I Bet You Thought I Forgot: February is for Finishing 2024

Well, hello there!  Here it is already February 5th, and I haven't posted my annual WIP Parade.  

You see, what had happened was, I was out of town for work last week, and then I spent the weekend recovering from that, and ... to be honest I couldn't be bothered. I not proud of this, but here we are.

First thing, I need to tell you that 2023 as "The Year of the WIP" was wildly successful.  I mean, sure, I never came back and posted about it here, but let's not pretend any of us are surprised by this.  What might surprise you is that I was able to finish (or in one or two cases frog) every single WIP that I brought into 2023 with me.  Absolutely everything on last year's list is done like dinner, and the oldest project on this year's list was started in March of 2023.  Hell yeah.

Of course, I have hauled off and started like 5 new scrap blankets, so we're taking another one way trip to WIP-town, but that's just how it goes around here.

Okay, on to the list.  I have 11 projects in progress right now - which seems to be about where my WIP threshold hovers these days.  This number includes the aforementioned 5 blankets, 2 pairs of socks, a pair of mitts, and 3 shawls (2 crocheted and 1 knit).

As is tradition, we'll list these oldest to newest.  Most links go to my Ravelry project pages.

The WIP Parade

1. all used up.  March 26, 2023. This is a scrappy granny square blanket using commercial sock yarn held double and a 4.00mm crochet hook.  Each square is five rounds, and uses around 10 grams of sock yarn.  My socks tend to take about 70 grams per pair, leaving an awkward amount of yarn leftover - but now I have a great way to make sure I can update my Ravelry stash entry to "all used up."  

2. thinking only autumn thoughts.  August 2023. I'm not 100% sure when I started this shawl, actually.  I think it was around August, but for some reason I never entered it into Ravelry, and didn't take a single picture until today. This is The Garden Party Shawl by Toni Lipsey of TL Yarn Crafts. I found Toni through her YouTube channel and she is an absolute delight.  I'm using Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply in Espresso and the SAFF 2017 show color.

3. doubt that the sun doth move. September 1, 2023. This is a test knit that I did for Heidi Nick. I needed to finish one sock for the test, and then I never quite finished the second sock for me. I'm using 2.5mm needles and Rain's Obsessive Stitchery in her Fred base, colorway Jodhpur.

4. no YOU started a new scrap blanket. September 11, 2023. This is the Sweet Shop Blanket by Laura Penrose. I'm using fingering weight held double and a US 8 (5.0mm) needle. 

5. nobody can resist a jelly baby. November 18, 2023. Since the Sweet Shop blanket has a muted palette, I decided I also needed somewhere to put the brights and the neons.  Enter the Jelly Roll blanket by Kay Jones. I'm holding fingering double to get a DK weight, and am using a base of 18 stitches. So far, it's entirely made using Row One minis, and it's loads of fun to knit.

6. I reject your reality and substitute it with my own. December 12, 2023. Another test knit where I only needed one to complete the test.  I think we might be seeing a pattern here, hard to say. These are (or will be) the Subjective Mitts by Shana Cohen of Shanalines Designs.  I got to meet Shana at SSK last summer, and she's such a cool person. It won't take much to get this pair finished up, I just need to get the second mitt started.

7. Glittering Snowscape Shawl. January 1, 2024. My New Year's start this year is Stephen West's Hiberknitalong KAL.  I'm using Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply (a fan favorite around here) in a gorgeous goldish-brownish-gold gradient.  I'm knitting this with US 6 (4.0 mm) needles.

8. for its own joy. January 1, 2024. Another New Year's Day start, this is the African Flowers Patchwork Blanket by Stouto's Stuff.  I'm just playing and using up scraps of Stylecraft Special DK that I have from all of those blankets I've crocheted in the last few years. This is a patchwork blanket made up of several of squares of this size, and a bunch more that are quarter-sized.

9. oops all neutrals. January 6, 2024.  Look, I don't have to justify myself to you.  But if you must know, I needed somewhere to put all the greys and browns and creams that wouldn't work in either of the other two sock yarn scrap blankets.  This is a JAYG 4-round granny square blanket, using fingering weight scraps held double, and a 4.0 mm hook.  I'll just keep going until I run out of neutral scraps or decide it's big enough.

10. it only gets brighter from here. January 21, 2024. This past yuletide I opened the Fiber Seed's All is Bright advent set. It's a glorious gradient-ish rainbow in delicious eye-searing colors.  I'm crocheting it up into Half a Granny Square Shawl by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas, using a 4.0 mm hook. I'm planning to keep it in my office to throw on if I get chilly.

11. nothing you can make that can't be made. January 29, 2024. My standard vanilla sock with a Fish Lips Kiss heel and a 66 stitch cast on, to try to finesse the fit.  I'm using Freckled Whimsy's Serendipity base in the Norwegian Wood colorway, and 2.5 mm needles.

And there you have it - that's this year's round up. 

February Plan

My specific goals for this February are to finish:

• the cabled sock
• the advent half granny square shawl
• the Norwegian Woods socks

And to make solid progress on the HKAL shawl, and some of the blankets.  I'm targeting the shawl and the mitts for March finishes.

I predict that in about a year I'm going to be super sick of all of those scrap yarn blankets and will do another big push to finish things, but for now I'm having fun, and at the end of the day that's what really matters, yeah?