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Sunday, April 25, 2010
The Great WIP-Down
So, it shouldn’t be any surprise that I took up knitting again last year and dove in head first. I’ve posted as much a couple of times. Lately, I’ve been just as crazy, and it almost feels like a renewed passion, because school kept me from knitting as much as I would have liked. I’ve only completed eight projects so far this year, which really isn’t as much as I would like to have completed. Part of the problem is that I have things that I’ve started – works in progress (WIPs), that sit around while I start on new things. At one point, I think I had about seven projects in progress on Ravelry, some of which needed to be frogged, others that needed to be finished, and all of which sat aside while I started new project after new project and bought more yarn to boot!
So this week, after Johnathan got a little fussy at me about wanting to buy even more yarn, I decided to destash a little. I gave away all of the Simply Soft yarn that I’ll never use (two pinks and a purple; liked the purple but can’t ever see myself wearing that particular color myself, and I can’t keep giving Allison only purple things!), and some red heart that I bought thinking I could swatch with it, only to realize that I hate knitting with it, and my proof of concept wasn’t going to look the same on it anyway. I still have some Plymouth Encore for two aborted Harry Potter scarves that’s free to anyone who wants it for the cost of shipping. (In other words, you pay what it cost to ship, and you get the yarn!)
I also committed myself to finishing the things that I have in progress. I had a bag that I was working on that I finished knitting last night. It needs to be washed, blocked, lined and have the handles sewn on still, but the knitting is done. Today I finished a cowl that I started in January and set aside because I needed my big crochet hook to fix some stitches and didn’t have it with me at the time. It came home and sat on the table next to the couch for three months. I fixed the stitches, knitted the five remaining rows, and even learned a new bind off!
Next up: The other flip-top mitten for Johnathan, started in November and postponed because I didn’t feel like knitting the second one yet. Sadly, the pattern was semi-improvised, so I will have to try very hard to recreate it, almost six months later. But, it’s the next project I have committed myself to making, and make it I will! After that, I have another fingerless glove to make, again with an improvised pattern, this time for myself. I finished the first and cast on for the second, but set it aside when I got sick in the fall and never finished it. So, two gloves to make. There’s also the Selbu hat that I started, even got halfway through making, but later realized was going to be way, way too small for me. I ripped it out and haven’t had the patience to start again. I will be starting that after the other two, and then I will have no WIPs left!
As far as my queue goes? I have another Retro-Style Knitting Bag, this time in Harbor instead of Pomegranate, to make for myself, Grove mittens in Saffron, Space Invaders socks for Johnathan, two more robots for Johnathan’s birthday present (incidentally, his birthday is today! Happy birthday, Johnathan!), a scarf for my brother (that I’m going to design) in Forest Heather, and a test-knit that I’ve committed myself to make by June 1 in Queen Anne. Plus a lot of other stuff that’s on the list and that I have the yarn for but which isn’t so immediate.
I’m glad I’ve committed myself to getting these WIPs done. I want to knit all these other things, so if I finish the WIPs that have been languishing, I can start on the new things that I want with reduced guilt. That is ALWAYS A+.
Alright, back to knitting.
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