Everyone Has UFOs. This Knitter Finished, So Can You!

​By Erin Witschey

I don’t know about you, but 2026 has been a weird knitting year for me so far. Last year I was really focused on sweaters and colorwork, then January hit and I couldn’t get into anything—I have two sweaters lingering on the needles from the fall. So I used the motivation of the new year to start finishing projects that have been languishing in my craft room for months if not years.
The Lotti Dotti Cowl (https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/lotti-dotti ) has been sitting in a project bag for at least two years and literally just needed to have the provisional cast-on taken out and the two ends sewn together. It has been pretty peak procrastination of a project for me. Taking out a provisional cast on is never fun, but the crochet-kind I used was relatively painless in the scale of provisional cast on options.

Then I tackled finishing the New Leaf headband and hat ( https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/a-new-leaf-headband--brim-beanie ) that have been hanging out since I taught it for OTN last year. Both were at different points to teach the different skills involved (the leaf stitch or the Latvian braid). I ended up making one into a hat because I still had so much yarn left. I was able to take an evening or two for each and knock them out.

Next up is a poor little monster I had started for another class—probably three years ago. Coco the Canister Monster ( https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/coco-the-canister-monster ) has been just limbs in a project bag but a kiddo I know just requested a monster like I have made in the past for my other nieces and nephews. This one also didn’t take long, but in starting, I remembered why I left it sit…While the boucle style yarn makes a great texture for a monster, keeping track of your stitches with it is tough. Fortunately, it could also be finished over the course of a few evenings and just needed the arms and some teeth sewn on in the end.

Along those project lines, I also had a bigfoot I started from Rebecca Danger’s book 50 Yards of Fun ( https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/button-bigfoot-and-yea-big-yeti)

This poor guy just needed his hands re-done and limbs sewn on. Because I held the yarn double for his body to get the fuzzy sasquatch style fur, it threw the gauge off for his hands—the knit was way too loose and all his stuffing could come out. It was an hour to frog back to his wrist and knit again with the Woolstok held double, then stuff and close his hands before attaching his arms to his body. He’s so happy now hanging out on my couch.

Last was a cowl I started based on the pattern for the Fidra Hat ( https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/fidra ). I have made the hat twice and love it and wanted a cowl to match since I LOVE the Gemini colorway of Malabrigo Rios. Unfortunately, I got stuck and couldn’t decide how to match work the top after the initial pattern rows. Picking it back up, once I got going, it made a lot more sense, and while this was the UFO (UnFinished Object) that took the longest to finish, it was so satisfying to finish and get to wear this winter.

Now I still have at least seven UFOs hanging around my house in various states, two are the above mentioned sweaters that I WILL pick up when I finish my current projects (I hope!). But the quick finishes on all the projects I’ve finished recently has made me just itch for quick projects like fingerless mitts, cowls, and hats. So despite not finishing my sweaters, it’s still been a productive start to the year.