Cleaning House

Somewhat unsurprisingly, a couple of weeks of relatively focused knitting did indeed result in a finished shawl.  Go figure, right?  I mean who could have predicted that outcome?  I’m sure that logically I have always understood this concept, but it took some new-found determination for me to start putting it into practice.

Around mid-November last year I embarked on my great WIP knit-down of 2010.  I started with 14 knitting projects.  After six weeks, seven were finished, three were ripped, and I was left with a significantly smaller WIP pile and some serious knitting burnout.  Nevertheless, slaving away on the Scarecrow socks was the first step toward my even more ambitious goal for this year—clear out ALL the WIPs.  I shudder a little bit even just writing that.   It’s a lofty goal to be sure, but hey, aim high?  And I started a month earlier than last year. That's totally going to make the difference, right?

I have seven active WIPs (conveniently all pictured to the right) that I hope to finish up by the end of the year:  two sweaters, two pairs of socks, fingerless mitts, a vest, and a skirt.  I’m trying to forget that three of these projects were on the original 2010 list—the Vivian sweater, Cauchy socks, and the cabled mitts.  I’m apparently still not quite ready to go back to these three yet since  next on my chopping block is the Angostura vest from Ysolda Teague’s Little Red in the City.  I was dying to start this vest all summer and finally cast on in early September.  I flew through the back until I hit the armhole shaping.  I tried to follow the pattern, but it didn’t look right and after ripping and reknitting a couple of times without success, I put the back aside and started the front.  I didn’t make it too far before it was cast aside.

Angostura in its current state of neglect

Even though I moved onto the front, the issue with the back still frustrated me, and there were a few other issues that probably contributed to my abandonment.  The yarn is Malabrigo Rios, which is heavenly, but since I didn’t buy the skeins together, I’m alternating skeins every two rows.  I’m not a fan of juggling two skeins (that whole tangling problem I have), and one of the skeins has some light spots which is driving me crazy.  It’s funny how small details like these will make me chuck a project right to the bottom of the closet.  I’m still not looking forward to going back to the vest, but maybe a few nights of steady knitting and tangible progress will bring back that initial enthusiasm.  Hopefully I'll have something to show soon!

Oh, and to clarify “all the WIPs” does not include my epic afghan projects (I’m not that crazy) or the few projects currently classified as “hibernating” on Ravelry,  like the sweater that I’ve only knit a few inches of one sleeve or the socks that I still need to spin yarn to finish.   There’s aiming high and then there’s just plain delusional.