Knitting the last 10%

My life is a mess. I mean, not really, but sort of…

Let me explain

At home, the Christmas decorations are down (finally), but the boxes of ornaments still line the hallway heading down to their hibernation space.  The big tree is down, but I still have two smaller, naked trees that need to be packed away.

At the shop, inventory is finished, but the cubbies aren't how I like, and I'm still tripping over random bins of extra stock pulled out to be with its siblings for the big count.  In a word, it's the shop is not at its finest.

Both at home and  at the shop, the big things are done, but not quite done, and nothing is actually done until it’s done.  ALL done. 

Right?  

It’s like that with knitting too. You can knit all the pieces, but it's not done until the edges are picked up and the ends woven in.  While I'm not an in the round devotee, I can see the appeal of finishing the knitting and knowing that it was done. Well, not ALL done because of those borders and pesky ends, but more done than a pile of pieces to seam into a garment.  

Even so, you can’t wear it until it’s all the way done. 

What is it about that last bit? We have all the energy in the world to get to 90% but can't muster enough oomph for that last push, to go from 90% to 100%.

I don't know. 

Maybe it's a tiny speck of perfectionism.  Maybe there's just not enough dopamine in that last 10% to satisfy my ADHD brain. Maybe the finishing and putting away is so much less interesting than all the other fun new things I could be doing. Or maybe, the whole finishing is actually a full task in itself.  Like how they say that 20 miles in a 26-mile marathon is the half way point.  

Again, I don't know. But I do know something about half way points that I heard Mary Poppins say years and years ago

     Well begun is half done.

You just have to start.

So today, I went into the shop to try. I didn't tell myself it had to be all done today, and I didn't tell myself it had to be perfect. I just told myself that I had to start and I had to complete just one small area. 

It was okay.  I remembered that I actually enjoy rearranging yarn in the cubbies. It felt good to organize and label the storage boxes. I didn't get it all done, but I made progress, which is all we can really ask of ourselves.  

Thank you for listening  Do you struggle with finishing? In your knitting or your life?  Would love to hear in the comments. 

Warmly,

Ellen