After finishing Henley I started to think about FO’s and UFO’s. I have a few UFO’s but not one of them spoke to me. I feel that I should work on them but I also feel uninspired.
I read too many a great deal quite a few blogs and it always fascinates me to see what projects really inspire people and which fall by the way side. It would seem that this has nothing to do with what the project is, but is purely down to – I don’t know, the thought and feeling are there but I just can’t put my finger on what it is exactly.
When we first start a project we are all inspired. We cast on with excitement. How long that excitement lasts is another matter. Some projects are worked on with great enthusiasm, no matter how easy or complex the pattern, until a FO emerges. Others quickly fall by the wayside and languish in the work basket (or whatever) for weeks, maybe months, until they are picked up again, or not, as the case maybe.
What determines whether a project will hold interest to fruition I can’t seem to work out. I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do directly with usefulness, almost everything we knit will have a use. And I’m not sure it has anything to do with liking the thing because if we did not like it then ( in most cases ) we would not have cast on in the first place.
I am aware that in some cases, as we knit on, we come to realise that perhaps it is not all we thought it would be. That the dream and the reality are two different things. Maybe this is the answer. But is it always as simple as that?
The reason I pose this question today, ( and if you read a couple of posts ago you will know that the seed of this has been brewing for a while ) is, that despite having two pairs of socks, an afghan and two cardigans on the needles, all I wanted to do at the weekend was start, not one, but two new projects that have been floating around my mind for a while. Ravelry is a great resource, it’s wonderful, but every time I log on to my projects there are all my UFO’s staring at me and to tell the truth I find it a little unsettling. It makes me feel guilty. I stare at them and try to work out the above question. What makes these uninviting? Why can’t I seem to feel excited about them enough to work on them? Will I ever feel again whatever it was that inspired me to start them?
I knit for enjoyment. My Mother and my Grandmother knitted ( in the ‘early years’ ) to clothe and keep their families warm. I do not, thankfully, have to do this. So why do I feel guilty about those projects I no longer wish to work on? Would the yarn that I love so much be put to better use as something I do want to work on?
I don’t think for an instant that I am the only one who has ever asked this question. I am sure it is a dilemma that knitters ( crocheters and many other people who craft ) have asked themselves at one time or another. I cannot seem to answer the question directly, but I do have a solution. I have decided that I will shed these feelings of guilt, never work on or finish a project from duty (except perhaps if I have promised it as a gift). From now on, if I falter on a project, fall out of love, then I’m going to rip it out and make something I do love. After all, our time is precious, yarn is not always cheap and sometimes you just have to walk away!
Well, I think I really feel better now! So, if some of my projects seem to magically disappear from my list on Ravelry, you know why!
Better have some lightness and photos then.
I did cast on for the two new projects I spoke about earlier (before all that drivel) and so far I am really enjoying them so they can stay ( so far!). The first one is the Cable Yoke Cardigan from the new Sirdar Eco Wool book.
I decided to knit the yoke first. It is perhaps the most interesting part and curves around your neck using short rows, which fascinates me (easily pleased!).
The pattern has only written instructions but I far prefer to work from charts so I charted it myself.
The colour is far more like the first picture but in this one you can see the curve of the yoke and the beautiful stitch definition of the Eco Wool. It is a single, which I always have my reservations about, I don’t know why, just preference I suppose, but the pattern looks great in it.
One small irony of this project - a couple of years ago I spun a two ply from what looks like an identical fleece and knitted it into a yoke cardigan for my Mother. I could/should probably have spun this.
The other project I wanted to knit was a little lacy cotton top from Drops Design but when I swatched with the yarn I had chosen for it it just didn’t look right. The yarn I bought was Sirdar Calico DK, a 60/40 cotton/acrylic blend. As you know, I far prefer all natural but these new yarns are fighting a pretty good fight. Calico, being 60% cotton, has a nice soft cottony almost suede feel but the acrylic gives it a lightness and drape that I thought would be perfect. However it just does not hold a stitch well enough to knit the lace pattern with any clarity so I went back to my LYS and had a look at the patterns they had specific to that yarn and came up with this.
I’m going to knit the round neck version from the inset picture.
It begins with a ruffle/lace edge which give it a little more interest and after that it is a 3×1 garter rib, pretty straightforward.
I am also still making pretty good progress on the Refined Aran Jacket. Lucky because the recipient phoned up the other evening so I was able to say it was going well!
The back is now done. I’m not sure about those waist shaping decreases/increases though. I knit these as per pattern but I now wonder if perhaps I should have put them one stitch in to keep them away from the line of the cable edge. The yarn is so soft it’s knitting up a little unevenly. I’m banking on both of these problems coming out with blocking.
I have started the left front. The pattern is a little tricky though as it contains not one, but several ‘at the same time‘ phrases. There is the waist shaping, at the same time, the pocket placement, at the same time, the collar commencement, at the same time, the armhole shaping. Don’t let this put you off though if you wanted to knit this. With a piece of paper and careful tracking of rows it’s really not that hard to get your head around once you start knitting and luckily I’m still enjoying every moment!
I’m off to think carefully about my UFO’s. New beginnings!!
Here’s a little test for you – how do you feel when you start frogging one of these UFOs?
Why not try taking it off the needles, frogging a couple of rows and going away to make a cup of tea / wait for a week. See how you feel while it’s lying there part frogged, off the needles, vulnerable to interference from children & cats. If you feel uneasy about it then you know that you probably like it enough to take it up again in the future – maybe it’s the wrong season or something. So put it back on the needles and resolve to pick it up again – maybe as pub knitting or emergency knitting to keep in the car just in case.
If it doesn’t matter if the cat gets into the basket and frogs some more then you know that you don’t care enough to finish it so you can recycle the yarn into something more to your tase.