The Annual Airing of the WIP Basket: February is for Finishing 2020

It's that time of year again, folks.   Friends of the show will remember that February is for Finishing, and that every year we begin the month with the "annual airing of the WIP pile."

I've talked a bit here and there about why February is for Finishing as a tradition has evolved for me over the years (TL;DR - I just don't have as many WIPs as I used to), but I definitely think that the practice of giving everything currently in progress a good, strong eye-balling at least annually is a good idea.

So without further ado, here is my 2020 list of Works in Progress, in order from oldest to newest.  (Links go to the relevant Ravelry project page).

1.  Hogwarts Studies Notebook, cast on May 16, 2016.  This is Schrodinger's blanket.  It is and is not a WIP, depending on whether or not I am currently in the process of adding a square.   I started this blanket not long after I started playing in the Harry Potter Knit and Crochet House Cup, and every square has been turned in for points in the game. I have this running gag where I refer to each square as a page in my notebook, and that's where I keep all my homework.  This is one of those things where I think I'm clever and the rest of you just sort of tune out and nod at me and hope I'll stop talking.  It's okay, I get it.

I made a ton of progress on this in 2019.  I'm going to push hard to finish it this year.  I've added three more squares since this photo was taken, but this is close enough to where I am.  It's sitting pretty at 12x14 squares, and I'm targeting 12x18.  The end is in sight!

2. Weekender Blanket, started May 20, 2018.   This is a modular, JAYG hexagon blanket, crocheted with Stylecraft Special DK acrylic yarn.  I'm using the "Cottage Pack" from Lucy of Attic 24 (purchased through Wool Warehouse).  I've made significant progress on this one too, adding 4.5 rows since last year.

3. Scrappy Granny, started April 1, 2019.  Because one fingering weight blanket wasn't enough?  But you see, what had happened was... I had little bits leftover from adding squares to the Hogwarts Studies blanket, and I am only using a yarn one time in that one, and then Amy Florence from the Stranded podcast, and Caroline from the Dunderknit podcast were both crocheting one and then... It was peer pressure, okay?!  It was FOMO, pure and simple.  Also at work was a desire not to drown in small bits of fingering weight wool.

4. the art of creating comfort, started November 3, 2019.   Okay, I have no explanation for this.  No, I don't know why I have four different blankets in progress right now.  The heart wants what the heart wants, alright?   This one's also Stylecraft Special DK (this time in the "Woodland Pack" from Lucy at Attic24, via Wool Warehouse).   I'm doing 6, 8-round granny squares from each of 15 colors, and then I'm going to join the whole thing up with a gray border.  It's going to be big enough to put on my queen sized bed, and I'm stoked about it.   So far I have 17.5/90 squares done.

As an aside, you'll be pleased to note that there aren't any more blankets after this.  (I mean, I have more blankets planned, don't get it twisted, but let's finish a couple of these first, eh?)   As a second aside, the res of the projects I'll mention were cast on in 2020, so they're all brand, shiny-new.

5. Divination OWL: a secret county (Exploration Station), cast on January 2, 2020.  Would you believe I've never knit a Stephen West pattern before this one?  Where the heck have I been all this time?  I'm knitting this for my OWL in the House Cup.  This is my 12th OWL, and if I complete it on or before March 31, I will have earned the title of OWL Mistress.  Not gonna lie, I'm pretty stoked.  I'm knitting this out of Merino singles from Dream in Color and Suburban Stitcher.  This is a bit outside of my normal palette, but I love it fiercely.  Also, brioche is pretty fun. 

6. mighty in battle (Hitchhiker), cast on January 22, 2020.  So this is my sixth Hitchhiker shawl -- I knit my first one in 2013, and my most recent one in 2016.  But this is the first time I've done one with eyelets in, so there's that.  The yarn is Leading Men Fiber Arts in their Monologue base. The colorway is "And Then There's Maude."  Maude is my middle name, and those are my colors, so I was on that yarn like a duck on a june bug.  I'm farther along that this picture implies (around 22 teeth), but the picture I took today doesn't do the color any kind of justice.

