Use it or lose it

As part of my no-nonsense, all encompassing Purge of Stuff ‘09 (TM) I’m taking a hard look at all my unfinished objects.

As a slight side-bar I consider an UnFinished Object (UFO) distinct from a Work In Progress (WIP) if I haven’t worked on it in a couple of weeks. Items can slip in and out of WIP and UFO status because I tend to work on things in intense bursts and then put them to one side.  Your mileage may vary.

With the Purge of Stuff (TM) in mind I’ve decided that the following items no long deserve to be in the UFO pile and will be returned to the yarn stash;

Mystery Shawl Whatever:

As you can see, I stopped mid-row. Never a good sign.

Nice idea at the time, and I love the shape of it, but I messed up a couple of rows and got disillusioned with it.  I also saw a couple of finished ones and I’m not sure it’s “me”.

I’m now thinking about a simpler Faroese-style shawl and I’ve just purchased Wendyknit’s Sandvik Faroese Shawl which looks ideal.

Guided by Love socks:

I loved the design of these socks (and I bought the pattern for a cause) but I over-estimated the circumference of my foot and it’s too loose.  I could finish the second one and give them to my mum but she is neither a lace nor a bead person and they’re not high enough for her tastes.

The following items will continue to marinate in the UFO pile until I bring them into circulation:

Knotty Gloves

Never start knitting gloves in Spring.  Total waste of time.  Will get a wriggle on soon and finish the second glove.

Monster Crochet Blanket:

I need to keep this close to me so I can just make a square every day; I’ll soon be done.

Modular Tank:

Slipped from WIP to UFO status but best to work in short bursts due to the repetitious nature of the pattern.  I’m also not sure how I’m going to work the closure for this (the pattern has you lace it, but that’s not very practical for me).

Traditional Gansey Socks

Ooops! These were supposed to be finished within Wimbledon fortnight.  I’ll give you a second to do the calendar maths on that one.  Yeah.  I’ll get there!

Boudica Socks:

Due to the cables on the sides of these socks, they were relegated to podcast/radio knitting only and it’s very easy for that type of knitting to slip into the long-term UFO pile.  I think that once my mum’s Traditional Gansey Socks are finished, I’ll try to get them back into circulation.

Well, I’ve got a WIP that will very shortly become an FO (Finished Object) so I’ll see you then!

Remiss

First things first; I was so touched and moved by the response to my previous post. I’ve been fairly open about my physical limitations in the past, but my mental limitations have as much of an impact on me. The good news is I’m doing a lot better on the new tablets, the doctor is very pleased with how I’ve responded to them and things seem a lot brighter.

OK then, on to crafting.  No, really!

My concentration levels have waxed and waned almost hourly so I’ve been flitting between two projects; one knit and one crochet.

The crochet project I gave a little sneak preview of last time, but I can show a little more of my progress now

Progress on the main body of the sweater

This is the RaeAnne Shawl Sweater from Blueprint Crochet by Robyn Chachula (on whom I have a developing crochet-crush).  The motifs were memorised after about the 6th square so it’s just time and numbers that are the issue now.

The yarn I’m using is Sublime Merino Angora DK that I got for an absolute steal in an online sale (no way I could have afforded it otherwise) and it is heavenly-soft.  The yarn in the pattern was a merino/cotton blend so I thought the substitution would work well, with the angora having little to no elastic memory like the cotton.

The second, knit, project I’m working on is the Endless Shawl Cardi from StitchDiva (what is it with me a cardigan-shawl mash-ups at the moment?)

How serendipitous that the stitch markers I made match the yarn I bought!

It’s fairly monotonous and the only concern I have is the amount of yarn I have.  There’s no getting any more where that came from since the dyer faked her own death.  Shame; she was talented.

And finally …

I have categorised all my yarn.  All of it.

And in order to justify having all of the yarn I’m getting rid of some of it and using most of the rest of it.  To whit …

Behold!  The makings of a crochet blanket.

So, here’s hoping my next post appears sometime before the next decade.

The more I practice, the luckier I get

Thanks Arnold Palmer, for the quote!

First of all, thank you for the lovely compliments I’ve received here, on Ravelry, Facebook and Plurk about the Aestlight shawl. It was a true pleasure to work on and I can see myself get a heck of a lot of wear out of it.

I had a few “how did you do that?”-type comments and it really is like Mr. Palmer says!

I haven’t shown anyone my early acrylic garter stitch scarf that I gave up on and so is too short to wear.  Or the matching hat that has huge ladders down it where the double pointed needle joins were.  Or the accompanying mittens that have huge internal seams and actually make my hands colder when I wear them.

I’m reliving all of these early knitting horrors because I’ve started doing this

River Road cardigan yoke (from issue 1 of Inside Crochet magazine) by Robyn Chachula.

Looks nice, doesn’t it?  What that photo doesn’t show you are the false starts on the first motif, the misunderstanding about how to join the first to the second, or joining all 7 of them in a straight line instead of a curve and having to rip out the last round of all the motifs (including 7 half- and 2 quarter-motifs)  and re-joining them.

So, for comfort, I turn to a nice, simple knitted garment instead

Modular Lace-up Tank from elann, knit in 100% Pure Wool 1 ply worsted

Except it’s biasing horribly and I don’t know why.  Can this be rectified with blocking?  Only time will tell.

Luckily, my mum’s gansey socks are not causing me any such headaches (thank you Wendy!)

Traditional Gansey Socks from Socks from the Toe Up

And I had my hair dyed pink!

So, how’ve you been?

Progress is going forward

Gusset Heel Basic Sock

Anniversary Mystery Shawl 09 (still on Clue 3)

Roundabout crocheted shrug

Now with added crochet!

Hang on!  Come back!  Sorry for mentioning the c-word, I promise this isn’t going to turn into a crochet blog!

See how pretty?

I love the texture you can achieve with crochet and how lacy stitch patterns are so much easier.

And also – woohoo!  I managed to start with 41 stitches and I currently have 41 stitches.

3 pattern repeats of the lace.  You’ll have to trust me that the sides are straight; the lace part pulls in quite a lot.

You have no idea how happy this makes me!  The above is the Treenah scarf from the inaugural issue of The Inside Loop and is destined for my neighbour’s neck.

I keep checking and it does look like the pattern photograph.  The designer used alpaca, but my neighbour can’t have anything woolly/itchy near her, so I’m using an acrylic.  I’m hoping I’ll be able to block it out and I may even apply heat to try and “kill” the yarn so it stays blocked.

An “interesting” week:

The past seven days haven’t been easy because it contained anniversaries of both of my grandfather’s deaths.  It’s also been very cold and I don’t do well when the temperature drops below about 20 C!

Look what happened on Saturday:

Spooky!

More traditional pursuits:

I’ve been knitting steadily on my three active projects and here is where I am with all of them;

Veste Everest/Cricket vest for my mum:

4 repeats completed, with 1 full repeat of 14 rows plus 12 rows to go before armhole shaping.

Toe Up Socks with a Difference:

Just knitting around on the leg now – totally mindless, but has to be done!

Mystery socks/Mad for Plaid:

I’m only doing a couple of rounds a day on these so it’s slow-going and I’m still on the gusset decreases on the second sock.  The first sock’s toe has been grafted.

Erm … yeah.  So.  A mixed time in the past seven days, but could have been worse!

If you celebrated Thanksgiving I hope it went well.  As well as large gatherings of family ever can, of course!

Next time, I’ll tell you why I agreed to design a garment for a knit along for free!  Hint: the answer may involve questioning my mental stability!