The Languishing WIPs of My Life

Is it just me?
Or does everyone have ten projects they are working on at once?
Here is my theory.
If you begin to immensely dislike the color, the mundane~ness, the intricacy of pattern, you should stop.
Really, throw tension caution to the wind. Throw out the idea that if you come back to it, you will never remember where you are, what you are doing. Throw out the idea that if you stop now, it will never get done.

Why hate something that is supposed to be joyfilled?
Fun.
It then becomes work.
Tedious
Mundane
B o r i n g Round and round you go, and it never seems to end~ Such is the case with The Poncho. Languishing on the back of the sofa, waiting ever so patiently, quiet, uncondemning, yet undone.
Guilt.
And there is always a new hurry date approaching. Birthdays/Christmas/Graduations/Secret Pals/heeps and bounds of good intentions for creative, thoughtful, one of a kind gifts waiting to be birthed, in stacks of untouched yarn, colorful and inviting.

What of the equipment?
Where is that 6.5mm 24 inch circular?
Did I use it for the shawl I started? O the cringe of slipping it on the scrap yarn, for another day. Feels so much like failure. I know I bought a new set of holders, where are they? Used all used, holding, as is their job, unavailable for more unfinished stitches.
And of course the internet is beckoning.
Curling finger calling.
New blogs to explore.
Yarn sites with Free Pattern Buttons
Forums of knit talk.
Show me show me show me. I want to see. I want to see what you did, hear how you did it, learn so that I too can do it....someday.
And the stack of WIPs grows. Languishes.

I actually organized, somewhat my stash this weekend. At least took it out of bags. Touched every skein, dreamed, imagined excited faces of those future giftees.
I have yet to create my Binder. The knit book of patterns I've gathered. Organized place for ideas that I've combed through and chosen to someday do. I always try to make sure that the web address is copy pasted somewhere on the printout. Just to be sure I can go back and bring it up on my screen. Something about looking at a complete project makes the way a bit easier, I think.
And I have other creative knit ideas.
Cards I want to make cards, the coolest, best, must have knitting cards.
I have ideas, right left and center. Gaggles of things to do.
Overwelming?
No I say not.
Three years ago, when walking through my local Longs Drug store, I tripped down the notions aisle, and my eyes saw the piles of yarn, needles, and I remembered.
Making a scarf in highschool.
My Grandmother quietly sitting in her livingroom, the fishtank pump whirring, showing me The Knit. Patient lefty she was. I was seven.
My Mother's needles clickclickclicking. Afgans of colorburst orange/brown/seventies.

I bought started/and tucked away in frustration because I had not the talent, nor time, nor desire, and then I realized that all of my life I had done the same. I always have had a project tucked away, whereever I was. Here a baby blanket, another scarf. I realized that I am not complete unless I have an unfinished project in my midst. It could take years to finish, but I always know it is there. A touchstone to my past, my kin. Me.

It is Who I am. Unfinished, learning more about me everyday.
Today this day,
the guilt of unfinished projects does not weigh me down.
Today it frees.
Today I realize it is part of the process. A necessary part for me.
I also realize that,
I can reason away almost anything if I talk enough.

Sockettes in Trampoline Stretch~

A pair of sockettes~










Made using this free online pattern http://www.members.shaw.ca/lisaknits/sockettes.html

with Tampoline - Stretch by skacel color 233 and a touch of Patons ~ allure ~ in Garnet carried in the cast on.

I improvised the pattern and added a waffle pattern across the top. which was very interesting to keep for half of the toe decreasing, but all in all, I really like them.

Many thanks to Come To Silver Sock Tutorial, where I always go for counsel, and whom I first learned the art of sockmaking.

http://www.cometosilver.com/socks/SockClass_Beginning.htm

The Great Crochet/Knit Debate

Yesterday on my weekly grocery outing, I paused at the magazine rack, which since I've immersed myself in my knitting venture, I am wont to do, on the outside chance there might be a knitting magazine waiting to find a new home. So far, there has not. But yesterday, my eyes fell upon this http://www.crochetmagazine.com/ and I was much intrigued. I bought it.

Mind you my crochet capabilities are in dire straites. I can chain, I can crab (thanks to Stitch and Bitch Nation), but thus far I cannot seem to grasp a method that is comfortable in my hands. It is not for want of trying. Just last weekend I set out to teach myself to make a Granny Square, thinking it certainly must be one of the easiest of crochet patterns, because afterall I have seen renditions of it all of my life! And one of my WorkBasket booklets has a great pattern for a little jacket and tank that looks so easy and cute that I really thought I could whip it up, once I mastered the Simple Granny Square! Well there was not much simplicity involved. I ended up with a gob of twisted yarn that the only possible thing it could be good for would be a starting point for some sort of free form venture. Google videos. Learn, grow, embrace. I tried, I did. I found some great video crochet sites, I watched, I winced, I tried. But my hands simply did not heed instruction, and I tucked the debacle out of site, but certainly not out of mind and heart.
Then yesterday~
The magazine.
And here it sits on my desk, Defining Crochet to me as being yes Very Cool, and Yes very desirable, and yes making me feel as though I am a bumbling creature for not being able to grasp even the basic rudiments of the art! I must have the Halter on page 39. Perhaps not exactly that halter, but o the colors and the motif design. I imagine a purse made of that motif, a blanket, a shaw. How dare they dangle these in front of my eyes, challenging me to grab a hook. Taking my attention away from my darling knitting. That which I know, that in which I find comfort daily, giving my existance worth. It is rude.

