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.

A Season of Expectation and Hope

 Note: This was written on December 17, 2025, but never published. It's fully a month later, but I've decided to post and back-date it, so I'd have the record of what I was thinking about the week before Christmas.  

We're about a week out from the Big Day, and I am feeling remarkably zen about it.  I have very nearly finished my shopping, know more or less what I bought for whom (more or less), and am embracing a sense of chill merriment for the season.

This is so historically unlike me that I am not sure I know who I am anymore.  Maybe it's because my children are all adults now or maybe it's because I am fully embracing my fairy light era -- I don't know exactly what combination of holiday magic is conspiring to holly my jollies, but you better believe I'm taking notes so I can try to recreate it next year.

One thing that I know for sure is contributing to my delight in the season is an aggressive pursuit of coziness (see above, re: fairy lights) coupled with some intentional crafting.   I'm often comfortably ensconced on my couch, under a festive holiday blanket of my own making, staring at a beautiful tree and other festive bits and bobs, and this year I'm knitting not one, but two pairs of advent socks. 

I am not sure why I decided to two pairs exactly -- I usually only knit one in December, but here we are.  Shockingly I'm keeping up with both pairs -- heel day was a bit of a marathon, but otherwise it's been smooth sailing. 

Future Bekah here again.  I didn't have a photo from that week, but (SPOILERS!) I finished both pair a day or two after Christmas.

In fact I'm enjoying it so much, and had so much success with the "few rows a day" experiment with the cabled sock, that I am planning to carry on with something similar in January.  I'm not making any big announcements about an annual goal or anything, but in January I'm planning to cast on a patterned sock and knit somewhere around 12 rounds a day until they are done.  

Basically, I'm riffing off of Stephanie Pearl-McPhee's Self-Imposed Sock Club, but one month at a time and I'm picking the patterns as I go.  If I do it more than once.  

If it goes well and if I still like it, I might do it again in February.  You don't know.

Getting Back on the Proverbial Horse

After last week's goal review session and a quick perusal of my Ravelry notebook, I've come to a few conclusions.

Conclusion the first:  an annual planning cycle doesn't feel very useful to me right now.  Time is wily and so are my interest and focus.  I am thinking about a quarterly approach for 2026 -- basically the opposite of what I did for 2025.  2026 goals will have more focus, more structure, and a much shorter time horizon from conception through to fruition.

Conclusion the second: it's a good thing I like socks.  I wonder if I can take what's great about them (portability and ease, for example) and apply that to other things I might like to make?  I live in Tennessee so I don't need a ton of hats, but it's worth thinking about anyway.  I really do like socks though, so if it ain't broke, maybe I don't need to fix it.
 
Conclusion the third: I do not finish blankets at the same rate that I start them.  I have all different kinds going - dead simple, complex, knit, crochet, Disneyland-threw-up levels of scrappiness, highly structured colorways … I have a blanket WIP for pretty much any whim or occasion.   I would like to start rotating a few towards finished, so my planning for next year should take that into account.
 
Conclusion the fourth: I have a few not blanket or sock WIPs (I know! I was shocked too!) and I'd like to move them along before the new year. 
 
To that end, I've picked my cabled socks back up and have started doing a four-row repeat a day.  I'm treating it as a bit of a road test for the Stephanie Pearl-McPhee Self-Imposed Sock Club method.  It's a clever bit of business where she pairs yarns with patterns (that's the sock club part) and then she knits about 10 rounds a day.  Much like the advent socks lots of folks (myself included) like to knit in December, if you keep that schedule up you have a pair of socks at the end of the month without hardly trying.  I could see this as a helpful way to get patterned socks knit faster than the heat death of the universe.
 
As for the cabled socks, four rows a day won't finish them fast, but it will finish them.  That's better than what I was doing, which was picking up the project bag and moving it around every couple of weeks without ever actually touching the knitting.  I'm on the gusset increases for the second sock of the pair, so once I've turned the heel and wrapped up the cables, I can just go "whoosh!" and they'll practically finish themselves. 

I should clarify - these socks are lovely, and no hardship to knit.  The cables are dead simple, and the rest is just knits and purls.  I just … wasn't.  So now I am, and that's a win!
 
Other focus projects at the moment are a vaguely Christmassy star-shaped afghan, the current backpack sock, and I also spontaneously decided to cast on Joji Locatelli's MKAL shawl "One Love" -- I'm really enjoying both the pace and the pattern.  Glad I jumped in!

I'm toying with the idea of a bit of giftmas knitting, so we'll see where that goes.  I also have more ideas for December knitting than I have December, so I need to figure that out soon too.

Checking in on What I Said I Wanted

Long-time friends of the show know that I like to do a bit of goal-setting and planning about my crafting.  I remain allergic to resolutions, but I do love a list.

Back in late December of 2024, I sat myself down with a cup of tea and a notebook and gave the coming year a good think.  Sometimes I really enjoy very detailed lists and other times I set a few guidelines or intentions and call it a day.   This past year I was leaning far more heavily into the vague than the specific.  Sometimes it just be like that.

 

So, without further ado - here's what I thought I wanted to do 11 months ago, what I've really done so far this year, and what I might still prioritize as we wrap 2025 up.

