In the Summer of Tapestry course we were chatting about the magic drawer concept* and I started thinking about the line between a Work in Progress (WIP) and an Unfinished Object (UFO). And if something is in the UFO category, does that mean it will never be finished?
I’ve definitely had WIPs and UFOs in my tapestry life and I also have a lot of knitting ones.
In tapestry weaving, these unfinished projects can lay around for years sometimes. This is the disadvantage of having a lot of looms. If I lose interest in a project and have something else I want to weave, I just get out another loom. In my knitting world, I just buy another set of needles if I don’t have an empty pair of the right size. This leads to a very large knitting needle collection though no one would know because at least half of them are still in as-yet-unfinished projects.
Do unfinished, off-loom tapestries count as UFOs?
Perhaps they do. Certainly this pile of unfinished small tapestries can’t be mounted, sold, displayed, or even really used to teach with, so they are not finished. Do I use photos of them to teach with? Sure. Usually those photos are taken on the loom and then when I cut the warp off, the tapestry goes in a bin and I don’t get around to doing the finishing until we’re going on a long road trip where I only have to drive half the time (or less if I’m lucky!).
I have high hopes for all of these small samples and sketch tapestries and have been working through them steadily over the last month. When I get annoyed enough about my sewing machine taking up my work table, I’ll either stop or ramp up the production until I get through all of them. Sadly, there is another similar pile of small tapestries, a whole larger bin of medium-sized tapestries, and one large tapestry to be finished. I’m working on being realistic about the rate at which that happens given the lack of road trips on the horizon.
Tapestries that never get finished and are still on the loom
These are a sad case, but they do happen with unfortunate regularity. If I have gotten other looms out of the yarn attic and relegated a project to a corner of the studio or a drawer somewhere and the tapestry/loom has sat there for more than a year, it is time to re-evaluate. My studio is small and there is only so much room for looms to sit around gathering dust. And also, those unfinished projects on looms create guilt (more about this below). I’m not sure why an artist should feel guilty about a project that stopped being interesting, but that is what happens for me.
That said, the sampler on the loom below was for a workshop that I taught well over a year ago now. I haven’t touched it since and it has been taking up this prime bit of real estate on the windowsill probably since I emptied the car after the workshop. It has gathered a thick layer of dust and it is time for me to throw a header on there and cut it off. That is easier with samples which I might use for teaching than it is for an actual tapestry which I have to decide to either finish or abandon. There is no going back to a tapestry that has been taken off the loom!
Sal will be happy to have an expanded area for her chipmunk patrol when I clean off this loom
What about knitting projects?
I certainly have a lot of these. When I moved in 2023, I had a very large cardboard box stuffed with unfinished knitting projects. Some of them were started when our Colorado nieces were newborns (they are 12 and 14 now). Some of them had the needles ripped out and the yarn salvaged. A few of them had the needles ripped out and the whole project trashed. Usually those were the projects that I had a negative association with and I wanted nothing else to do with them.
And the rest of those projects ended up in the huge cardboard box to be moved to Southwestern Colorado where I live now. If I actually managed to finish all the ones I still have on the needles somewhere, I’d have a knitting store’s worth of cabled needles in sizes mostly from 2 to 8. I bet I have two or three #5 cabled needles in EACH length (16, 24, 32, 40 inches). If I ever finish all those projects, I’ll let you know.
At this moment, I have no idea what is in that box and I’m not opening it today.
The box with the “Finish these” label has sneakily moved over the last couple years. Right after we moved it was in a prominent place near my work table. Then it moved underneath my piano bench. I moved it closer to my clothes closet when I played the piano at Christmas time. My dog Beau took up sleeping in that spot once the knitting projects vacated it, so now the box lives in the corner of my clothes closet where I don’t recognize it under the pile of jeans I won’t wear until the weather gets cold again.** I’m not even going to talk about the even larger bin full of knitting WIPs/UFOs that lives in the yarn attic. I know it is there and that is enough.
