When to Let Go of a WIP: Letting Go Without Guilt

True Confessions - I have a basket of unfinished knitting projects. 

Some of them have been sitting there for three years.... or more. A sweater in progress from 2022. A pair of socks that got boring halfway through. A scarf that seemed like a good idea in January but feels completely wrong to me now.

For a long time, I felt guilty about those projects. Weren't they failures? What did that say about me as a person if I didn’t finish absolutely everything I had ever started? Shouldn't I push through and finish them? Do I need to finish all these projects before even considering beginning new ones? The creative culture I'd absorbed—especially online—seemed to suggest that abandoning a project was somehow a mark against me, a lack of follow-through or commitment. 

But that's a dirty lie.


The Cost of Finishing Everything

Here's what I've learned: holding onto every project, refusing to let anything go, doesn't make you disciplined or committed. It makes you stuck. It clutters your creative space with objects that drain you. It fills your hands with work you don't actually want to do. And probably most importantly, it leaves no room for the projects you truly care about.

When you finish something out of obligation rather than genuine interest, the joy gets lost. You end up with an object you don't love, made by hands that resented making it. Once it's finally done, you don't even feel the victory. It was just a waste of time and energy.

The offending stale WIPs basket


It’s OK to Just… Let Go

In all likelihood, the project no longer serves you. Maybe it was never a good fit for your life or your style. Maybe you made an error early on—a twisted stitch you didn't notice, yarn you now dislike—and every row feels like you're living with a mistake. Maybe the pattern made perfect sense in November of 2021 -- but now? The project feels dated or somehow just wrong.

You've changed, and the project hasn't. You're drawn to different colors, different techniques, different rhythms now. Those socks do not speak to who you are in this moment. The sweater you started two years ago doesn't match your path in life. The world has moved on, and so should you.

The hours you'd spend finishing your stale WIPs would be better spent on something else. Time is finite. Your hands are finite. If you have 50 hours available for knitting this month, ask yourself: would you rather spend 40 of those hours finishing something you're ambivalent about, or 40 hours starting something you're genuinely excited about?

The simple answer is permission. You don't need to finish every project. You really don't.


When In Doubt, Rip It Out

Release your fear of abandonment! If the yarn is good and the project is salvageable, you can frog it (unravel) and reuse the yarn for something else. This is incredibly freeing. You get your materials back and a fresh start.

If the WIP is just taking up space in your basket, don't keep it 'just in case.' That's not hope. That's clutter. Give it to someone else, donate it if the yarn is decent, or let it go. You don't owe every started project a finished existence.

The real failure is spending hours on work that doesn't feed your soul. 


Real success is knowing when to stop


Say it with me now - When in Doubt, Rip it Out!

Ultimately, you will never say - ‘Gee, I wish I had continued on that [whatever project it was] 10 years ago.”


Your Experience

Is there a project you wish you would have ripped out much sooner? Do you have a bunch of old WIPs that you need to rip out? Let me know if you ripped out some projects and how you felt. Sad? Cathartic? Bliss? Leave a comment below!




Location: Conifer, Aspen Park, CO 80433, USA

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