And I am intrigued.

So then, the only course of action would be of course to learn crochet. A happy melding of art, a knit/crochet family of options. Expanding my horizons, my talents, my capabilites of creation.
But I am a knitter, first and foremost, my first love. Could my heart be pulled away by clever glossy model beautiful marketing? Would it really be worth the time, energy, frustration invested? Will my knitting friends brand me the traitor? Will I forever be changed by the chain?
I say Nay.
I say there is room for more.
Yes room for crochet and knit on the same pallette.
Room to grow into all that I can be.
I can embrace both with guiltfree abandon, because there are no rules of art.
Art is the heart of creation.
It calls for recklace abandon, and if crochet be a part of it...so be it!
My needles will wait patiently. My hands are capable, my mind is open, and my spirit willing.
I can learn the crochet.

Soon my pretties I will conquer the Granny Square.....soon.

Copycat Clowns~

I was thinking about my last post, my booga rendition. How I said, Have you made your booga bag yet? I saw someone on a forum not long ago say that she never followed patterns, one, because she couldn't and two because she thought it wasn't 'creative'. I wanted to shout when I saw that post. 'Of Course, It's Creative! My God, you are making something from a ball of yarn!' Why was I so defensive? What was my issue with someone who said, 'Hey I'm different, and I'm cool with that? And y'all are copycats.'


When I was in seventh grade or so, our grammar school hosted a Carnival, huge event for us, our big fund raiser. They ran a contest every year for the best poster. Everyone made a poster, drawings, had to have the place, time, etc, legible, and they were delivered to local business to be displayed. The criteria was pretty easy, and everyone took it very seriously. We were given plenty of time and we had a few really good artists that won year after year. I had started my poster, it looked pretty much like everyone elses, and I hated it. Same same same ~ Come to the Carnival! Saturday 6 to 9 Food Games Fun blahblahblah
15 minutes before deadline
I got an idea
I needed colored construction paper bright
markers
glue
and those paper joiner things that spread opened flat in the back
I made a clown, huge thing, with movable arms and legs, bright, hat, red nose. And on his big round belly all the required pertinent data. I was worried. No one had ever made anything like this, this was very different.
Original. I turned it in with the glue wet.
Next day assembly.
We file in, posters lined the cafeteria wall, and there, center stage, was my clown.
Big Blue Ribbon ~ First Place
Original is good.
But in order to create ~ one must first know basics. In the poster case, basics, using glue, scissors, scaling. In knitting, basics, picking up stitches at the base, joining, working in the round. The Booga Basics. One must first master the basics to move to the creation of new and original material. Had I not followed patterns, researched, learned techniques of those creative endeavors of others before me, I would not have the skills to create an original.

Following patterns is good. It teaches essentials. Learning the lingo of the knit is muy importante to the process of creation, whether it be your own 'clown' or a 'clown of before'.

The very next year, the walls of the cafetera were lined with clowns. I liked that.


Go
Make Clowns
Someday you may get a Blue Ribbon, and the satisfaction of seeing your own clowns line the walls.

Booga Wooga Fever~

~My Booga Rendition~


Felting is cool. At least that's what the pricetag says at Beverly's on a piece they had hanging next to the wool bins. They wanted 99.00 dollars for a handbag, and I said, ok I gotta do this. So naturally, I bought the not all wool variety, and yes I know it probably won't felt up like it is supposed to, and yes I know you will probably still see the stitches, and yes I know you need 100 Percent wool, but there you are, the Rebel in me, says 'whatever'. The above is 'Landscapes' by our friends at Lion Brand. I used the Popcorn bag idea and icored the top bindoff, grabbing an extra string of Sensations Wull out of the huge stash of cool yarnies that my Mom gave me, O happy day. I just finished my icord handles last night about two inches too short on the second, but hey. Perfection is highly overrated. I have one little skein left and I cast on to make a cool little coin purse or whatever it turns out to be, and thought I'd wait to felt until I had that done. Maybe. I'm excited to throw it in, and a little nervous, but life is an adventure, yes? I read up at the Lion Brand site and they advised throwing it in the dryer for 'additional' felting, maybe I'll try that. I will always love it, no matter if it felts 'properly'. Still haven't decided to keep or give, I suppose that just depends on how I feel on the morrow. My Mom's socks are calling out to me to finish them. So tiny the stitches on that one, and her birthday is creeping up, but still I play with my booga. I got the boogawooga fever, and why not, it's sweeping the world!

Have you made your booga bag yet?

Captains Log First Entry ~ My Very Own Blog

Sometimes you just want to talk.
Right now, I'm so into the knit that it seems it's all I want to talk about, but trust me I have other interests, no doubt you'll hear about 'em.

I'm not a great knitter.
But...
I am a rebel, and a quick study. Pay attention class. There are manymanymany great sites online to help point the way to the direction you are headed, whereever that may be.
Me?
I want to make cool things, out of long pieces of string. I gotta a favorite place knit folder a mile long, waste I don't share it. Waste for me to not share the gobbledy in my head either.

So~

I'll write, when the mood hits, and the tide is good, and the ends of the needles roar, I'll be here. Talking.

Maybe to myself.

Maybe not.

Doesn't matter, because...

I spend a lot of time staring at needle ends.