I have now completely forgotten what projects are in that FINISH THESE box and have happily added other projects to my WIP knitting shelf (the top of my piano) which will undoubtedly be picked up before the half-finished unremembered projects in that bin. The wisdom of adding new projects to the pile of projects waiting is definitely questionable.
At what point do we call it?
So when do we just say, I’m not going to finish that thing? When is the UFO in a category better labeled “I never want to see this project ever again?” Whether there was an emotional trigger that took it from “I can’t wait to weave this” to “I hate this” or we just drifted away into other interests, at some point we need that loom or those needles or that space in our studio back.***
Sometimes there is an emotional trigger that causes abandonment of a project. If someone says something disparaging or dismissive about what we’re working on, it can be hard to be excited about it from that moment on. Be wary of this and don’t let someone else’s misplaced comment keep you from making your art. They don’t know what they’re talking about and most likely didn’t mean harm anyway. They are not someone you should show your work to even if they’re your spouse. That, or you need to educate them in how they’re hurting you and/or get them to try tapestry weaving themselves before they open their big mouths.
But maybe what we need back even more than the tools stuck in the knitting or weaving is the mental space taken up by all those things we don’t want to finish hanging over our heads. The guilt of seeing them laying around or coming across them at the back of the yarn attic because we’ve moved them there so we could avoid them for longer isn’t doing us any favors. I say if you’re sure you’re not going to have any joy finishing a project, rip those knitting needles out or pull it off the loom and be done with it.
I’m going to practice this concept right now
Remember this tapestry I started on Change the Shed last holiday season? The three-gnome tapestry?
Three gnomes in a snowstorm
Turns out I’m not that interested in weaving a relatively large piece with gnomes as the subject any more. I’m perfectly happy making small things with cute critters, but this tapestry is not one I really want to finish. I can’t guilt myself into it by thinking that people who watch Change the Shed are waiting for it to reappear because clearly no one remembers or cares. (Those episodes are HERE and HERE. And if you do care, it is too late!) Additionally, this project is on my “new” 10 inch Chloe loom that I definitely want to use for other projects. I do have other looms that will do exactly what this one does, but I do not have another 10 inch Chloe and darn it, I’m NOT going to buy another one just because I can’t decide if I’m going to finish the gnomes!
(I actually watched those Change the Shed episodes when I linked them above and had a fairly lengthy argument with myself about finishing this piece. It is cute and I clearly was enjoying it last December. In the end, the work that I want to be spending my time on won out and the gnomes are relegated to memory. Rather hilariously, one of my arguments for keeping it going was that I could make some Change the Shed episodes now of me weaving it and release them during the holidays. While that is true, it doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to weave gnomes in July.)****
What will I weave now on my 10 inch Chloe?
I do not yet know, but I have a few inklings.
So if something is solidly in the Unfinished Object (UFO) category as distinct from the Work in Progress (WIP) category, when can we call it? When can we say, “I’m not finishing this. It is done. Stop the guilt.” I’m sure everyone has a different answer, but I’m going to try being more honest with myself and moving on from projects I don’t want to finish. Life is too short and the sheep are making more wool RIGHT NOW!!
*Jane O’Riordan recently reminded me of this concept of the magic drawer. I am unable to track down an original source online and AI thinks I want new storage solutions. 🙄 The magic drawer is the place you put a finished piece of art that you don’t like to have a bit of a time out. Some pieces need just a few days in the drawer and others benefit from months or years (in my personal experience). But once you take the artwork out of the magic drawer, you’ll find that it has been magically transformed into art that you think isn’t half bad or that you might even like. Please utilize your own magic drawer (closet, attic, car trunk, empty garage frig, etc) instead of throwing away a newly finished weaving. I promise magic can happen a surprising amount of the time when given the magic drawer treatment. Length of time for treatment success varies.
**Please tell me the weather will get cold again one day.
***Clearly I have worked around this for years by owning so many tapestry looms and by just buying more knitting needles. I think I’ve proven that you don’t HAVE to ever finish these projects.
****Do you know anyone who is as parenthetical as me? I wish my website platform could do footnotes though you probably do not wish that. They did add a strikethrough feature and that is fantastic useful.