Motivation help?

[notyourwendy]

I have just recently discovered that I'm not so good at large projects.  Unfortunately, I've this learning moment came to me in the middle of a large project that has a deadline and I'm having a really hard time motivating myself to work on it.  I'm at the point where it doesn't seem like my skein is getting visibly smaller or my project visibly larger and I've been doing the same pattern over and over and over and I'm bored with it.

I swear, when this blanket is done, I'm going back to shawls and hats and socks.  I even have the projects all lined up but I can't touch them because I know if I start on something else, this stupid blanket will never get done.  What do you all do to work through times like this?

Comments

[jackandahat]

I tend to put row markers in it just to prove to myself I am making progress. Not proper lifelines, just weave a scrap bit of yarn back and forth between the stitches when I start for the day. So when I'm at the end of the session and thinking "I got nothing done!" I can look down at it and see my progress.

I also do sometimes take time out for smaller projects. A simple hat is only five or so knitting hours for me, and sometimes it's been worth taking that time out - doing something with different wool, different needles, where I can watch myself making progress. Then I go back to the big thing with reasonable speed instead of feeling like I'm slogging for every stitch.

(I understand if working on other things isn't an option, I'm just answering for what I do.)

[notyourwendy]

I made some scarves over the holiday for gifts and that was what basically confirmed to me that I'm a small project kind of knitter. It was just such a relief to finish something and it actually made going back to the big project harder. The next person I know having a baby is getting hats and booties and bibs rather than a blanket.

[jackandahat]

*nods* It's one of those things where people seem to be at one end of the spectrum or the other.