2026 February is For Finishing: In My Blanket Era

I've been trying to decide how I want to approach this list for a while, because the WIP situation over here is a little wild. 

I mean, don't get it twisted, I have projects coming out of my ears, but for the first time in a long time I have a handful of hibernating projects that I'm just ... okay with living in a state of uncertainty about.  I cast on a couple of things over the summer that didn't really get much traction, but I think I still want to knit them, so why would I rip out a perfectly good cast on?   I'm not really counting them as projects, but they are not NOT projects either. They are Schrodinger's WIPs; they both are and are not projects, so long as I leave them in the bag.

To be clear, the part that's different this year is that I'm more or less at peace with the barely started or hibernating projects.  I'm choosing to eschew stress about it.  Eventually I'll get tired of it and haul off and either finish or frog them, but for now?  Enh. I did briefly consider not mentioning them at all, but if we can't be honest with ourselves here during the sacred Annual Airing of the WIP Pile™ what we even doing?

So here's the plan, I'm going to share three lists:

1. Active WIPs in current rotation.  These are or will be getting active attention.  In other words, I'm still making eye contact with these projects.
2. The various scrap blankets.  I'm adding to these as and when, so while they're all active, they are also all long-term projects.  Or, long-term on purpose rather, not just long-term because I got bored and wandered off.
3. Hibernating projects that will either move to active or get frogged...but not today.

I imagine that's more prologue than any of you wanted or needed, but since this is a little different than how I've done things in the past, if nothing else at least I'll remember what I was thinking as I am slowly consumed by an ever-growing mountain of good intentions.

Active WIPs

1. she's been living on the highest shelf, cast on January 25, 2025. This is Riptide, by Jennifer Shiels Toland, knit in Knit Picks Swish DK in the Squirrel Heather colorway and on US 6 needles.  I started this just a few days before my last February round up, and I've made slow but steady progress.  I'm working on the front half of the split-rib hem, and once the hems are done, I've just the neckband to go.  There's no reason that this should have taken a year to knit other than the simple fact that things get done faster when you work on them.

2 & 3. Yorkshire Blanket - Advent Edition and Yorkshire Blanket - DK Edition.  The Yorkshire blanket is the brain child of Emyleah of Meema Makes, and I like it so much I'm making two of them.  One out of Stylecraft Special DK pulled from stash and the other from my 2022 Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply Advent calendar.  I'm enjoying the different effects that these two very different yarns are having.  I started them both on May 12, 2025, and I'm working them side-by-side.  I have a few more squares to do for each and then I'll move on to assembly.  

4. sounds of laughter shades of life is the Universe in Bloom blanket by Dedri Uys, started October 2, 2025. I'm using the called for Scheepjes Color Crafter in the eye-searing "Bouquet" kit colorway. I put this away for the holidays, but I plan to get it back out soon.  It is a very different kind of crochet than I've done before, and I'm kind of getting a kick out of it when I'm not annoyed at it for being so effing fiddly.  I am nothing if not multi-dimensional.

5. and always beyond that the horizon. Having finally finished one Stephen West hiberknitalong project, what was I to do besides cast on another one?  Speaking of fiddly, I do question the wisdom of this adventure, but at least there isn't a knitted on border with 853 color changes.  I'm using a quartet of Yummy 2-Ply from Miss Babbs, and I cast this on December 21, 2025, as my Solstice start.

7. halt your well-made chariot here is Calliope from Espace Tricot.  I'm using Garnstudio Drops Sky, which is a blown yarn that's an alpaca/wool/nylon blend.  It's lovely to work with so far.    I started this sweater on January 1, 2026, and intend to give it more attention once Riptide is done.

So that's the active list, with Riptide as the only repeat guest.  I feel good about these projects -- and if I can get (when I get) Riptide done I'll feel great about them.  You'll note the remarkable lack of socks on this list.  Fear me not, I'll be casting on at least one, if not two pairs any minute now.

