Laying It All Out There

Huge, photo-heavy post. { and Jacey -- I bared mine, it's your turn! ;) ]

So.  I'm having a bit of a problem that requires your help.  I have start-itis.  In a bad way.  For a couple reasons...first is that I'm seeing a ton of patterns that I want to Cast. On. Right. Now.  Second is that I cleaned up my knitting/crafting area over the weekend and I am feeling guilty about my stash (it tends to be out of sight out of mind most days).  It's not as big as some.  It's not as small as some.  But it's a size that is making me feel uncomfortable (and don't talk to me about selling/trading stash cuz I love all the yarn in my stash...really I do).  And one way I seem to respond to this guilt is by casting on stash yarn.  Because once it is on needles, it is a WIP, not stash.  See how I did that?  Third maybe is because I feel like I'm running out of knitting time since field season is looming.  And fourth?  Come on, you and I both know that casting on a new project is sort of a knitter's rush.  Am I right?

BUT.  Too many WIPs also make me crazy.  I've mentioned before that I don't want to have more than 8 at a time and even that is too many.  

Start-itis.  Stash guilt.  Too may WIPs already on needles.  You can see that I have quite the struggle happening!  

So I just decided to lay it all out  Every WIP I have.  Even ones that I'm not sure I can call a WIP (because really, just casting on and knitting a row or two in the course of 3 years is nothing more than stash with a needle attached if you think about it).  And to make this more interesting, I decided to not limit this to knitting.  There are some spinning pictures.  And some that may surprise you (at least one of these is an art technique I bet many of you didn't know I even used!). 

Now.  What I need from you? Encouragement that the projects I have going on now are awesome and need to be finished.  Lie if you have to. ;) No...maybe not.  But surely at least one of these things you can say 'hey -- you really need to finish that cuz it's gonna be awesome'.  Okay?  Okay.

The contenders...I'm starting with maybe the most novel for this blog first, moving on to knitting, and then finishing it up with spinning (sorry for the crappy photos...I knew if I tried to be 'fancy' this would never get done.  I am finding that this was fun (with some embarrassment thrown in for good measure) and just laying these out to photograph helped to spur some interest in the project.

Artwork:

Project: A colored pencil drawing of a squirrel and an angry blue jay for my dad
Started: I think I started this 3 years ago but it may have been 4
What's required to finish? I need to finish the beak, both sets of 'feet', and I need to put them on a branch (thinking that the squirrel would be at the juncture of the branch/trunk and then I'd maybe add a few autumn leaves but not sure).
What's the freakin' problem? Fear.  Plain and simple.  Here's the thing with me and art.  If I start something and I love it, I reach a point where I'm terrified I'll screw it up by continuing to work on it.  I just need to pick up pencil again...give myself one full day to work on it and it would be done...but fear is a powerful player.

Project: A woodburning of a gorilla. (may be hard to tell since I have so little of it done)
Started: Oh my, I don't know.  At least 15 years ago. I've woodburned since then...even completing some projects, but this one has always given me my biggest fear for some reason.
What's required to finish? Should be obvious...it's only the head though, not the whole body.  Likely would take me about 4 or 5 hours tops once I got back into the groove of burning again.
What's the freakin' problem? See above.

Knitting (oldest to newest; minus one small project that is a gift):

 

Project: White Russian
Started:  Almost 3 years ago 
What's required to finish?  About 4 more inches of the body and 1 short sleeve.
What's the freakin' problem?  I'm going to run out of yarn.  Now...it's not a huge problem because I shouldn't knit the sweater as long as the pattern suggests due to my wide hips.  I definitely want the bottom to fall above the hips and I'm certain I have enough yarn to do that.  But it just means I need to think a bit, try it on, and then think some more.  I know that's a pathetic excuse.