 

1. I would like to continue to work on cross stitch as well as knitting and crocheting.

Am I on Track?  Not really, no.  I was going strong right through about March or so, and then suddenly my interest kind of fizzled.  Admittedly based on limited data, it looks like I'm kind of a seasonal stitcher?  Over the past two years I've been quite interested in cross-stitching across the winter months … which is wild since my vision is kind of dodgy and apparently the urge strikes during the darkest part of the year, go figure.  My brain is a wild and wonderful place, I tell you.

What's left for 2025? I'm not too fussed about it, to tell you the truth.  I am enjoying what I am working on, and I expect the urge to stitch will return at some point.  One thing I may do is pull out the Christmas tree ornament that I was close to finishing and see about getting that on my tree this year.  After that, who knows?

 

2. More Socks

Am I on Track?  Assuredly.  Socks are the only thing I'm consistently knitting these days. I've finished 12 pair for the year and am on track to finish a few more.

What's left for 2025? I'll finish up what's on the needles (a vanilla pair in festive colors and a cabled pair in a lovely dove gray).   I am also planning at least one and maybe two pairs of advent socks…which means I need to prioritize the two active pairs in November, now that I think of it.  The cabled socks don't "have" to be finished in 2025, but it would be nice.

the story thus far...

3. Get new glasses

Am I on Track? Totally, and it really did make a difference in my crafting (as well as all of the other parts of living, like being able to see the computer monitor to do my job).  I also discovered that taking them off completely helps for really close work, but that strains my eyes somewhat so I try to do it sparingly.

 

What's left for 2025? Nothing - this one is a one and done for the year.  Woo hoo!

4. More out than in (stash management)

Am I on Track?  lol

What's left for 2025? I don't have any active stash acquisition plans for the rest of the year, beyond another One Row mini skein delivery in December.  I did quit my Yarnable subscription earlier this year, so I'm no longer getting that monthly deposit in the yarn bank, but between a couple of fiber events earlier this year, advents, blanket kits, and the occasional wild hair, my stash continues to grow.  A grip.  I need to get one.

 

5. Sweaters.  Start with stash and queue.

Am I on Track?  Again, no.  And at this point I'm starting to wonder who I thought I was going to be in 2025, because my track record this year is not great.  At least in terms of hitting the goals I set last December anyway.  I've gotten lots accomplished, but not a lot of what I said I wanted to do.

What's left for 2025?  I started a sweater vest earlier this year and I'm more than half done with it  -- I'm going to focus on getting it wrapped up and then start some swatching to see if I can't get excited for a January 1 cast on.  I still want to knit (or crochet!) sweaters for myself, and Lord knows I've got the stash.

 

In Summary

I should have just put "Haul off and start another 16 blankets" on my goals list for the year.  I'd have been closer to the mark, if we're being honest.  I am ungovernable.

 

One thing that definitely threw a monkey into my wrench works is that I quit my long-time wizard-based internet crafting game at the end of March.  I've planned so much of my crafting around the rhythms of the House Cup for the last ten years - when I quit it left me a little adrift, I think.  I spent the rest of the year just working on whatever I felt like, whenever I felt like it.  I'm not mad, and probably needed the break, but I think I need to decide if I'd benefit from some light structure in my crafting, after running amok for 6+ months.

 

I really do have a silly number of blanket WIPs.

More Working on All the Things. As One Does.

It's been a fairly calm week here at chez woolly.  We're all recovering nicely from our bout with The Plague(tm).  I still get tired really easily (and can't tell if the brain fog is due to Covid or from being a Woman of a Certain Age), but overall I am feeling loads better.

I am continuing to make steady progress across several projects, and that feels great.  I haven't worked as much on the blanket as I thought I would, but enh, it's whatever.  It'll be done when it is done - I only have 4.5 border rounds to go so once the mood strikes it won't take long.

I have, however, made lots of progress on the Glittering-Whatsit shawl that I abandoned last year.  I mathed it out that if I can knock out 8 repeats a week, I'll have it done by the end of April.  So far so good!

The sock continues to see some action, albeit not quite as much as I'd hoped.  Patterned socks (even patterns as simple as a 2x2 Broken Rib) always take me longer, and I always underestimate it.

This picture was taken on Saturday on my way to meet up with Rhiannon for Modern Daily Knitting's Nash Yarn Fest, where I suffered from utter and absolute camnesia.  Truly a blogger's fail, I tell you.  But I did run into some lovely friends who live in the internet, which was wonderful, and Rhi and I had a great time.  The crowds were a little overwhelming (and the weather a little exciting), but all in all I'm very glad we went and excited that they've already announced that they plan to do it again next year.

In other making news, I decided to cast on the Spring pattern of the Stardew Valley socks that Rhi got me for Christmas year before last.  I thought the equinox was a perfect time to start it, and even queued up one of the Spring songs from the OST to listen to while I worked on it.  A++ nerdery, would go again.  I would show you the picture I took with my laptop open to the Stardew Valley soundtrack on Spotify, but after I took the picture I realized that my laptop screen is filthy, and that will not be going on the internet.

My current plan is to start the summer pair on the Solstice and so on and so forth.  I may only knit one of each pair and hang them on my wall in sock blockers as art - I haven't fully decided yet.  More on that as it develops!