The Scrap Blankets

I'm going to skip the photos on these, to keep this from being interminably long.  Links go to my project pages on Ravelry, where I have updated photos if you're curious.

1.  all used up, started March 26, 2023.  5 round granny squares using various commercial sock yarns held double.  I'll join it together with a continuous JAYG method when I hit 130 squares.  I have roughly half that number now.  Maybe I should knit more socks.

2. no YOU started a new scrap blanket.  This is Laura Penrose's Sweet Shop blanket (I seriously just typed "Sweat Shop Blanket" and no, that's different.)  I started this September 11, 2023, and am using muted colors, mostly from my collection of Row One minis held double for the contrast triangles.  For now I'm aiming for either a 6x8 or 7x7 lap blanket, but since it's modular, I'll just decide I'm done when I get there.

3. nobody can resist a jelly baby, using various fingering weight sock yarns held double (are you sensing a theme?).  This one is using all the bright colors that don't make sense in the Sweet Shop blanket. The pattern is a slightly modified version of Kay Jones' Jelly Roll Blanket.  I started this November 18, 2023.

4. oops all neutrals, using (you guessed it) fingering weight sock yarns held double, this time in lovely shades of grey, brown, and cream.  No pattern for this one - I'm just doing 4-round grannies and joining them as I go with no borders.  This was started on January 6, 2024.

5. here we come a-wanderin' is a mitered sock yarn blanket using up Christmas sock scraps held single for once.  It's going to look like the North Pole went on a bender when I'm done with this thing. It was started November 15, 2024.

6. c'mon man.  Okay, this one is pure self-indulgence.  It's a corner-to-corner blanket that I started it because I wanted to and for no other reason.  It is a riotous scrap-fest using up any sock yarn scraps in my stash that I decided didn't have another home or purpose.  It's awfully fun.  I started this on October 18, 2025, and I'm aiming for a nice lap/couch blanket size, going for a rectangle instead of a square. 

In Hibernation

And finally a simple list of inactive or hibernating WIPs. Most don't even have project pages.

1. Deschain, sleeveless version out of Sandnes Garn Tykk Line

2. 3 Color Cashmere Shawl, using Kim Dyes Yarn Flan Sock singles

3. Stardew Valley Spring socks, using Knit Picks Palette

4. Test blanket for Mio that is long since past due.  I'm sure I'll use the squares for something.

2025 in Review: A Finish Parade

I'll be posting my Annual Airing of the WIP™ pile here in a few days, but I thought I might take a moment first to share some of my finishes from 2025.  Maybe that will make us all feel better about the length of the list I'm about to drop on y'all. 

Let's start with some quick numbers.

• I completed 26 projects and used 15,485 yards of yarn.
• Of those 26, 16 were pairs of socks.  We do like a sock around these parts.
• I knit or crocheted 3 shawls and 1 poncho.
• I finished 1 substantial blanket project.
• I knit 3 pairs of fingerless mitts as Christmas gifts.
• I knit 2 stuffies: an Emotional Support Chicken and a gnome.

That feels like a healthy mix of projects (er, if you call 60% socks healthy...and I do).  Notably, there were no finished garments.  I have Riptide nearly done, but I am struggling with maintaining any momentum there. But we'll talk about that when we look at WIPs later.

Want to see some pictures?  Of course you do.

You saw the first whack of socks earlier when I was taking stock of my goal completion back in November, but here's the entirety of my 2025 output in one place:

There's a nice balance of vanilla, textured, and fun cables. Most have a Fish Lips Kiss heel, with the odd Fleegle or two in the mix for variety.  Will I finish more pairs in 2026 than I did in 2025?  Time will tell, but I can share that I'm already done one pair and expect another finish by end of week, so...

The shawl and poncho category is nicely balanced between knit and crochet. There's also good variety in size and weight (and color!)  I definitely didn't get bored making these.  (I lie.  The border on that Stephen West shawl nearly killed me.)

