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

[untonuggan]

- Definitely put some sort of marker at your knitting at the beginning of the day to mark where you started.
- Take your knitting to social gatherings (even with non-knitters) and knit while you talk. I got 12 inches done on a lace-weight scarf on #3 needles done this way.
- Audiobooks, music, TV
- Knit where you can people-watch (knitting stores, coffee shops, etc.)
- Bribe yourself. "If I finish X number of rows, I can [go out for dinner, look up other project ideas on Ravelry for when I'm done, download some music from iTunes, etc.]"
- I do find having another project going can help. Just one, and something small. This can also serve as the bribe. "If I do X number of rows on the hated project, I can do Y number of rows on the fun project."
- Knit nights. You can complain to other knitters about how it's driving you nuts, listen to knitting banter, learn knitting tips, hear about their tales of knitting woe/success, etc.

Hope this helps! I'm in the middle of a hellish project of my own right now. Perhaps reading about it will amuse you.

[notyourwendy]

Took the knitting to board gaming on Saturday and got a decent chunk done.

I also have really been meaning to find a knitting group in my area. I've looked kind-of haphazardly online, but maybe this will give me the motivation I need to do a more serious search.

[untonuggan]

Ravelry seems to be the best list of knitting groups I've found (better than Meetup, for example). Also, you might check local community centers, etc.

[notyourwendy]

I'm kinda afraid of getting into Ravelry because I suspect once I log in I'll disappear from the world for a month and a half. But I haven't had much luck (ie, any) with Meetup and I keep running into instances where having a Ravelry account would be useful...