Project-itis: when there is a wall of projects higher than you can shake a stick at, and yet you want to start more projects.

I have the -itis. Project-itis, that is. It’s a knitter’s affliction where you have way too many works-in-progress (WIPs). I’m not sure what a respectable number is – two, perhaps three. I bet you, though, it’s not 10. Or more. Which is probably what I have going on.

In self defense, or in an attempt to justify the quantity of existing projects, I will say it’s because they’re in various stages of design. Not because I’m a project addict, of course. They’re not all huge projects. After all, there is only so much budget for yarn. Although there is an awful lot of stash yarn available for smaller projects. There’s also enough yarn to make at least 3 sweaters. I should probably list left over project yarn, unused skeins, for sale on Ravelry or somewhere, but that’s probably a post for another time.

I’m not sure where the -itis comes from. A flurry of ideas, for sure, and an impatience to see them come to light. But there are only so many knitting hours in a day and they can linger in various stages of completion for a long, long time. Like knitting purgatory. I like to have different projects in different gauges to help mix it up for my wrists. That’s another justification.

And then another key symptom of the -itis is the nearly unstoppable desire to start more projects. No, I tell myself firmly. Again and again. It’s working, barely. For now. I tell myself that there’s at least two sweaters in the works that need finishing, and a myriad array of smaller projects.

I’m having a flare-up of the -itis because I just finished a sweater. Oh boy, I think gleefully, I can start something else! Damn you, -itis. You’ve got me again. No.

So I am trying to steel my resolve and focus on completing something. I admit I did have a bit of a slip up the other day and started a hat. I couldn’t help it. It was just little, after all, and it would only take a couple of days to complete, right? What’s the harm in that?

I might have a problem.

Do you suffer from project-itis? Or do you exercise more self-discipline than I do?

x Rena