I may be in minority in that I actually enjoy most aspects of finishing; I am, however, a member of the majority of knitters who have a really hard time actually getting around to the finishing on a project. Sadly this is true in most aspects of my life, not just my knitting. I start with enthusiasm and energy, and by the time I slog through the project, whether it is nightly dinner or knitting designs, I just lose interest. Or I just don’t plan my time well enough to allow the time needed to do the job the way it should be done, so I don’t do it at all.
I bought a lovely coat last year, but since I am no longer the sylph I used to be, the buttons needed to be in different positions than the manufacturer chose. I made sure when I bought the coat that it would still look good when the buttons were moved, and then I went and found the perfect buttons at Britex. Then the coat sat for more than a year waiting for me to figure out where the buttons should be placed. I can think of a lot of reasons why this happened, but really? A year? I decided I needed it for my trip to Seattle last week, and I was sewing the buttons on the morning I left. Without that deadline I am sure it would still be in my closet. It looks great, by the way!
So this week I fixed the underarm on a pullover from a knitter and I start to think about why I put stuff like this off (this doesn’t HAVE to be done right now, I was just looking for something to do while I was on a conference call). I worked on it a bit one night, then threw it aside. I think I just forgot about it, but I’m usually not up for that sort of project at night, and I never think to do things like that during the day. It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to do it–but fixing something is no one’s idea of fun.
I won’t even comment about how finishing an old project pales when compared to the excitement of starting something new. So much of finishing just isn’t that straightforward. It is all about making judgment calls, and taking your time to get it right, so it requires a bit more energy than we might always have as we approach the end of a project.
I began thinking about doing a finishing workshop where everyone brought their finishing issues, and we just worked through them. I have vast experience as a seamstress, to say nothing of knitting, and I like everything to look polished when I finish it. But what if you don’t have those skills? Although it might not make the finishing any easier, it would help to see how I work things out, and that it is often just trial and error. You could add skills to your toolbox, which is really the secret. Anyone interested?
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