There are, apparently, two sorts of crafters. Those single-minded individuals, who start a project and see it through to the end without getting distracted, and those who have multiple projects on the go – flitting between them like creative butterflies. I have to confess that I’m the latter type, although I quite often focus on one project for a while: I never leave a pair of socks unfinished, for example.

One of my on-going projects – I do some work on this most weeks

Some projects are always intended to be long-term: my sofa cover for example I knew was going to take ages and would evolve. Indeed, it’s still a work in progress, but I do something on it most weeks. Similarly, the Beekeeper’s Quilt is a way of using up scrap sock yarn, so I add to the stash of hexipuffs when the mood takes me… one day I’ll sew them together, but there’s no rush and I like making the collection. But then there are the projects that I started, but for some reason I lost momentum. And these are the ones that cause me a problem. Continuing projects are easy to return to, but halted projects I find quite a challenge… especially when they require me to follow a pattern. It’s easy enough to return to granny squares or a stripy blanket, but a half-finished garment can be more of a challenge.

Return to the hoodie (shown here in a crocheted work bag I’m rather pleased with)

And so it has been with a hoodie that I started knitting several years ago. In fact, I realise that I blogged about it in January 2014. Looking in the work bag, I discover that I had completed the front, back and sleeves, but had never started on the hood. It’s been sitting up a corner trying to attract my attention for ages now, but I just couldn’t motivate myself to get it finished. However, last month I made a commitment to completing some of my UFOs (UnFinished Objects) and so, reluctantly yesterday I got the pattern out and stated trying to work out what I needed to do. It was at this point that I remembered one of the reasons I set it aside – the pattern isn’t very well written and contains a number of errors and omissions. As an experienced knitter I’m quite capable of sorting these things out, but I do find it extremely irritating and time-consuming. I seriously thought about unravelling it and using the wool for something else, however, I’d already put so much work into it that I decided to bite the bullet and get it finished. In fact, based on my progress yesterday evening, it’s not going to take long to get it finished. Whether I actually want to wear it after all this time remains to be seen, but maybe I will love it and treasure it more because it’s been such a long time coming.

How do you motivate yourself to return to a project you have fallen out of love with?