Tag Archives: wips

WIP confessions

One of my ongoing goals for basically forever has been to be better at finishing my current projects before moving onto the next newer and shinier project. (Probably I should spend less time on Pinterest.)

So this is my latest attempt at kicking myself in the pants. I picked four works in progress (because I have many many more than four lying around but I’m starting small) that I’m going to aim to finish in the next two weeks. If you don’t see these guys blogged in the next month, feel free to shame me.

Polka dot Elisalex
Dotted Elisalex
The only reason I haven’t finished this dress is because I sewed the skirt on before I checked the darts and it was far too wide at the waist, but the prospect of unpicking eight inches of seams was too much for my lazy brain.

Vintage Simplicity 3100
vintage pattern
This dress currently has quite a few issues, all of which are my fault for only sort of skimming the instructions. First of all, the bodice front buttons up, but I didn’t want the buttons to extend to the skirt, except that I forgot to leave a side or back open for a zipper so there is some tweaking that needs to be done. I also didn’t like how I attached the vertical strips on the bodice so I need to reattach them in a prettier way. I’m also contemplating redoing the sleeve cuffs in white.

Dotted Archer
Polka dot Archer
I literally have no excuse on this one. Months ago when I started it, I was zipping along and was nearly finished when I made a stupid mistake. I was too lazy to fix it, but I remember it being not a big deal fix. Except today when I went back to look and to possibly continue with it, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what I thought I’d done wrong. Gah!

Birthday dress
Birthday dress 2014Anddd this is probably my absolute favorite thing I’ve worked on in a while. In the interest of picking up more intensive projects, I decided to make a beaded dress to wear for my birthday which is next week and which I’m still totally in denial about, other than the planning what to wear part. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed that I don’t completely screw it up since I haven’t gotten to the hard part yet.

Wish me luck! And do share what projects you have lurking in closets and under beds being ignored. It’ll make me feel better.

Mental blocks

I think I’m stuck in a bit a creative hole.

Take this scarf for instance. It’s the Guernsey Wrap pattern by Brooklyn Tweed and I started it in February and then kind of abandoned it. I picked it back up again a few weeks ago and finished it all except for just blocking it. It’s been a full week and for some reason I can’t bring myself to get up off my lazy bum, soak it, and pin it out. It just sounds like so much work.

Guernsey wrap Then there’s this sweater. I knitted the front and back pretty quickly and all that’s left is the sleeves, but I feel stuck. Want to know why? Because I have 1.5 balls of yarn left and I’m pretty sure I’m going to run out before I finish, and I don’t want to get super sucked into it and then run out of yarn. Except I haven’t ordered more because I’m not totally sure that I don’t have enough. (I probably don’t.)

Fisherman's Daughter progress

There’s also my dotted Archer that’s been in the works for two weeks and I accidentally effed up one of the yoke seams and for some reason ripping it just seems like too much work for my whiny self. So that’s been on hold too.

So even though I’ve been actively trying to finish existing projects before starting on the shiny new ones, I decided to ignore that and start a new sweater instead. The last time I wore my Aidez I kept thinking how cute it would look in red, and I happened to have the perfect shade of the perfect weight of yarn. I clicked my needles happily for a few hours the last few days, vaguely remembering that there was an error in the way the cables were written but not totally able to recall what it was. I’m sure you can spot the issue in the photo.

Aidez #2 progress

Anyway, I thought about attempting the ladder-y thing to fix just the cable direction but then I decided that the ribbing is too loose and was always going to bother me and I might as well start over now. So yeah, riiiiiip.

After this, there will be finishing of all the projects. Promise.

(Realistically though, that’s probably all going out the window in a few days when my Christmas knitting yarn arrives..)

Hermiting

2013-06-17 21.33.15

It kind of sucks when your brain is filled to the brim with creative ideas but you suddenly find yourself as busy as ten bees five days a week.

Sometimes you just need to sneak off and shut yourself in your room like a hermit and sew.

In other news, I wish WIPs weren’t so damn awkward while they’re WIPs. I legitimately can’t tell if I’ve already effed this one up or if it just needs a few pieces attached to make it look more normal.

I’m cranky. :]

I’m going to be so toasty in Boston.

I’m on the brink of drowning in WIPs.

I think I’m going to need to impose a rule for myself. I’m now officially only allowed to start one new project for every WIP I finish. As in off the needles, pinned to the ground, and waiting to dry.

Oh but look at this lovely squishy circle scarf I just found!

-headdesk-

Actually this might not be as difficult as it sounds, seeing as how in all reality most of my WIPs are only a few hours away from becoming FOs.

Take Aidez for example. I started this one only a few days ago and I’m already done with the back and nearly finished with one of the side panels. I could definitely finish the whole thing this weekend if it weren’t for the Super Secret Project. Although at the rate I’m going I’ll probably finish it anyway while the Super Secret Project weeps under my bed.

Aidez progress

Sidenote: I was so excited about knitting this that I took a picture so I could blog about it. Except I was so excited about knitting it that instead of blogging about it, I knitted more and now it’s more than double its current length and this photo is officially outdated.

Another sidenote: I have a huge box of awesome amazing looseleaf jasmine tea at home that I’ve started bringing to work in a small ziploc baggy. It pretty much looks like a bag of weed.

Going back to WIPS (my mind is kind of a disorganized arena of clutter today, can you tell?), I’m going through my current projects in my head and I mostly just have really stupid blocks on all of them.

-Beatnik: finished back and sleeves, 20% done with front piece but the fifteen different cable techniques requires constant checking of the pattern which means I can’t really be doing much else simultaneously.

-Peaks Island: I’m currently missing the motivation and brainless mood required to complete 9″ of pure seed stitch.

-Little Birds: I think I just have a mental block against fingering weight yarn right now seeing as how I’ve been primarily working on a bulky project and it would just feel so slow in comparison.

-Super Secret Project: It’s just the looming deadline that’s getting to me, so of course I keep procrastinating. Makes perfect sense, mm?

Anddd it’s time for another mug of tea because my eyelids are getting droopy.