We all have them, the WIPs hiding in bags or boxes in the corners and crannies of our homes, the ones we put in time out because something was wrong with the numbers, the yarn or needles hurt our hands, the child grew up, the project got too fiddly. You know what I'm talking about, right? Right? Just me, then?
Anyway, I have many WIPs going at any given time. I've lost track, but I usually have over ten knitting projects lying around the house at any given time. I need one that's easy and fairly mindless, at least two or three sock projects (I tend to make those very plain so that they're easy and mindless, just on smaller needles), a couple of colorwork projects or more, a couple of lace projects, at least one sweater project that I'm going to finish any day now, and the hat projects from fall that I never finished. Oh, and the charity projects, like the current prayer shawl and a helmet liner or two for kids' friends and loved ones in the military. I have found that this system means I'm very slow to finish, but I'm more likely to knit every day like I should for my health. This way, I can choose the easy project for when I'm struggling with brain fog and the charted projects for the days I'm doing better and need a bit more of a challenge. It just takes me longer to finish anything, but being a process knitter, that doesn't bother me as much. The problem starts when I put a project in time out. The one that I set (or threw) aside because the numbers weren't working out or the yarn doesn't like me or the needles hurt my hands or it was for a particular reason and just wasn't working out for that. Every couple of months, I go through those and pull them back out, looking into why I put them in time out. Some, I'm able to fix and finish up. Those always make me feel better. Then there are the ones I have to give up on. This week, I ripped out all of the lace sampler stole I'd been working on for awhile (four years, seriously). I'd been trying to force it to work because the yarn and needles just feel so lovely in my hands, but I had to give up on it. The lace panels...I just didn't like them. It was a mystery knit-along, and several of the lace patterns just weren't pretty to me, not my style. Following lace charts is tricky for me these days, so even though I was more than halfway, I knew it would be a good while before I could honestly work on it and finish it. I pulled it out after much musing and trying to find ways to like it, and after a good look, I went with my gut and ripped it out. It was therapeutic, to be honest, allowing myself to be honest about how I felt about the pattern, letting go of any expectations for the final project, and admitting I really just don't like or wear stoles. I prefer bigger shawls. So, in digging through my patterns, it turns out I might have enough yardage for an easier lace shawl that will be big enough for me and has easily remembered repeats (well, maybe not so easily for me these days, but easier than the other one). I'm just working through the rest of my pattern stash to see if there is anything I'd rather make, and if not, then we're in business. It feels good.
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It's shearing time again, and all those luscious fleeces are going up for sale on FB and elsewhere, and I cannot even tell you how badly I want to get one and process it entirely myself. It's been awhile since I've done one, and it feels like this might be the year to do it.
Except... Except, I still have a good bit of a Romney fleece that I never finished flicking and carding, let alone spinning. Except, I have a lamb's fleece that I paid for the scouring only for it to really need combing and I don't have combs. It just isn't spinning well from flicked locks or doing well on the carder (nep city). I really need to work out a better carding space, first of all, since the last time I had it going it was a bit too low for me and got my fibromyalgia all upset (hence the still uncarded fleece). I really should get a set of Viking combs after years of drooling over them, which would help if I get all this other stuff set and get a fleece next year. But I want a new fleece. A Finn or that gorgeous dark grey Romney I just saw or some Clun Forest because I got some roving that spins up like butter and now I want to see what a whole fleece would look like... Except... Except, while I'm supposed to spin for 20-30 minutes a day as my FND PT, I haven't for a good week and was spotty about it before that. Except, I have a good bit of white Romney roving, the Clun Forest roving, and the light brown (merino?) roving I've been slowly working through for years and years (why did I buy so very much?!). I'm thinking a fair isle sweater with natural colors and some natural dying if I do up the two Romneys, more of the light brown, and the Clun Forest. This, somehow, has not made me get back to spinning every day like I'm supposed to. Except, now it's seed starting season, spring cleaning season, and get-the-gardens ready season, so do I really need yet another project? No... I mean... no. But all the pretties! And now I have to go wrangle the very loud geese who probably are bothering whatever is going on at the school next door. *sighs* *whispers to self* I still want a fleece. While it isn't practical or helpful to actually knit for Ukrainian refugees during this war (please donate money for that if you can), the war sure has been making my fingers itch to knit something to show solidarity with Ukraine instead of finishing last year's temperature blanket or all the socks or even start the green sweater I want to get going so I can wear it around the garden when needed.
During wartime, I tend to knit helmet liners for soldiers. I've lost track of how many I've knitted. I have a friend whose son is finishing up basic training in the US Army, and the likelihood of him getting sent to Europe for whatever reason is going on by then is very, very high. So, I got some of the superwash Wool of the Andes on sale at KnitPicks, and I cast on. When I'm reading the latest updates on Twitter, I pull that one out and keep knitting the ribbing (6" of ribbing to start) around and around, making sure to check for mistakes, and I think of the young man who will end up wearing it. I think of the Ukrainians fighting to protect their democracy, their land. I think of the Russian soldiers, just kids, sent to die for no good reason. I think of how wars are won with other people's children, never with the kids of the rich or powerful, with people in my family who have proudly served. And so I knit around and around, hoping the movement of my fingers will calm my heart as it breaks for all those involved in fighting and fleeing this horrible, horrible war. I have a sock pattern and Ukrainian colors in KP Palette, but my hands haven't been okay with the size 0 needles, so a helmet liner it is. May he never actually need it to wear in a battle, and may he know he's been prayed over by his mom's friend miles away. |
CarinaI go by Bina on Ravelry, have for years, and used to have a knit blog ages ago. With everything going on with Ravelry and elsewhere, I think it's time to bring back the knit blog. Archives
April 2022
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