Yesterday I stumbled across a group on Ravelry called Seven Wips in Seven Days. It's pure genius! Essentially, their philosophy is that if you spend a little bit of time regularly on each of your projects , eventually, they will all get finished and you won't get bored. To follow the basic system suggested, you pick 7 of your "works in progress" and assign them to a day of the week, and commit to working on each project on its assigned day. Like anything, there is as much flexibility in the system as there are people using it. There have been all kinds of variances mentioned in the discussion threads of that group, like choice days and theme days. Like I said, sheer brilliance!
Now, I don't have that many knitting works in progress, but I certainly have many more sewing projects that have stagnated for whatever reason, usually boredom or falling prey to the excitement of starting a new project. Now they're stifling my desire to get behind the sewing machine, so something drastic needs to be done.
Knowing that I am the Queen of Procrastination, I know that just doing one project at a time just doesn't work for me. If I run into a tough spot, I'll do anything I can to avoid working on it - even if it's meant to be fun! That's why I'm convinced this system will totally work for me. I'm only committing to sewing one seam or knitting one row of the assigned project. Of course, starting is often the biggest stumbling block and once I get going, I often want to spend more time. That's what I'm hoping for, but if it doesn't happen, then it's no big deal. It also allows me the freedom to spend the majority of my crafty time on whatever project is exciting me the most at that time, free of guilt. Win/Win, I say.
Anyway, I'm not going to make a massive list of all the projects I have "in progress". That would be pointless. But I am going to pick seven and get started. Here's my plan:
- Monday: Sure-Fit Designs Dress (Sew)
- Tuesday: Hey, Teach Cardigan (Knit)
- Wednesday: DD's Colourful Cardigan (Knit)
- Thursday: Burgundy Dress (Sew)
- Friday: Marigold Bolero (Crochet)
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| Jenny King's Marigold Bolero |
- Saturday: Aqua Vogue Top (Sew)
- Sunday: Embroidery on Brown Dress (Hand Sew)
I thought I would check back in here at the end of each week, and update the list, just to keep a record of whether this system is working for me.
When I finish a project from the list, I plan to fill up the 'empty' day with one of the remaining projects, until all seven are finished. Some people replace a finished project with another one, preferring to keep many projects in rotation. I'm not sure yet which approach will work for me, but I'm willing to give it a go.
What do you think? Would you benefit from a system like this?
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From what I know (and love about you) Kelley , this sounds like it is worth a try... clothes sewing wise, I don't like too many projects on the boil at once, but crochet/knit/ other stuff I do have a lot on the go... however my ambition is to not to start too many at once (not succeeding at this moment! :) )
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