Knitting WIPs

It’s Okay To Start Over.

Nicky15 Comments

“It’s humbling to start fresh. It takes a lot of courage. But it can be reinvigorating. You just have to put your ego on a shelf & tell it to be quiet.” ~ Jennifer Ritchie Payette

This project was simple enough.  It was the one that made me get over my fear  hatred of dpns — which is big cause I’ve declared ad nauseum on here how much I hate them  — with absolutely no ladders!

DPNs

I got to the point where I was a few stitches from finishing and that’s after  I caught all of the dropped stitches then went merrily along without a complaint.  But then I decided to try the hat on Ferdinand — y’all don’t laugh cause you know already that all my toys have names.    😀

It was kinda loose in the brim, and I thought it could do well with an image either done in intarsia or duplicate stitches.  You know … to kind spruce it up a little.  My friend Laurie didn’t care, she just wanted the hat, but I cared.  It was fine the way it was, there were no mistakes showing, I could have given it to her.  But I knew the project could have been better.

 Almost Done

So I put my ego aside.  I embraced all that it can be from starting over, then I frogged it.

Starting Over

It’s hard to start over.  Sometimes in doing so, you have to either travel new, unknown roads or traverse again roads you’ve traveled before or experience a combination of both.  But in my mind, knowing that you need to start over and making the attempt is courageous.  It gives you, as one of my old professors used to say, “gristle for the mill”.   This lesson can be applied to life, or a project.  No matter which one, the object is the same — that starting over might take some effort, but it’s an opportunity to do better than you did the first time around.   No matter how many times you have to start again.

Crime & Punishment

Nicky13 Comments

It’s time for me to come clean y’all!  I mean really clean.  Don’t know what I’m talking about?  Let me tell y’all what has happened to me.  😳

A few weeks ago, I had the audacity to respond to Andi’s post “Thoughts on Finishing Things” and stated that I’m now a monogamous crafter.   I even went on to say that my “Mood Blanket” project was keeping me on the straight and narrow and that I didn’t suffer from cast-on-itis anymore.  I absolutely didn’t plan to tell such lies!   I was so proud of myself with my  … errrr … alleged …. one Mood Blanket project.  But then my W.I.P (work in progress) basket started to mock me.  I mean — it showed absolutely no respect!  Called me a liar!  Had projects all up and through my apt — on my work table, on my couch, on my night stand and even in my bed!   Taunting me like “monogamy, what is that m’lady”?

Then exposed me it did:

Laurie's beanie

It showed me the beanie I need to add 1 inch of stockinette too, then decrease for my friend Laurie.  Plus it reminded me of the purple pom-pom I need to finish it off with.

Socks

Then I got slammed with two at a time socks that’s been sitting in my yarn bowl for the last three months.  I’ve been promising to make socks since last year. 😳

Mood Blanket Progress

I tried to hide, but was accosted by my mood blanket that’s stuck at 2.5 rounds behind.  Oye vey!!!!   She’s a demanding beauty that one.  Le sigh!

Julian's Blanket

Then I got blasted with the fact that I started Julian’s blanket last week after the Tax Office tried to sandbag me with a crazy bill, but I don’t like garter stitch in Stylecraft’s DK yarn so I hauled out some worsted in sea blue colours, only to have them sit there waiting for a start date.    This blanket was supposed to be done since last year; he’s going to be 1 in August, in a mere few weeks.  Bigger Le Sigh!

By this time, I was whimpering, asking my WIP basket not to charge me with treasonous lying behavior, to give me another chance and I got one.  I got my sentence lessened based on the fact that I actually finished a project  this week.  It was my HPKCHC project for my Defense of Dark Arts class.   This project is the “Big Lace Scarf” which was perfect for newbie lace knitters, but let me not digress.

HPKCHC DADA Spring 14

Although I had that project to help me out a little, the fact that I had a mojito then cast on my first colourwork hat on Monday night and worked on it up to midnight ended any graciousness my WIP basket had for me.   An alcohol induced cast-on!  Treason!!!!!   In my defense, I had tried to start this project on the train earlier in the day, but my needles separated while I was doing the ribbing so I waited until later.  What?!!!! That’s the truth!  With all that drama and the fact that I had the nerve to cast on yet another project — woooo Nellie — not even the sweetness of the colourwork gave me favor.

First Colourwork Hat

My sentence: Finish all these (except for the mood blanket) and make progress on my sweater before Stitches East (October 9th 2014).   Finish them or be sentenced to the Monogamy Tower with no chance of parole or leniency.  Without opportunity to start new projects or practice new techniques .  Finish them and showcase each of them in their own F.O. post by or before the deadline or be forever known as a starter, never a finisher!

That’s too heavy a price for me to pay for not being monogamous.  I have a day off on Friday; I intend to get up early, put on pretty pjs and designate the long weekend as time served for these projects.  Will any of you be in the cells above, below or next to me?  I know I’m not the only one.  Maybe we can commiserate through the walls?  😦