Project: Sylvi
Started:  Almost 2.5 years ago 
What's required to finish?  Pretty much the whole darn thing.  I don't even think I can really consider this a true WIP considering what I've done with it so far.  This is really one of those stash with needles attached things.
What's the freakin' problem? I think the size is intimidating me.  I LOVE the coat but even in bulky, if I work on it, that's the only thing I'll get done this winter.  I need to sneak in rows here and there on this project though so that I get enough done that I can consider it manageable.

Project: Kerrera
Started:  Almost 2.5 years ago 
What's required to finish?  Pretty much the whole darn thing.  Another I don't think I can really consider a true WIP considering what I've done with it so far.
What's the freakin' problem?  Too many other things on the needles and shiny things distracting me.   I LOVE this sweater/jacket and really want to see how it will work up in this yarn.  So who knows.

Project: Lara
Started:  1.5 years ago  
What's required to finish?  A few knitted leaves plus an I-cord edging.
What's the freakin' problem?  I don't really know.  I love this hat, I love this yarn, and I love this color.  I think it's because I need to pick up a new skill to finish it off...an I-cord edge.  So that is a little intimidating to me.  I've looked at a video and it seems simple enough but new techniques always seem to paralyze me for a few days (months...years...whatever).

Project: Twenty Ten Cardigan
Started:  First attempt in June (gauge issue) but second attempt early December  
What's required to finish?  Finishing up the 2 fronts, the collar, and 2 short-sleeves
What's the freakin' problem? None really except I sort of lost steam with the project and it isn't stockinette and apparently my brain can only handle stockinette right now.  I had to rip 7 inches out originally and start over but even that didn't dampen the enthusiasm of this project.  I just haven't picked it up in a month even though it won't take that much more knitting to finish it up. 

Project: Featherweight Cardigan
Started:  One month ago
What's required to finish?  About half the body, 2 sleeves, and the front panel/collar edging
What's the freakin' problem? Nothing...chuggin' right along because it's shiny and new and I am loving the yarn (my own hand-dye).

Project: Koukla Cardigan
Started:  Um yesterday (yes, I caved, go ahead and laugh)
What's required to finish?  Almost the whole thing
What's the freakin' problem? Nothing...love this knit, love this yarn (first time I have worked with it) and it's mainly stockinette to boot which I am craving right now.  Working on it.

Spinning:

Started:  I think a few weeks ago (the top picture is the first bobbin completed, the bottom is the second bobbin of the same roving (I'm about to get into the purple and blues so both bobbins will be similar once done).
What's required to finish?  Maybe 2 more hours of spinning, plus plying and then setting the twist.
What's the freakin' problem? Nothing.  I don't spin every night and this is spinning up fairly fine so it just takes time.  But I really want to get this done because I am so anxious to start on this:

I may be able to go to the Hood River fiber festival this year before heading to Canada (and even if not, my friends are going and they can buy stuff for me), but I've got this crazy idea to buy enough of a fiber to spin and then knit a sweater.  I LOVE this ladie's fiber...it's so dark with just splashes of color...and for a sweater's amount, the cost will be very reasonable.  This one is purple obviously, but she has others that are beautiful (like a teal one) so the color choice is going to be hard.  So I want to spin up this batch that my friends got me last year to see what sort of weight I think I can get out of it to know how much I'd need to buy...and to make sure that what I spin up, I'll actually like for a sweater.  So, obviously that needs to be done before the fiber festival in April.

Started:  Almost a year ago.
What's required to finish?  Lots...this is all I have done of 4 ounces of fiber.
What's the freakin' problem? A couple things.  I'm not near as comfortable spinning on a spindle yet in terms of consistency...and this fiber may not be the best to start with.  It seems that during the dye process it may have felted just a little bit which is making it a bit of a pain to spin.  This will likely either go out in the field with me or I'll just toss what I've started and switch to spinning it on the wheel.     

So tell me...what do you think?  And what about you?  What does your WIP pile looks like?  

I'd love to know!

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Now playing: Nobody's Fault But Mine by Abigail Washburn  (click on it I beg you...music at its finest...a woman and her banjo)

 
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