Booga Bag which I made a year ago (I worked on it while watching Presidential debates last year), but which I still haven’t gotten around to actually felting.

  Then, there are the pants with the torn hem that have been waiting in my closet since around June to be fixed. Not because I can’t do it, mind you, just that I hate mending. I can sew a hem or attach a button, and I can sew a seam so it won’t come undone, but beyond that? Patching? Darning? Fixing a hole? Nope. I’m better at making something new than I am at fixing . . . but yeah, a hem I can do. I just . . . haven’t wanted to.

Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I took some time this morning–since the office is closed this year for Columbus Day–and addressed these items. I finished off the ends for the knitting, sewed up the hem for the pants. I even finished off that Christmas item I mentioned the other day (I’m loving the way it came out, and with only three repeats!) I do still need to felt the Booga Bag, but . . . I’m still not sure when that’s going to happen. The instructions say to toss in jeans or something heavy, but I’m NOT washing my jeans in hot water, and haven’t I heard that felting with towels causes lint issues?

Still, though, there’s one, big, unfinished object that is nagging at me. (You know, other than my novel.)

  This poor, neglected, (dusty) quilt. See, I redid my bedroom three years ago–the first time it’s been painted since I was 17. It went from pink with gray carpeting to gold with hardwood floors with an area rug. New dressers. New chair. Painted my old bed and bookcases. Completely new color scheme, everything. Only the quilts I’d been using on my bed went with the old colors, and I needed something new, fast. So I whipped up this quilt. One, huge quilt square. I even did the piecing on my sewing machine (I usually quilt by hand) so that I could get it put together in a weekend. And then I started the quilting–bare minimum to hold it together. Working from the center out, I’m on the last side of the blue stripe. . . but see, it’s that procrastination thing again.

See, the one thing I didn’t really think through is that, while it’s a tall bed, I have a twin bed. It’s narrow. What on earth was I thinking making a quilt that was 8 feet square? It’s enormous! (Look at the quilting hoop and Chappy for comparisons here.) So I decided that what I really needed to do was trim that green stripe to 6-inches rather than 12 . . . except, well, that’s never happened. You try drawing a straight line down an 8′ long square, with a puppy romping around trying to “help” and really, not enough floor space to do it properly. It’s not something you can risk having crooked! And then, the quilting was supposed to be symmetrical from stripe to stripe, but once that stripe is narrower . . . well, that won’t work . . .

And so, the poor thing got rolled up into a ball (hoop and needle in the center because of Chappy’s fondness for rubbing his head against all things fabric) and has barely been moved since.

Obviously, I have an unfortunate habit of just ignoring projects when I hit snags, rather than buckling down to really address them. You don’t know how surprised I am to realize this about myself. But, there are these projects, the Rowan Elfin cardigan that I finally just pulled off the needles. My novel, stuck because there’s one, esoteric bit of 1912 adoption law I can’t find out. Even my Union Square Market Pullover, which I’ve been dragging my feet on because I’m dreading all the recalculations for the short rows in the front. I guess I don’t really like tackling problems after all. . . .

But then . . . sometimes I do, and I relish it. And these ARE the only unfinished projects I’ve got lying around. I really do finish the vast majority of the things I start. I wonder what the difference is? I started all of these projects with the same amount of enthusiasm, so why do some challenging, difficult ones get finished when others languish in dark corners? Especially since many of the languishers are projects that I’ve got significant percentages finished. (You know, like all the knitting except for weaving in TWO ends. Gosh, all that extra work. Let’s put it aside, I’m too tired….) Usually, if I’ve gotten something to that stage, I’ll finish it because it’s ridiculous not to . . . so, what’s my excuse? I don’t think I’m a lazy person, and I can appreciate a challenge as much as the next person. I usually have things done early rather than late and am famed around my office for being right on top of things. It’s a mystery, really.

Poor quilt. It really does deserve to be finished . . . and laundered!

Incidentally, Chappy and I are both excited–we just won a $25 gift certificate from one of our favorite dog-supply sites: www.sitstay.com. I’ve been ordering treats, toys and all sorts of things from them for years, and every month they give out certificates to something like 25 people. I never thought I’d actually win one, but I did! Great . . . so now I’ve got Chappy’s Christmas shopping started. (Got to replace all those toys we just got rid of, you know!)

Tags: General, Knitting/Spinning // 6 Comments »