May 21, 2004
A(nother) Cunning Plan
Okay, so I tried to delight myself by not finishing anything, allowing myself to be the proverbial pig in mud, the child free in the candy shop, starting everything and finishing nothing. It left me empty.
Let's review prior Cunning Plans, shall we?
There was the "two finishes for every start" plan. That lasted approximately.... well, it never happened.
There was the "start whatever you want as long as you finish it" plan. That was a total flop. We won't go into details.
There was the "work on everything equally" plan. This was a flawed plan, I must have been working on databases at the time, it's way too mathematical.
There was the "don't finish anything and you'll succeed at not finishing" plan. That was depressing.
But the new, improved, wonderful, better-than-ever Cunning Plan? I have high hopes for it.
This is how it works: I make a list of all the WIPs and UFOs that I can think of. I eliminate the things I really don't care to finish ever. This leaves me with 48 things (that I can think of) that I do definitely want to finish. This does not include all the things that haven't been started that I definitely want to finish.
I put these into a spreadsheet and note, for each, the type of knitting (lace, fair isle, etc.), the percentage of completeness at this moment in time, the type of item (pullover, shawl, etc.) and the intended recipient, or a question mark if I don't know.
I then sort the list first by knitting type and then by percentage complete, then by intended recipient (others get higher priority than myself).
I then take the top item from each type group and given them all a Priority 1. I continue to do this until I've prioritized everything. I adjust for odd things like knitalongs and gifts that have a deadline. The thinking is that I need to work on a variety of projects in order not to be bored, so if I give one group of projects the top priority and put everything else away I might be able to have my cake and eat it, too.
Warning: Shocking content follows; not intended for the uniknitiated.
Here is my result (minus intended recipients and completeness)
Priority #1:
Traveling Shells (lace cardigan)
Bearfoot (socks)
Birch (shawl, I am adding an edging)
Log Cabin (garter/domino afghan as a wedding present)
Saga Rose (fair isle cardigan)
Maidenhair (aran cardigan)
Priority #2
Fairfield (basketweave jacket)
Other socks
Rose of England (lace table center)
Mohair Shawl (garter shawl, 95% done)
Dragonfly Vest (fair isle vest)
Bliss Twinset (aran cardigan)
Priority #3
Charlotte (textured pullover)
Other socks
Ogee (lace shell)
Christina/Eyelash (garter stitch scarf)
Chippendale (fair isle pullover)
Bliss Twinset (aran shell)
Priority #4
Sheilavig (textured vest)
Other socks
Mourning Shawl (lace shawl)
multi-diectional (scarf)
Rona (fair isle cardigan)
Fern (aran pullover)
Priority #5
Dusk (textured pullover)
Other socks
Unst Stole (lace stole)
DaCapo (garter jacket)
Rona's Hill (fair isle vest)
Fulmar (aran pullover)
Priority #6
Buenos Aires (textured coat)
Other socks
Kerry Blue (lace shawl)
Trip-Trap (domino/garter cardigan)
Luckenbooth (fair isle pullover)
Celtic (Reinsel) (aran pullover)
Priority #7
Elizabeth of York (textured vest)
Other socks
Estonian Garden scarf (lace scarf)
Ballerina (garter jacket)
Luskentyre (fair isle pullover)
Little Rivers (aran pullover)
Priority #8
Saffron (textured cardigan)
Other socks
Peacock Shawl (lace shawl)
Rambling Rows (garter baby afghan)
Seaweed (fair isle vest)
Margaret Tudor (aran pullover)
So you can see I have my work cut out for me. The rule is that I can change any priorities at any time as long as the items do not belong to the current priority group, but I can't start anything new if the item it replaces in the priority group is already started. Think I can do it?!?
I SO feel like Rimmer.
In other news, I've distracted myself with a little quilting. How can you not smile when you see fabric like this?
Wow. I bow to you, partly because the list is so staggering that I have become somewhat woozy and must put my head between my knees, partly because I am staggered by your Rimmeresque organizational ability, and partly because I adore the word "uniknitiated".
A cunning plan indeed. I have often wondered that if I spent the time I spend organizing my ufo's actually knitting them, would I have so many?
Oh, this is mad, mad. Way to organized. No wonder you turned to quilting.
I think you should pour a glass of wine and knit whatever you feel like knitting.
It reminds me of a presentation on efficient knitting that I once decided to skip. My whole life is efficient -- I want my knitting to be a glorious escape from efficiency.
Carla
Posted by: Carla on May 21, 2004 12:20 PMBut, Madame, by not finishing the 'not finishing anything' plan, doesn't that, in effect, continue the not finishing anything? *Grin* Don't mind me...I'm just jealous. I wouldn't have been so organized as to have been able to find the pen and paper on which to write the prioritizations. LOL
Posted by: Rebecca on May 21, 2004 01:23 PMNow tear the list into tiny bite sized pieces, pour chocolate sauce on it and munch! Love the quilting fabric.
Posted by: MOG on May 21, 2004 01:28 PMI love it. I probably would have used data validation and made a pivot table out of this at some point in Excel, just for fun. And I would have put a due date column in, and probably have created a month by month plan of what I SHOULD be knitting to meet deadlines in any given month. Yes, I am an IT project manager by day. Sometimes, I can't seem to find the off button for that persona. The knitting helps me reconnect with the real me, truly.
Posted by: Jo on May 21, 2004 02:02 PMI've missed SO much whilst having a jaunt in 'Never Never Land'. I'm so glad to be back in the (un)real world and reading your wise and wonderful blog. He he! How can I not smile?
