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.

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!

Apparently March is Also for Finishing

The last two weeks passed by in a fugue of coughing, going through mountains of tissues, and generally feeling as though all thoughts were being processed through a vat of cold oatmeal.  After five years of antisocial and hermit-like behavior, I finally got got and contracted baby's first Covid.

We had friends over for our semi-regular D&D session Friday before last, and then woke up Saturday morning coughing.  I think the final body count was seven friends and family taken out by this thing.  0/10 stars, do not recommend.

While I did still kind of work last week, I also had tons of enforced couch time, so I was shockingly productive - and not just because this is two weeks since my last update ... although I imagine that isn't hurting any either.

I missed finishing the Wasilla Poncho in February by just a few days, but done is done, and I'm playing by no one's rules but my own.  I ran out of yarn at a weird place in the pattern and briefly considered finding another skein of the Lion Brand Mandala so I could end at a better spot.  I really didn't want to do that though because using every bit of the yarn was entirely the point of choosing a top down project like this in the first place.  I set it aside and noodled on it a bit until I was hit by a brain wave.  I had a sudden vision of a yarn that I bought long enough ago that the store it came from has been closed more than 15 years.  In my mind's eye the color and texture would be perfect, AND (get this) I knew exactly where it was.

I'm pretty pleased with myself, truth being told.  My mind's eye knows what's up.

Heady with that success (and the over-abundance of phlegm I'd recently taken on board), I turned my attention to the Beach Walk blanket.  I finished up the remaining granny squares, got them joined, and have 2 out of 8 border rounds completed.   We're still on track to have it finished by the end of the month if I can stay consistent with it. I'll try to share an updated picture next week.

And if that wasn't enough, genties and ladlemen, let me please introduce you to Delores de Colores.  She is perfect and I love her.  For all that it took me ten months start to finish, this was a remarkably fast knit.  I probably only worked on it a handful of days all in and I couldn't be happier with the results.  Plus I used some old-growth stash up, so wins all around.

Did I need a stuffed rainbow chicken?  Don't be ridiculous, of course I did.

In addition to all of the above, I moved my Riptide vest along and got both the left and right front shoulders done and the neck shaping to the point where I've joined the two together into one front piece.   It's in an unwieldy and un-photographical state at the moment, but progress is assuredly happening.

And finally, you had to know that there would be a new sock. 

Next week's plans include more progress on all the things. I'm feeling highly motivated to keep knocking down the old WIP list.  I even pulled out my 2024 Hiberknitalong Shawl to see if I could figure out where I was with it.

The border is not nearly as annoying to knit as I remember.

More specifically, I plan to:

• add two more border rounds to the blanket
• add four more repeats to the shawl border
• turn the heel on the sock (bonus points if I can finish it)
• get Riptide to the point where I can join in the round

On the one hand, that feels ambitious.  On the other hand, that feels ambitious and I like it.

Popping in for a Quickie

I thought about skipping blogging this week, because I don't feel like I really have anything to say.  But that way lies madness and accidentally skipping three weeks in a row, followed by forgetting I have a blog at all for months at a time.

So I figured I'd just pop in for a quickie.  (TWSS).

After last weekend's flurry of activity on Hitchhiker, I'm back to working on all the things.  I'm nearly to the half-way point on my Litmus Cowl.

I'm loving how the colors are working up.  I'm hoping that blocking will fluff up the fibers and straighten out the stitches (no I didn't swatch, don't be ridiculous) because the knitting itself is looking a little wonky and anemic.  I live in hope.

On Friday I decided it was time to move the current sock WIP along, so I knit through about half of the foot and nearly finished the toe.

Then Saturday morning I finished it up and and cast on the second.  If I hustle, I may turn the heel tonight.

I've given Exploration Station just a little bit of love - maybe I'll get enough done on it this week that there will be something worth showing.

I'm also still plugging away on my granny square blanket.  I am closing in on having 30% of the squares done.

So there you have it.   Nothing terribly interesting to report - other than the fact that I haven't cast anything new on and am still making progress on my February is for Finishing goals.  I don't know if that's interesting so much as unexpected. 

Last year I hauled off and cast on three new things during February (one of which I finished during February, so there's that at least).  This year any of my mojo that isn't being channeled into my OWL or Mission (that's Exploration Station and the Litmus Cowl for those of you playing along at home) is going into those blankets or the sock.

With a week left in February I feel good about finishing the socks, and expect to have major progress to show on the shawl and cowl.  I should also be well and away closer to assembly on the granny blanket too. 

The socks might be the only other technical finish this month, but I'll be a lot closer on a lot of things, so it's still a victory of sorts.

That Takes the Edge Right Off or FO: mighty in battle

Well, I feel better.

After my bewilderment at my lack of progress on any of my knits on Friday, I decided to buckle down and make something happen this weekend.  My spreadsheet (remember the spreadsheet?) said I was around 70% done as of Friday mid-afternoon.

