Long-Term WIPs

I have a lot of WIPs, and sometimes balancing them all can be an adventure. Maybe a couple of times a year, if I'm really lucky and I really apply myself, I can get down into the single digits. Barely.

I started my Beach House exactly two days after the summer Holla Knits came out this year, plugged through the short rows, and then stuck it in a box. And now it's fall, and it's getting cool, and I don't have any long sleeve shirts to layer under this, so a mesh tee is definitely not the thing I need right now.

It's refreshing to be knitting mesh again. I've been doing so much garter stitch lately, it's nice to have something just a step above that, but still comfortable knitting. And I have other projects lined up for October that I need to start this week, and this top will not be done before I have to put it back in its box again.

I think the point of long-term WIPs is that there there for us just when we need them. In the middle of chaos and deadlines, I have a fun red mesh top. In the middle of Xmas planning and holiday craziness, I can curl up under a blanket project and get one more corner turned. When everything on my needles has been aran or bulky for as long as I can remember and I need something light and pretty to take the edge off, there's a shawl waiting for me.

I feel like sometimes our WIP baskets can make us feel guilty. Something in us seems to want to say that we need to finish things on an arbitrary itinerary, or else bad things may happen. I love unreasonable deadlines as much as the next knitter, but not all WIPs are an albatross around our neck. Not every sock that has been waiting for its mate so long that you lost the yarn is a failure.

I like to think that old WIPs become our friends-the best kind of friends, where you can not see each other for ages, and then pick up right where you left off. There's a journey in the making of things, and long-term WIPs are like extravagant road trips with roadside attractions and tourist traps at every exit. I think that these long-term WIPs are where we best get to enjoy that journey, without worrying about the destination.

Numbers on a Friday

1. I'm not sure switching the laundry soap is helping as much as I hoped it would.

2. Even though my skin isn't totally cleared up, I'm loving the chance to go through all my clothes. I've got a pretty serious pile going for donation, and I'm letting myself throw out a bunch of ratty tank tops.

3. I have a lot of clothes. Really, they'd gotten out of hand. I love them, and I love putting together outfits, but my wardrobe needed a serious purge. In fact, going through and clearing out feels so nice (once I get over the overwhelming exhaustion) that I want to spread out and go through all my stuff. I haven't read Marie Kondo's book, but I know a lot of people who have, and I'd like to try to be more mindful about my things and hopefully will be able to get a lot of stuff sorted this summer.

4. I've been working more on my Flower Market this week! I'm on the final body repeat before I get to start the border charts, and this is still so enjoyable to knit. Of course, this means that I haven't been working as steadily on my Orange Tee as I'd like, but that's okay, because:

5. I'm going west for work this weekend (in fact, I'm leaving about an hour after this posts), and I'm bringing the Orange Tee (and only the orange tee!) along to work on in the hotel room, so I'll have to get a serious chunk of it done.

6. I got a new computer! I love my old one, but it's been crash dumping like crazy lately. Hopefully the new one and I will get along all right-it's got a nice clicky keyboard, but the touchpad is different from what I'm used to. I have a ton of stuff to transfer over though-all of my design work, thousands of photographs, dozens of ebooks, several months' worth of music-it's going to be quite the undertaking.

7. Maybe this is shallow of me, but my new computer is black instead of red, and it makes me a little sad. I've been browsing Etsy for fun decals to spice it up a bit (or a lot).

8. Maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world if I brought something besides the Orange Tee for hotel knitting.

9. Nope, I'm definitely ready to have that thing off the needles and on my body. No distractions this weekend, just me, a hotel room, and a pile of orange. 

Pretty Darn Productive

I hope everyone else had as productive a weekend as I did (or, if not very productive, then very restful). I have a new hat pattern ready to go out sometime this week, and just a couple of tiny things for the revamped vest pattern before it's ready for its re-release. I also got a quick swatch worked up for a summer pullover that I'm planning, and I'm very pleased with it,

As might be predicted from my monogamous knitting last week, the yellow shawl is currently blocking on the futon, and the pattern is right on schedule for an April release. I'm really pleased with how it came out, and I can't wait to do the photoshoot (so many pretty dresses will go with this-how to choose??).

The replacement needles for the green shawl haven't arrived, so I'm taking a break from work stuff to get some more of Anemone's Shrowl knit. I'm a third of the way through the final ball of yarn, so with any luck this should be done pretty soon. My WIP basket has gotten a little out of hand lately, and I want to reign it back in a little.

Decisions, Decisions

I leave for a short business trip tomorrow (just three days-I'll be back Sunday night) and I still haven't figured out what knitting to bring!  It's hard, because I'll be working a lot, and driving for most of two days, but I still want something for the hotel room and for slow periods on Saturday.  But here are my options:

1. A baby blanket-probably not a real option.  I have the yarn for one blanket, but the stitch patterns I wanted to use don't work out the way I hoped they would, so I have to re-think the whole thing.  Plus the size factor.

2. Sockhead-potential, but it's pretty small and right now is my go-to cinema knitting, and I don't have anything else in the queue right now that can replace it once it's done, so I want to make it last as long as possible.

3: Neville-strong potential, except I'm still feeling all socked-out.  I don't even want to look at another sock right now, even if it's a sock as charming as Neville.  Plus, these have languished long enough that I'm starting to feel guilty.  I'm not quite ready to face up to my negligence and apologize to them yet.

4. Mottled Daydream-definitely a possibility, but I still haven't finished frogging it.  And I'd have to re-print the pattern and write down all my planned changes.  But it would be an excuse to start working on it again.

5. Cotton lace-weight pullover-if I was farther along in the planning process, maybe.  But I haven't even finished swatching for it, and I have no planned measurements or schematic drawn up.  So right now, that's a bit laughable.

6. Heartmate-I would, but it's more than half-complete already, and it's such a pleasure to knit that I want to stretch it out a little bit longer. 

7. Something Top Sekrit-it would be a good chance to get some Top Sekrit knitting done, especially since cell reception is spotty where I'm going.  But I don't really have something planned out enough where I can take it with me right now.  Plus I'd have to take notes, if it was a new design, which is the antithesis of portable, and most o my dedicated Top-Sekrit yarn hasn't been wound into balls yet.

8. Darjeeling-laughable.  I haven't touched these in over a year, and they're my first toe-up socks ever.  When I finally go back to these, I will be GLUED to the book.

9. Snowdrop-I know Ravelry says that this has been on the needles since 2012, and that it's 5% done, but the reality is, it's totally frogged.  I messed up, and I was only two repeats in, and I needed the needles for something else, so I just took it off and haven't restarted it yet.

Looking at all my options listed out, it seems like my best choice is probably going to be Mottled Daydream, as long as I can forget that I've already knit the whole thing once before.  But it is a fun knit, the yarn is nice, and there's only a tiny bit left to frog.  And since I've knit it once before, I know the pattern well enough to be able to pick it up and set it down as necessary.