The blanket I finished is another Marion Mitchell - this was one is the Beachwalk Blanket.  I love it.  The colors are gorgeous, and it is a great size.  Those little 1 round grannies were a lot, but worth it, I think.

Some holiday mitts - all DK weight (or, well, the bottom pair is fingering held double, but same difference).

And then finally the stuffies.  I haven't made a ton of these kinds of projects in the past, but I got a big kick out of both of these, so there may be more in my future.

So that's a wrap on what I accomplished last year.  I am really happy with what I got done.

Looking ahead, there will for sure be more socks, likely another shawl or two, and hopefully some sweaters or sweater vests.  And given the number of blankets I'm working on, surely I will finish one of those someday too.

I hope.

Things Fall Apart, the Center Cannot Hold: On Entropy and Mending

One can only assume that when WB Yeats wrote the poem The Second Coming in 1919 he was rather more focused on the recently ended Great War, his pregnant wife nearly dying from the 1918-19 influenza pandemic, and the Irish Rebellion, but it applies to my afghan too.

I’ve been on a multi-year afghan bender, and why I decided that making blankets was my thing, I’m not entirely sure, but with multiple (ten *cough*, ten) current blanket WIPs this obsession shows no signs of abating.  I am particularly fond of the granny square, which begins in the center and grows outward.  Those familiar with crochet will likely be aware of the “magic circle” which is a nifty trick that allows you to start in the center of a motif without joining a circle of chains.

Upside?  It’s easy and tightens up like a dream, leaving no pesky hole in the middle.  Downside?  If you don’t take great pains to secure the end, that neatly tightened circle is gonna open right back up again.

 

The center literally did not hold.

But back to Yeats.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

In Yeats’ cosmology, history plays out as a series of epochs or “gyres.”  The widening gyre is the current era of modern civilization that is spiraling out into chaos.  The rest of the poem describes a vision of the future that subverts the imagery of the ‘second coming’ from the arrival of a heroic savior to the coming of a dark beast,  “suggesting that civilization’s sense of progress and order is only an illusion.”   

If we’re being honest, I’m rather less interested in the religious imagery in the second half of the poem than I am in the implications for the 2nd law of thermodynamics in the first.  Physics tells us that the universe began in a state of order with low entropy, and that things have been going down-hill ever since.  The ever-expanding, ever-accelerating universe craves disorder and “mere anarchy … loosed upon the world.”   Entropy will always, inevitably, increase over time, afghans will wear out (you were wondering if I was going to bring it back around, weren’t you?) and ultimately disorder and chaos will be victorious.

And yet. 

According to astrophysicist Adam Frank, “the very act of trying is what defines being alive.”  I heard this NPR interview when it originally aired back in 2013, and it stuck with me (and bless NPR’s archives for making it easy to find.)  Frank goes on to say, “even more, it's that act of trying that makes life - your life, in particular - a cosmic victory. Life, you see, is the triumph of order over chaos. Life is order hammered out if only for a time. And with that effort, something new, something wonderful appears in the universe: creativity.”

In some ways Yeats was absolutely right.  The center cannot (and did not) hold.  Things will fall apart.  Spend a few minutes perusing the day's headlines and you’ll see anarchy loosed all over the place.  On the other hand, what’s our responsibility to push back against the inevitable chaos?

Things fall apart, and then we fix them until we cannot fix them anymore.  If, as Jonathan Larson penned in Rent, “the opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation”, then the opposite of despair is mending. 

It is a radical act of defiance to continually reinvest energy into a decaying system.   The center will not hold; things will fall apart. But then we will put them back together.

Note: I wrote the initial draft of this back in the summer of 2024, and damned if it isn't more relevant now than it was even then.  Also, you'll be pleased to know I finally fixed the hole in my afghan. 

References:

Essay on W.B. Yeats' poem, The Second Coming.

NPR's "Don't Try to Clean That Messy Desk," interview with Adam Frank.