I knit while playing video games with Carl (he drives, I opine).  I knit while chatting with my friends and listening to music Friday night.  I knit last night curled up in my spot with an afghan, some bourbon, and the Yarn Harlot's back catalog (I'm up to 2008.)  I knit this morning while surfing Ravelry.

I started playing yarn chicken when I finished the 41st tooth.

This is the 6th time I've knit Hitchhiker - which in an of itself is something to stop an marvel over.  With the exception of my vanilla socks, I can't think of another pattern with this level of commitment to it that I've knit this many times.

But anyway, the whole shtick with this pattern is that it has 42 teeth.  That's the joke, the point of the name of the pattern.  It's a whole thing.   Never once, spanning seven years and over two thousand yards of yarn, did I hit 42 teeth.  Not even my 42nd birthday Hitchhiker, knit in the same dang yarn the designer used - that one crapped out at 41.

So, I was determined to get 42 this time, and by the time I hit the last tooth I was sweating. Maths and my spreadsheet indicated that it was going to be close.

One row and the bind off to go...

Fortitude provided by Nabisco(tm)

...and this was all that was left.

stitch-marker provided for scale

I made it by the skin of my (har har) teeth.  This is the most satisfying conclusion possible for a one-skein shawl project.  I used every drop of the yarn, and love the result.

Hooray!

(Now, what should I work on?)

Project Notes

Pattern:  mighty in battle

Yarn: Leading Men Fiber Arts Monologue, in "And Then There's Maude"

Total Yardage: 523 yards

Needles: US 7 (4.5mm) 24" circulars

Started: January 22, 2020

Completed: February 16, 2020

Ravelry Project Page: here

Mods: Added a row of eyelets on the bind-off row for each tooth.  Followed BO instructions, then YO, K2tog across the row, ending with a KFB.

An Absolute Slog of a Week

I don't know what it is about this week, but everything has been an absolute slog.  Right now my job is simultaneously boring and stressful.  The house is a bit of a mess, but I can't be arsed to care.  My knitting just keeps not finishing itself...sigh... it's just all ...meh.

One could make a compelling argument that the flooding (last Thursday), snow (last Friday), weird 60F temps (Sunday), and more flooding (Tues-Thurs) might have something to do with the current mood.   The other day I looked at my co-workers and with a big, dramatic sigh said, "Do you remember the sun?"   They all agreed that they did not.

February is rough, y'all.

Especially a February that doesn't seem to have any finishing in it.  What?  "No finishing?!" I hear you cry.  That's right my friends, I knit and I knit and I finish nothing.  Sysiphos got nothin' on me. 

I mean, except that I'm not knitting up hill. And arguably I like knitting.  And I can do a little crochet to take the edge off.  And as far as I can tell no one is actually coming along in the night and rolling my shawl back down the hill again...

Okay, so maybe I'm being a little dramatic. 

It just seems like nothing is moving.  I expect socks to drip from my needles, like that one fairy tale princess who had jewels falling from her mouth every time she laughed (which, in retrospect, sounds both horrific and economy killing.  But I digress.) I just want my sock to be done, y'all.

And blankets?  Don't talk to me about blankets.  Who makes 4 blankets at the same time?  Who?  Nobody sane that's who.

I just wish I understood why I'm not finishing anything.

It's a mystery.

Wherein our knitter shocks no one and knits all the things

In my usual fashion I'm working on ALL THE THINGS this week, meaning that I'm seeing little to moderate progress on several different projects, rather than any kind of real progress on just one.

actual picture of me

Look, you knew I was like this.  And it's not like I hauled off and cast on a bunch of new stuff like I did last year.   (It's also not like I started the month with only four WIPs like I did last year either, but that's neither here nor there.)

Hitchhiker was the clear winner of my attention and affection this week, going from 22 teeth up to 30.  My spreadsheet (you knew I had a spreadsheet, right?) says I'm 52% done.  If I can average around 17-ish % a week, I'll meet my goal of finishing this in February.

Years of personal experience and a recent deep-dive into the Yarn Harlot's back catalogue are keeping me from declaring this "a piece of cake" or a "done deal".  Nor will I make references to lemons and the squeezing thereof, lest I call down the wrath of the Knitting Goddess.  She has no truck with hubris, and will smite a knitter faster than Icarus can yell, "Hey y'all, watch this!"   But I like my chances.

Also - this yarn is wild, y'all.   It's red in the cake, green knit up, brown outside, and grey in my office.  I mean, I know what you're going to say -- you're going to start in on me about natural versus artificial light and how that impacts photos.  And while you are right, I would like for you to explain to me why the colors are actually different IN PERSON WITH MY VERY OWN EYEBALLS.  Chameleon yarn, yo.

I've also made nice progress on my Study in Peach Mint socks.  (I should have cast them on earlier.  It's my fault, guys.)

Other projects that saw a little action include my Exploration Station, my "art of creating comfort" afghan and...

...check this out.  My Hogwarts Studies Notebook is back in action.  I have vague hopes of finishing this friend in 2020.  I figure my chances are improved if I work on it.  Crazy, no?

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?

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.