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Several years ago, when I was teaching a crafting class, the topic came around to unfinished projects. We all admitted, with mixed guilt and shame, to having piles of projects that had been started and never touched again. One student spoke up. She said that she had heard a speaker talk who said that it was ok to not finish a project- that as long as you learned whatever technique you wanted or gained something from the process, it’s ok not to finish. I actually think it’s a refreshing idea in crafting to focus on the journey and not the destination.
Some of the craft projects we do need to be destination, or goal, oriented. For example, I need to finish this baby sweater I’m working on. It’s going to look really silly if I show up at my friend’s house with half a sweater claiming that my gift to her is that I learned a new technique for selvedge edges.
But with so many other projects, it can really be the process that counts. So many people say they love to sit, relax, and knit or crochet. Should that relaxation somehow count for less just because the project was never finished? I don’t think so. I think we need to accept and embrace our unfinished projects as having their own special value and place in our crafting lives. Besides, I’d much rather look at the project bag with the half-done scarf as a symbol of the enjoyment I experienced working on it and not as an albatross around my neck.
