Hall of Shame

Hope everyone in the US has been having a nice Memorial Day. I’m appreciative both of the people who gave their life for this country and of the extra day off. I’ve just been relaxing, knitting, and watching my roommate play a video game. As I was doing so, a strange feeling came over me, and I felt a call to do something I’d never done. A couple times this weekend, various knitting friends mentioned how when they finished their current projects they would have nothing on the needles. And it got me thinking that that would probably never happen to me because I have so much old stuff on the needles. So then that got me thinking that that’s probably not a good thing. I should just finish some things or frog them. So, without further ado, I present to you my hall of shame: the never-ending WIP pile.

I figured I’d walk you through each of them and really decide if I was ever going to finish. I probably kept a few more than I should, but it’s a start.

• Traincation socks – started April 2019. I started these on my vacation last year, when I took the train from Toronto to Vancouver. I finished the first one at some point, and I’ve been working on it this week. I’m now past the heel and through most of the foot.
• Noah’s Landing – I knit the body of this in about two weeks, and then it was April and I didn’t knit. Picking up stitches for the top really slowed me down. I think it will be too big but I’m determined to finish.

I hope to finish both those this week so I have more stuff off the needles before June 1 so I can cast on the Through the Loops MKAL and some rainbow socks! I definitely think one and probably both is doable. Now for some other things you’ve seen on the blog before.

• Grandma shawl – Definitely want to keep working on this! The entrelac colorwork makes it engaging, but it’s actually pretty simple because it’s the same pattern over and over.
• Druid Circle – I will keep working on this and will eventually finish. Because it’s getting to the summer, I don’t want to be working on this big wooly sweater too much. It’s good for conference call knitting. I think I want to add some colorwork at the bottom of the body, so I think I might do the sleeves and neckband first so I can use up as much of the yarn as possible.

• Random vanilla socks – cast on Dec 2019, I don’t even have a project page for this one. I cast this on to have something to knit when I saw The Rise of Skywalker in Theaters. This would be good for take anywhere bag knitting, but as I’m not going anywhere to need bag knitting in the near future and I already have socks with this yarn, it’s going in the frog pile.
• More random vanilla socks – cast on Jan 2020, again these were designed as go anywhere socks. I’m not really in love with this yarn, i think it’s closer to sport/DK weight so on 2.25 mm needles it’s knitting up very thick. Since I don’t need to go anywhere, and there’s other sock yarn I’d rather knit with first, this is also being frogged.
• Larksfoot blanket – cast on March 2020, I wanted a replacement for the blanket I made a while back which I love but is starting to pill. I like the idea of crocheting a blanket, but I’m not sure I’m in love with this particular combo. I think I’ll leave it be for a bit and maybe come back to it later in the summer.

• The very top left is random beginnings of a sock I was going to design wit the mini-skein set. There’s only about the cast on and one row and it’s a tangled mess. I’ll frog it and maybe eventually make it, though my idea was pretty complicated and honestly I might just try something else or stripe the socks.
• The bottom left is my second attempt at Mint Monkeys. I cast on a pair of Monkey Socks in May 2017, but about a repeat in realized I had been doing them toe up but was doing the pattern on both sides (normally one side would be stockinette for the sole). The other night I had an urge to work on an older project, one that eventually ended with me putting a dent in the traincation socks, but before I got there I tore those out and started again. But now it’s a bit of a mess with all that yarn coming from the center and outside of the skein, so I think I’m just going to frog and eventually that yarn will become something – maybe a hat or cowl, as it’s a 150 g skein of sport weight.
• The grey and pink is one of Hermonie’s everyday socks that I think I started in like 2016 maybe? I don’t have a project page. I think I only stopped because of yarn barf, and I’d like to finish. I can deal with yarn barf. Keep.
• The mint green is just 10 rounds of twisted rib. It was the beginings of the 2018 Through the Loops Sock MKAL (hmm does this bode poorly for the shawl?). Frog, the light fingering yarn + size 0 needles is no good anyway.
• Bottom middle is what I’m calling the Diamond in the Rough socks, a pattern I am “designing” myself. I started them in January 2018. I have one whole sock completed, why did I stop working on these? I’m in the middle of a round so maybe there was issues but not very far on the second. Keep.
• I had such high hopes for the blue and purple socks which I don’t have a project page for but I know I started mid-2018. But these got a bit lost in translation when I tried to work on them at the end of last year. One sock has a FLK heel with no pre-stockinette like you’re supposed to do, one has an inch of stockinette, but the heel on the other side. Frog!
• Top right is a test knit that I never finished because it was WAY too big. I already have moved on and used the needles for something else. Finish frogging!
• Bottom right is the I Want a Revelation socks. I have fond memories of knitting these when I took the train to CA for my friend’s wedding in October of 2017. Plus they’re musical themed! Why oh why did I stop? I think I may have made a mistake, as I’m in the middle of a row, but I can figure it out! Keep!

• Anna Dalvi Advent MKAL 2018 – I like the idea of this shawl and I like the yarns togeterh but I don’t like this yarn with this shawl. The yarn is Quince and Co Finch and it’s really nice but it’s a tightly twisted yarn so doesn’t go nicely with the lace of the shawl. If I finished it it would be really small. Frog!
• Anna Dalvi Advent MKAL 2016 hmm sensing a theme.. I made the 2015 advent MKAL and loved it but my futher attempts were not as successful. These two yarns never worked together. I was attempting to knit from stash when my stash wasn’t very large. Frog!
• Great Western Way – this is another pattern I’m “writing” I cast it on for that same Canadian train trip. I really want to finish this one! Keep.

• Traveling Vine Scarf – Cast on in Feb 2016. Probably always going to be too thin, and the yarn is pretty enough that I want to use it for other things. Frog!
• Catkin – Cast on in July 2016. I really want to like and finish this. It’s a really cool end product and i got the pattern as a gift. But will I ever finish it? I can’t quite bear to part with it. Keep, but frog if I haven’t put more of a dent in it by the end of the year.
• Danzing – cast on in June 2016. I really like this shawl and I think I’d wear it, it’s the type of shape that I like. At the time I found it a little fiddly but I have lots more experience with short rows now. Like the Catkin, keep but frog at the end of 2020 if there’s not progress.

• The coral blob in the top left is the Perfect Summer Shell. I don’t have a pattern page for it, but I know I cast it on in June 2018 when I was in Ireland. I’ve already taken the needles out to use for Noah’s landing since I was only a few rows in. Finish Frogging!
• Scrap yarn blanket. Been working on this one since April 2016 when they were all the rage in the video podcaster world. Can’t say goodbye to this one, I’ll get it done eventually.
• Horrid Hulk – ok in Ravelry this is technically a finished object because it served its purpose. I knit these as props for the musical Young Frankenstein. I had to have 3 versions of a monster “in progress.” I’ll rip out the two that are less complete and finish the one that’s almost done.

Whew! So that’s 24 projects, of which I’m frogging 11. Which still leaves me with double digit WIPs. And there’s one bag that I thought I had with some really old projects in there, which I can’t find. Sigh. I’ll get there one day. Maybe 2020 will be the year of finishing old projects. And oh, if you’re wondering where the Valentine’s Shawl is, it’s actually finished! I finished it Friday night, and it’s all blocked and dry and has been photographed. A nice pretty post about it will be coming soon.

If you’ve stuck with me so far, thanks for reading! How many projects do you have on the needles? Do you have a WIP graveyard like I do? Well, I’m off to the frog pond. Wish me luck!