7. catching or ensnaring by the foot, cast on January 25, 2020.   Did you know that the word "impeachment" is related etymologically to the word "impediment" and connotes catching someone or something "by the foot"?   Well now that's a thing you know.   Yarn is Whitebirch Fiber Arts "Study In Peach Mint."  Pattern is my standard CO 68, 1x1 rib, FLK heel.  This is the first sock of the pair.

8. bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves (Litmus Cowl), cast on January 26, 2020.  This will be a simple tubular cowl, knit in the round and grafted together to form a loop.  I think I'm going to run out of my contrast yarn, but that's a problem for future Bekah.  I'm using the "Autumn Rainbow" mini set from Canon Hand Dyes along with a neutral solid from Whitebirch Fiber Arts.

So that's it. 8 projects, 4 of which are blankets (?!) and 4 of which were cast on within the last month.  Unlike last February, I'm not planning to go rogue and cast on a bunch of stuff.  I plan to stay focused and to work solidly on my 4 new projects, while also getting some progress on one or more of those blankets. 

We'll see how we go!

Trouble Was His Middle Name, FO: to ride the silver seas

Homer's Odyssey, as I'm sure you know, recounts the story of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, and the ten years it took him to make it home after the Trojan War.

Now there was a man who would not stop to ask for directions.

While he was off galivanting with sea nymphs and taunting the odd one-eyed giant, his wife Penelope was at home beating back the advances of 108 young men who all thought they should be the next king of Ithaca, and they'd all like to grace her sheets while they were about it.  While circumstances rather forced her hand when it came to entertaining gentlemen callers, she was adamant that "no other man's boxers will go in my washing machine," and she rebuffed all advances.

Penelope was the true hero of the Odyssey.   Odysseus, who's name actually means "trouble" in Greek, my gods what a trainwreck of a man, is widely considered to be one of the cleverest of the ancient heroes.  And other than the wee-est spot of hubris - which was basically a pre-requisite for the heroing gig back in the day - he's a pretty stand-up guy.

But he's got nothing on his wife.  Friends, she had over one hundred frat boys drinking her ouzo and eating her olives, literally devouring the wealth of a country that she'd been ruling for twenty years, and she plays them.  Plays them one and all for fools and stalls them for three years while she waits for her dumb husband to get home.   

"Let me weave this shroud for Laertes," she said.  (She was a big Hamlet fan, loved Shakespeare.)

Unweaves a night's work.

"Oh, still not done!  Loads to do!" she said the next morning.

"Seems legit," the suitors all agreed, going back to the ouzo.

Suitors.  Am I right?

 Dorothy Parker, a delightful human being, author, and poet wrote this about Penelope:

Penelope

In the pathway of the sun, 
In the footsteps of the breeze, 
Where the world and sky are one, 
He shall ride the silver seas, 
He shall cut the glittering wave. 
I shall sit at home, and rock; 
Rise, to heed a neighbor’s knock; 
Brew my tea, and snip my thread; 
Bleach the linen for my bed. 
They will call him brave.

It calls into question what we define as heroism.  Is it more brave to go out into the world, to "ride the silver seas," or to stay and to wait.  To make a home, to get up day after day and do the things that must be done.  To honor politics, custom, and civility and to "heed a neighbor's knock" when you'd rather do nothing more than stay in bed and mourn the loss of the one you loved more than life?

Is it bitterness, grief, pride, or simply weariness we hear in Penelope's voice when she says, "They will call him brave"?

So anyway, this shawl I knit is called Odyssey, but I knit it for Penelope, mostly, and only a little bit for her dumb husband.

Project Notes

Project Name: to ride the silver seas

Pattern:  Odyssey by Joji Locatelli

Yarn:  DK Still by Deep Dyed Yarns in Whisp (dk grey), One Shot (olive), and Smoke (lt grey)

Total Yardage: 558 yards

Needles:  US 9 (5.5 mm)

Started: January 1, 2020

Completed: January 20, 2020

Ravelry Project Page: here

A Cozy Nest

Do you have a knitting nest?  In my house we just call it "my spot" - as in no one sits in mom's spot, lest they get The Look and summarily booted.  