I....errr.....almost like the plan. It's too plan-ish for me. Hopefully it'll work for you Sheila. At least for a little while. :o)
My plan is taken from the cross stitching world. A major world of folks afflicted with "startitis". I fit in beautifully. The plan is a rotation of my WIPs. I will work 10hrs on each project. Working my way down my list. Hmmm, better go find a stopwatch.
Posted by: Dot on May 21, 2004 03:51 PMI kinda do the same--alternate between types of knitting: fair isle, lace[as if those wait for other types], textured, socks. Adds a bit of variety to the knitting menu. Just as your so sick of one type and dreading ever knitting it again you get a little break and can approach [later] with some blissful forgetfullness of how icky it was. Like childbirth
Posted by: elka on May 21, 2004 04:00 PMCirca Jan. of 2003 - June of 2003, I had a little spreadsheet I made for myself in Excel. I listed all of my projects that I considered "current" at that time. There were 6. (Obviously I kept the closet door closed -- I chose the 6 that most meant something to me to finish!) My Excel spreadsheet was sort of a like a little calendar, and the goal was to make at least one entry *every day* on at least one WIP. So an entry might read: "knitted 4 rows" in the column for one particular project, or "finished a repeat." My rule was that, in a week, there *had* to be an entry for every single one of the six WIPs. I could knit as much as I liked on any single one of them, but in a weeks' time I had to knit a little bit on each of them.
It was a productive period of knitting for me -- and I was working full-time teaching English and directing the school play after school during this same time frame. I think the fact of keeping a record, "needing" to make entries, kept me going.
Now to make an entry about this in my own blog!
Posted by: Karen the Terrible on May 21, 2004 04:05 PMWarning: Wrench in the works ahead.
What about your ASOFlives pillow-along????
What other commitments have you left out of the seemingly comprehensive list? I will grant you the benefit of the doubt and assume that denial rather than an intent to deceive are at work here.
I have to say, though, that I'd be hard pressed to eliminate any item from this list--you have good taste if no will power.
Posted by: Janine on May 21, 2004 04:33 PMoops. ummm... I mean, oops. Did I forget to put that pillow in there? Must be a different knitting category. I promise I'll add it!
Karen, that sounds like a fantastic idea, can I steal it? I mean, mix it with my current Cunning Plan?
I envy all you folks who don't need a plan. My problem is I'm not disciplined enough to keep focused enough to finish anything, and it's getting embarrassing. I need to have a plan and stick to it for my own self-esteem, and to keep myself from becoming the laughingstockinette of the knitting world. Oh, is it too late already? But I'm all for that glass of wine, Carla! And the chocolate sauce, although not together. And Jo, maybe you could be my PM? Rebecca, I *love* the way you think! I'm glad Elka understands about the moving around amongst type thingie. It really is a huge issue for me. And Stephanie, I guess I'm just gonna have to tell you that this pedestal you've been putting me up on? It's only 1/4 inch high, and sinking with each unfinished project :-)
Posted by: Sheila on May 21, 2004 04:50 PMI think that you should have spent the time doing a spreadsheet on actually knitting, instead. Whew, that was a lot of work! You do have excellent taste in projects, though, I will agree.
Posted by: Anne on May 21, 2004 05:00 PMI think that you should have spent the time doing a spreadsheet on actually knitting, instead. Whew, that was a lot of work! You do have excellent taste in projects, though, I will agree.
Posted by: Anne on May 21, 2004 05:00 PMI see I have a long way to go before I have as many WIPs as you so I am feeling much relieved. I keep things under control by packaging each non-active WIP in a heavy plastic bag and putting it in my yarn storage room where it eventually disappears under new stash and is therefore virutally non-existent. When I discover them, sometimes years later, it's like "Wow! needles!"
Posted by: Larry on May 22, 2004 07:53 AMYour cunning plan post made me LOL!!
Also the comment about being the laughingstockinette of the knitting world!
You were MADE to blog, my dear!
Best of luck with your plan.
I'm simply awestruck by all of your WIPs.
Just what ARE all of these so-called "Other Socks"?
Posted by: Karen the Terrible on May 22, 2004 03:50 PMwell, there's the orangey/yellow/red Lorna's Laces ones that I finished one of; the 2003 MS&W airplane knitting socks that I have one half done; the ones that are made from gansey yarn, the tweed shetland ones for Brad,. the ones mades from that sparkly kinda yarn I got at WW, the ones I started at Gig Harbor that I didn't like the heel of, the ones I started out of denim Lorna's Laces sock yarn, those very first ones I started that you didn't think looked big enough (three years ago)... need I go on?!
Posted by: Sheila on May 22, 2004 05:25 PMAi-yi-yi, I think you fried my brain! Toomuch data and not enough memory, can't, compute, must, not, explpow!
Posted by: Chris on May 23, 2004 10:55 AMHave you *ever* finished a pair of socks? Perhaps you are not a sock knitter. Many are not. You might consider striking the socks off your list entirely as you didn't even consider them worthy of description. How realistic do you think it is that you will find them worthy of your time?
Posted by: Felina Schwarz on May 23, 2004 10:56 AMA veritable smorgasbord ! Knit according to your appetite,enjoy your passion for colour,texture and fibre and knit happily.That sounds like a plan. :0)
Posted by: Emma on May 23, 2004 03:35 PMEeeeeeeeeeek !
You've been spammed !
Oh h**l, I thought I fixed the spamming problem. Oh well, Madame can delete these, never fear...
I get demoralized if I have so many WIPs I can't see progress on any of them, so I would be depressed into immobility by your list of WIPs. Do you think finishing one thing will be a tonic? That is my guess...
Posted by: Prudence on May 24, 2004 08:09 AMSorry about the span, I promise I don't have an undercover job selling cialis!
Emma, I think your plan is lovely and if I were as lovely I'd be able to follow it :-) I get too distracted by everything!
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