Happy New Year, everyone!
It is truly hard to believe it is 2023 already- every time my credit card company sends me an updated credit card, I look at the expiration date and think to myself, "Wow, I wonder what things will be like in that far-off year?" Well, the future is here.
Last month, I had listed my WIPS, partly in frustration of how many I had. Today, I will update what I have accomplished, and share my plans for what I would like to do next.
WIPS from last month:
- Quaere fiber/queen city yarns socks for me (1 sock done, working on sock #2) Still working on these socks, as they got misplaced in my travel backpack between Christmas break and New Years. I did turn the heel on the 2nd sock, and now am working on the cuff.
- Lollipop yarn sock (probably for P, might be for father-in-law or my dad) Finished! I focused a lot of travel time on these socks, and finished them in time for my Dad to wear them on Christmas Day, just in time for Florida to be in the 20's. As in, 27 degrees Fahrenheit on the beach. Good timing, right?
- two-at-a-time sweet george gradient socks from a sock blank (both at the instep, about to get to the heel) I turned the heel yesterday for both socks! I knit about an inch on each, and then turned the heels. Now am working on the cuffs.
- socks for me from souvenir yarn from Buffalo, NY, when P and I visited Niagara Falls in 2021. I devoted some time to working on these socks last weekend when we visited my in-laws for New Years. I finished the first sock, cast on the second sock, and finished the toe increases. This sock is now going to be my car knitting for a while until I can get to the heel.
- Sweater for P (Flax Sweater)- one sleeve down to decreases for the cuff. Finished! I tried working on this on car rides to my in-laws, and it was really hard- the bumpy road kept jerking my neck, resulting in neck spasms. Since I devoted the plane ride to Florida/New Orleans to Dad's socks, I worked on it on the way back from New Orleans/Florida, and completed it December 30th, just in time for P to wear it to my in-laws' house for New Years Day fondue. My father in-law in particular admired the sweater quite a bit.
- Sweater for me, in fingering weight yarn- V neck tee (probably going to try to make this either a cardigan or a long-sleeved top) Not much love on this yet, since I was working on P's sweater. I'm intending on picking it back up soon.
- Sweater for me, in fingering weight/handspun. Update to add that this sweater was designed by Bad Wolf Girl Knits, and is called the Frozen Fractals sweater. I've casted it on, and did 2 rows of ribbing on the neckline so far.
- handspun blanket I did work on this for a few rows, when the socks were not in a place for me to pick and and put down during one night of playing Spiritfarer: Farewell Edition video game with P. It is starting to get heavy, so I need to start using a lapdesk for me to avoid straining my forearms. I did wash and prep an 8 oz bobbin of handspun for the blanket over Christmas break, which is kind of like working on it?
Additional Updates:
I started the enormous task of re-organizing the living room and my crafting room, and while it is still early days yet, one of the more signficant things I did was to move my orange fuzzy dish chair to the crafting room, so that I would have a lounging chair where I could knit or read or just hang out in my little oasis. In order to make room, I cleaned out a black 9-grid, and we move that downstairs to house all of the board games that no longer work for P and our current lifestyle. The rearrangement has already paid off in that while I was sitting in the craft room contemplating what to do next, I started looking at some of the projects on my 9-grid, and decided to frog my worsted weight shawl WIP, which was a mystery knit along with Alana Dakos of Never Not Knitting in either 2017 or 2018. I finished clue 2 or 3, and then just got stuck when life got busy. While I am not against a worsted weight shawl, I have plenty of other shawls and would rather put the time, yarn, and energy into a worsted weight sweater at this time. So I did cast on for a Brick Sweater, which I had been thinking about making for a while, since hearing about it from Dr. Gemma of the Cogknitive Podcast. I'm not sure at this time if the sweater is for me or P (we have the same width in shoulders, but he has a bigger belly and much longer torso.), but we will see as time goes by. If it is a quick knit, I might make the first one for me as an experiment and an additional one for him that fits him better. I also have gorgeous DK weight yarn we picked up at Around the Table Yarns with which I'm thinking about making him a vest. Many Plans!
In all seriousness, I had a pretty hard week at work, (several 13 hour work days), so Saturday I just chilled at home, spent most of the day resting on the recliner, watching YouTube and working on projects. I opted out of playing board games with P and his friends. It was very relaxing, but at the same time, it made me realize for the first time just truly how many WIPS I had. I'm hoping to decrease the numbers for a bit, and focusing my attention on finishing things this year. (Yes, I know, I just cast on for another sweater with plans for 1-2 more, but planning for more intentionally finishing things before starting more.)
Thus, I spent some time and hand-wrote out a list of WIPS that were active, just scattered around my chair, and it was so helpful to see how many projects I already had in place, and made me certainly second guess starting the vest and the Brick at the same time. I had all this startitis energy because I had finished a few things, but this exercise helped remind me to pull back on the reins a little bit, and devote some of my energy to those things I've already started.
I think my theme this year is going to be Intentionality. What about you? With love and respect, Z
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