It's me.  I am the mess in my living room.

You can tell it's my spot by the way it's completely surrounded by tools, projects, yarn, and the detritus of making.   I took a couple of candid photos this morning so I could share what my spot looks like in it's natural state.

Note first the projects on the couch.  If I were a better person I would put my toys away when I was done playing with them, but when I went to bed last night I knew I'd be back and working on them again today, so enh.  Why bother?

That's my current sock, the Odyssey Shawl, and Exploration Station all in a pile.

To my left is the side table that I've utterly taken over.  There's a blue cube tucked into the table that holds spare needles, bits and bobs of yarn, the odd notion, and whatever else I shove in there when I'm trying to clean up in a hurry.  Don't lie, you do it too.

Note the emergency chocolate.  It's been a week.

On the table itself is a big wooden bowl full of minis from Row One and advent calendars.  They go into various blankets, gnomes, earbud cozies and the like, but mostly they just live there because I think they're pretty and they make me happy.

Also, I told you I didn't clean up before I took these pictures.

Also pictured are my Captain America coaster, blocks from one of my blankets, a notions tin, kleenex, because I'm not a barbarian, a yarn bowl, the charger for my fitbit, and a little plate I keep extra darning needles and stitch markers on.

The plate belonged to my dad - it's from Copenhagen, and I believe that his parents brought it back from a trip?  That part of the family lore is lost now, so I might be making that up.  Our family is from Denmark originally (at least that side of the family) so it's really special to me.  I kept it hidden away for years, because I was afraid it would get broken.   Now that the kids are mostly breaking their own stuff instead of mine, I decided that the best way to honor this family treasure is to use it and have it where I can enjoy it every day.

And present pictures not withstanding, it does help keep the table a little tidier.

What's around your knitting nest?  Do you have a "spot" or are you nomadic with your making?

Fight Me, Rusty (2020 Crafting Goals and Intentions)

I got called out at work the other day because I said that I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but I do have some goals and intentions for 2020.  Resolutions and Goals are totally different, Rusty.  Fight me.

Amongst my other goals and intentions (not resolutions) for the year, I identified a few crafting related goals that I thought I'd share here on the blog.  I'll plan a few check-in posts throughout the year, and we'll see how we go.

My crafting intentions are all about how I want to feel about my hobby, whereas the goals are rather more specific in terms of the details of what I want to do. Ideally the goals should support the desired intentions, otherwise I'm doing it wrong.

Crafting Intentions

• I want to continue to expand my skills, try new techniques, and execute current skills with more precision.
• I want to expand my learning beyond my current comfort zone (so more spinning and weaving, basically).
• I want to play and have fun with what I'm making.
• I want to be clever about what I'm choosing to spend my time on, so that the end result is items that are both beautiful and useful. 
• I want to feel positive and proud about my stash, not embarrassed or defensive.  

This is a lot of text.  Here's a picture of the socks I'm currently working on.

Crafting Goals

1. Make good use of my #makenine2020 list for inspiration.  As I said in my last post, I don't have a hard and fast "must knit all of these things" kind of plan for makenine, but these are all things I'd like to make, or yarn I'd like to use.
2. Craft 15,000 yards or more.  This will basically maintain my current level of crafting, and I have a stretch goal of 20K.  I'll be happy with 15, though.
3. Do more weaving.  "More" doesn't really have a numerical value attached to it (so not a "SMART" goal as such, but whatever, I do what I want.)  Some things I'd like to work on include: hand towels, napkins, simple herringbone, more faux plaid scarves/infinity cowls out of self striping yarn.  I have plenty of stash on hand to do any or all of these.
4. Knit 20 pairs of socks in 2020.  I hit this in 2019, and would like to do it again.  For purposes of this goal, ankle socks totally count.
5. Knit 6 pair of festive socks (to be counted among the aforementioned 20, I'm not looking to sustain a pair of socks every other week all year long.  I make questionable knitting-related decisions, but that's a bridge too far even for me.)
6. Finish at least one of those ding-danged blankets.
7. I don't have a spinning specific goal, but I probably should.
8. Continue to use old growth stash, in addition to the canopy stash.

