The state of the WIPs

My period of monogamous knitting appears to have ended. I blame the lure of the knitalong! I thought I would lay out the situation, and hope that in doing so, I'm inspired to work down a few of these projects. The fact is that I am looking forward to the finished product of each and every one of them, and when I work a few rows on this and a few rows on that across too many, it ends up feeling as if I will never finish any of them. So with this in mind, I set off on the half term holidays with 6 works in progress (WIPs) in my bag. And after a week of quite good knitting time, I finished one of them. Not terribly impressive! But I did go on to finish another shortly after my return home, and another isn't far off. So here is The State of the WIPS:

A pair of Dave socks (by Rachel Coopey), knitted in West Yorkshire Spinners Signature 4ply Country Birds in the Bullfinch colourway (although to my eye it is far more Greater Spotted Woodpecker-like). These are FINISHED! They've been my handbag knitting project since the start of the year, and eluded discovery when Jim did a project round up a few weeks back, but some concentrated effort in the car resulted in a finished pair. They are a little shorter than they should have been, but I think that Jim's loss will be someone else's gain! More on my Ravelry page here: Woodpecker Daves

I FINISHED my Breezy cardigan (by Hannah Fettig)! This is a project which went much faster than I anticipated. I wasn't sure that I had the knitting time for a drape-front 4ply cardigan at the moment, but here I am wearing it. (And it's lovely and cosy today too - our office gets chilly as it faces north.)

I used some Merino Cashmere Nylon that Jeni at Fyberspates dyed for me many moons ago. It's a lovely variegated blue and green - right up my colour palette street! The pattern is really straightforward, and as a result I worked on it a lot on car journeys and in front of the TV. Even the final rib around the neckband didn't take nearly as long as I had feared. In fact it was the fear of how long it would take that stopped me from working on it over half term. I AM DAFT! More details can be found over on my Ravelry page: Breezy for Me

My Theme and Variation hap (by Veera Välimäki) is coming along nicely (still a WIP though). The final edging is slow going as the number of stitches increases dramatically, and there are two slipped stitch rows (for the secret stripes) that don't contribute to the depth of the hap. So it feels like it's not much bigger than when I last photographed it. But that's an illusion, and I mustn't lose momentum! I'm well on track to finish this before the end of term, which is great as it's a present for a very special teacher who deserves each and every stitch of this. I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in the Raspberry Cordial and Logwood colourways. Anj at Meadow Yarn was particularly helpful when I was choosing shades, and I've really enjoyed knitting it up. I'm coming to the end of the first skein of Raspberry Cordial, but won't need very much of the second to complete the edging. More details on my Ravelry page here: Whoops I cast on a hap!

I've made more progress than I anticipated on my Islay cardigan (by Gudrun Johnston - last time it was on the blog I had only done the ribbing). Hurrah! I'm about to start work on the charts, which should help me to plough through the rest of the body. The KAL for this ends on the 1st July, so I'm not sure that I will be finished by then, but my attempt won't be too bad. I should be onto sleeves I would imagine (well, that's unless I get distracted by other things...). I'm using some beautiful Buachaille in Between Weathers that Kate generously gave me for my birthday, and it is such a joy to work with - all the best bits about proper wool (bounce! spring!) and soft too. I'm knitting this to go with the summer dress I sewed earlier in the year, and I'm so looking forward to wearing them together. Full details on my Ravelry page: Islay

I've made no progress at all on my Alfrick socks, Pawkie (it needs a pair!) or my Golden Wheat shawl (ahem!). But that's actually probably a good thing. If I'm going to finish things, I need to focus and make progress on one or two projects, rather than trying to do all of them at the same time.

Having cast off two projects, it seemed perfectly reasonable to cast on a new one! I recently started to help Martina Behm as a moderator in her new International Strickmich group on Ravelry, so it seemed only right that I should cast on one of her designs to celebrate this! I'm making Fractal Danger out of a deep-stash Sushi Roll from EasyKnits. The colours are gorgeous, and I'm going to work from light to dark, and back out to light again. This is one of those brilliant designs where it's simple enough to memorise, and I can (more or less) work safely on it while chatting at knitting group, without fear of having to unknit everything when I get home again. This is what I'm working on when I'm too tired to do anything else - it's the ideal soothing project. More information here: Fractal Danger

So that is The State of the WIPs! I don't think I have anything else lurking in a project bag anywhere... I know that by many people's standards, I've not got that much on the go, but I do like to take stock and simplify from time to time. Hopefully I'll be back in a few weeks to report that I've finished my Theme and Variation hap and my Islay cardigan. Then perhaps I can cast on another project from The Book of Haps...

Do you have lots of projects on the go? Or do you prefer monogamy in your knitting?

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What we're working on now

The title is probably a bit misleading  since this is not about what we're doing business-wise, but what we've got on our needles.

I've stalled recently with my knitting - I just don't seem to be motivated to get anything out. So here's my sleeve and a bit of Jon from Lopi 31. It will keep me warm next winter, or maybe the one after that if I don't get a move on.

In stark contrast, and despite the fact that we've been deep in editing (for what seems like months) of The Book of Haps, Jen has been madly casting on projects. 

Jen's Breezy Cardigan by Hannah Fettig, from Knitbot Essentials looks nearly finished. The neckband will take some time as it is so long. I'm sure it won't be long though. This is a project that's used some rather old Fyberspates Merino/Cashmere/Nylon in Jen's usual blue/green palette.

Before she's finished one cardigan, she's cast on another. This is Gudrun Johnston's Islay cardigan in Buachaille. If you look back to the last post, you'll find out a little more.

While picking through the mound of project bags, I found this lone Pawkie from Kate Davies' Seven Skeins club. There's plenty of yarn left for the other and I'm sure this will come with us on holiday as it's a compact project.

There is of course the inevitable sock project. This is one-and-a-bit Alfrick socks by Rachel Coopey in Lang Jawoll. These have steadily grown over the last few months and I'm sure will be ready well in advance of next autumn - particularly since Jen has fished them out for the Mason-Dixon One Sock Knitalong. Do you have a single sock lurking somewhere? Dig it out and join in.

Finally, there's a super secret project that I can't show you. Yet. It's one of the haps from The Book of Haps that Jen couldn't help but cast on in Tosh Merino Light. Have a look at Jen's project pages once the book is published to see her progress.

This won't be the last project from The Book of Haps that Jen wants to make. Join our Ravelry group to find out how she's getting on and to join the conversation about what's new and exciting in the knitting world.

Jim