I do also have some HPKCHC specific goals, but I suspect they'd take more explaining than they are actually worth.  It all definitely rolls under my "have fun" intention though, so there's that.

2020 Goals, First Draft

I plan to do quarterly reviews of these goals to see if I need to course correct, or to celebrate what I've accomplished.  I'll do the review regardless, but time will tell if I make it back here to blog about it.

Make Nine Challenge 2020

Are you familiar with the Make Nine Challenge?  The idea is to identify nine things you'd like to make during a calendar year.  Simple, yet brilliant.  Nine is not so many as to be overwhelming, nor too few as to be uninspiring.  Like the littlest bear's porridge, it is Just Right.

The challenge is the brain child of Rochelle of Home Row Fiber Co.  You can read more if you're interested at her blog here.

I put together a Make Nine grid in 2018, but I gave it a miss last year.  When I did it before, I finished 5 of the projects I'd earmarked (plus a whole raft of other things).  The four that didn't make it were a series of socks named for the Pevensies.  I have yarns and patterns, so I may yet make them, but for some reason even though I thought I wanted to knit them, when the time came I chose something else. 

shrug 

Arbitrary goal setting tools and games are only fun and useful so long as they are fun and useful.  (Tautologist speaks in tautologies).

All that said, I decided to play along again this year.  I have chosen a healthy mix of specific patterns and skeins of yarn for socks (pattern to be determined, but likely vanilla with a fish lips kiss heel).  One of my criteria for selecting projects for this list was that it had to be things I already have the yarn in stash for, so everything is ready to go.

Starting at the top, and proceeding left to right, my Make Nine projects are:

1. Exploration Station, by Stephen West, knit from  Dream in Color Jilly and Suburban Stitcher Single Sock
2. "Tinuviel" Valkyrie Fibers Matte Sock
3. Pierre, by Stephen West, knit from Miss Babs Yowza Minis
4. "McGonagall" Nomadic Yarns Twisty Sock
5. Litmus Cowl, by Amy Florence, knit from Canon Hand Dyes Charles Merino Fingering "Autumn Rainbow" minis
6. "Freedom to Be" See Jayne Knit Superwash Merino Nylon Sock (Ravelry tribute colorway)
7. Odyssey Shawl, by Joji Locatelli, knit from Deep Dyed Yarns Still DK
8. "Summer Camp" Knit Picks Stroll Gradient Duo - these will be some kind of Hanukkah socks, pattern TBD
9. Renewal Shawl, by Judy Marples, knit in Emma's Yarn Super Silky

I have numbers 1, 2, and 7 already cast on, so I'm off to a strong start. 

I feel good about this list, but I'm also not too bothered if they don't all get knit this year.  I'm using this as a reminder and a point of inspiration as I'm choosing what patterns to knit next, rather than as a hard-and-fast "rule" about my knitting.   I've been doing this long enough that I have a fair sense of what's going to work in the self-motivation department, and I can tell you with some sense of surety that deciding I "have" to knit something six months from now is an excellent way to ensure that I don't.

The State of the WIP-Basket

I thought I'd share what I'm currently working on, since it's been a while since I've talked about what I'm knitting with any kind of regularity.  This won't be a full accounting of the WIPs, as I have to save some content for February is for Finishing, after all.  I'll give you the full list in a couple of weeks. 

For today, let's look at my three newest cast-ons, two shawls and a pair of socks.  For a nicely balanced basket, I probably should have a sweater in the mix too, but my sweater mojo is on hiatus at the moment, so shawls it is.

Exploration Station

First up is Exploration Station by Stephen West. This was a mystery knit along way back when (I want to say 2014 maybe) but it didn't really get onto my radar as a thing I might want to knit until sometime last year when I was watching the back catalog of the Stranded Podcast on Youtube with Amy Florence (she's charming, if you don't watch her and you are a podcasty type person, you totally should).   I've been planning this knit for over six months, finally purchasing the final skeins of yarn for it last year at the SSK market.

I'm utterly charmed by how it's working up - even if Morgan did tell me it looked like a watermelon.  I don't know what kind of funky mutant watermelons she's been eating, but it most certainly does not.  Yarns are Dream in Color Jilly and Suburban Stitcher Single Sock.  The Suburban Stitcher is 100% merino and a single, so I'm not sure why the word "sock" is in the base name, lest it be to indicate that it's a fingering weight yarn. 

After I finish up the current wedge, it's time to transition into brioche.  I've got limited experience with brioche (I knit a hat once) but, as they say, it's just knitting.  I'm looking forward to it.

Odyssey Shawl

Next up is the Odyssey Shawl by Joji Locatelli.  I mentioned it briefly in my last post as one of my New Years Day cast-ons.  I'm knitting it out of Deep Dyed Yarns Still base (DK 100% merino), using US 9 needles.  I'm a little worried about gauge on this one, as I didn't fuss with a swatch.  Joji's gauge is 13 sts/4 in using US 8s.  I just went up one needle size and went for it.  There is a slight possibility that I am knitting a pocket handkerchief instead of the big, cozy shawl of my dreams.  We shall see if the blocking saves me, and if it doesn't, them's the brakes.

I'm a wee skosh farther along than I was on Friday.

no swatch we die like men

her song released the sudden spring: Tinuviel Socks

These socks are right exactly where I left them on Friday, as I've been working on other things.  My goal is to have the first one done by the 15th, so I reckon I'd best hustle.  More details can be found in my last post.

Those are my only proper knit WIPS.  I also have a few (*KOFF* FOUR *KOFF*) blankets in the works, but more on them later.

What with one thing and another, I haven't been posting regularly here at A Woolly Discipline.  That's something I'm hoping to change in 2020 (a naye yor, a naye leben and all that). I'm more consistently active on Instagram, if that's your jam, and can be found as kadollan.

Welcome to 2020!

Friends of the show will remember that we have a New Years tradition here at chez woolly.  My two besties and I have been gathering on New Year's Eve to ring in the new year, and then share brunch on New Year's Day to make plans and set intentions for ... gosh... probably over 15 years.   It's a lovely part of my personal wheel of the year, and it's a tradition I cherish.

We had to get a little creative this year, because some dear friends of ours got married on New Years Day, and asked me to be their officiant.  It was an incredible honor, and a beautiful wedding. 

Darling, You Look Wonderful Tonight

My best Koren caught a snap of Carl and I dancing to some Eric Clapton.  I'm normally not a fan of pictures of me, but I just love how he's looking at me here.  My heart!

Beautiful or no, the wedding jacked our plans up a bit, but we're clever and flexible people and we made it work.  We switched our brunch to New Year's Eve, set intentions, did some tarot readings, and worked on finishing projects.  (As an aside, my tarot reading said I should write more.  Hello!)

A second piece of our New Years tradition is to finish a project, either New Years Eve or Day (Jess does one, I do the other) and then cast on something new on New Years Day.  May we finish as many things as we start, so say we all.

I finished up these cheerful holiday socks. 

They're Rock and String Creations "Merry and Bright" in her Sashay base. I used the Heel, Toe, Do-Si-Do pattern, with very slight modification (68 stitches instead of 64).  They're sparkly, and pretty darned cute, if I do say so myself. 

My New Year's cast ons (plural, because if one is good then two is better, right?) were the Odyssey Shawl by Joji Locatelli, and a pair of vanilla socks using Valkyrie Fibers Matte Sock in the "Tinuviel" colorway. 

And can we just talk about how well that contrast color in the socks works with the main yarn?  Not only did they not come together, they're not from the same dyer.  The contrast is Soft Sock from Teenybutton Studio.

I'm excited about this year.  I feel good, I've got plans that inspire me, and plenty of beautiful yarn to keep me busy.