Get a Grip: 2023 is for Finishing (Not Just February)

Last December, as 2022 closed out and the fresh promise of 2023 lay ahead, I sat down and had a good hard think about my crafting, my WIP situation, what’s been bringing me joy, and what’s been weighing me down.

Good crafting habits that I fought hard to establish over the years have fallen by the wayside, and I seem to have reverted to some older patterns that aren’t great for my overall happiness or crafty-well-being.  (There’s perhaps a larger story to be told here about other aspects of my life, health, habits, and happiness, but that’s an introspection for another day.)

I was starting things that I didn’t really work on and never put into Ravelry, so they were in this weird “is it really a project or not?” limbo.  I was letting WIPs linger long enough that they were beginning to slide into true UFO territory.  I stopped entering yarn into Ravelry as soon as I bought it.  (Don’t get it twisted…I did not stop buying yarn, I just quit adding it to my notebook.) 

My mojo has been intermittent, and I’m feeling weighed down instead of buoyed up by my crafting life.

In short, I need to get a grip.

So here’s what we’re going to do about it.  I’m declaring 2023 The Year of the WIP.  This is a personal challenge, but feel free to play along in whatever manner feels helpful or meaningful to you. 

Here are my rules of engagement:

1. I will finish, frog, or fling everything that was on needles or hooks as of Dec 31, 2022, by December 31, 2023. The only projects coming into 2024 with me will be less than 12 months old.
2. I’ll post a full accounting of what’s in bounds.  This will also serve as my annual “February is for Finishing” post, wherein we all acknowledge that that scrappy granny blanket still hasn’t been touched since 2019.  See above in re: getting a grip.
3. I can cast new things on as I please, this is not strictly speaking a “Project Zero” style challenge.  This is a “clear out what’s weighing me down to make space for the new” kind of situation.
4. I’ll keep both my projects and my stash updated in Ravelry.  I’ve nearly caught my yarn up already, and just need to add my advents and a few other bits and bobs from December.
5. I’m going to be very thoughtful and intentional about any new yarn purchases.  We have yarn at home.

I made a down payment on The Year of the WIP on New Year's Day when I finished up a washcloth I found stuffed in the blue bin in my living room.  This is the bin I shove things in when I am "cleaning" up my crafting before people come over.  

I have no idea when I started it, I know it was sometime last year, but I have no memory of this place.

And as a side note, in case you are curious about the PPN (personal, private number) of WIPs that drove me over the edge… it was 13.  Past me would think that’s hilarious.

February is for Finishing - 2022 Style

Hello my darling dears!  It's the time of year here at chez woolly where we engage in the ancient ritual I like to call "the annual airing of the WIP pile."  As I have said many times before, and likely will again, there is not much that's consistent about this little blog of mine, but I am pretty good about posting on or near-bouts February 1st.

In these parts we honor the month of February by engaging in mad acts of Finishing, Frogging, or Flinging.  It's a lovely and alliterative way to take stock of our current WIPs and assorted UFOs and see, as the lady says, if they still bless us.  And if they do not bless us in their current form, are we better served by pushing through to completion, or by setting them on fire?  

These are personal and private decisions that one can only make for one's own self.

In support of this goal, I like to take a bit of stock and list out what I have on needle or hook.  It should be noted here for posterity that I've recently taken cross-stitch up again, but for the sake of all of our sanity, I won't be listing any of those projects here.  

I'll be listing my projects from oldest to newest, with as much supporting information as seems interesting or relevant.  To me, I mean.  I don't actually expect this to be terribly interesting or relevant to any of the rest of you.  It's okay, I understand.

Here we go!

NOTE:  Links go to Ravelry - please click with caution if the new (is it still new at this point?) site causes you problems.

1. My oldest WIP remains Weekender Blanket, by Sandra Paul, started May 20, 2018.  I'm using Lucy of Attic24's "Cottage Pack" and sort of loosely but not really using the pattern color map with my own colors subbed in.  I added two full rows in 2021.  On one hand at this rate I'll finish it in approximately one hundred years, and on the other hand, there was a panini, y'all should be proud I added anything at all.  

Also, my goodness was the poor thing wrinkled.  Someone (and I'm not naming any names) did not put it away very neatly when she was done working on it last.

2. Next up on the stage is my Scrappy Granny afghan.  Friends, I started this in April of 2019, and have not touched it since that same year.  It saw zero action in 2020 or 2021.  I don't think I'm actually making this blanket.  Now I just need to decide how to not have it any more.  Goodwill?  Landfill?  Frog and reclaim?  IDK, the point was to USE UP the scraps.  Or do I actually sit down and add a row or two and see if the magic is rekindled?  throws hands up in disgust and stalks off

Yes, this is the same photo I used last year.  There wasn't much point in taking a new one.

Now we jump forward to 2021 WIPs.  Everything I started in 2020 has been finished, so that's cool.

3. Aria Blanket, by Lucy of the aforementioned attic24. I'm crocheting this just exactly as called for, and it's pretty glorious. This was started January 9, 2021, and I'm more than half done the body.  It's a 12 x 12 grid, with several rounds of border, so I'm not really half done with it yet, but it sort of feels like I should be.

4.Next up is (now brace yourself) another blanket. Started on May 9, 2021, this is the snuggle is real.  It's a homebrew granny square afghan I'm making for Morgan.  It will end up between full and queen size, and is using the same basic recipe as my art of creating comfort afghan (I only briefly mentioned that here in last February's post, but if you're curious that's a link to my Rav project page.)  I'm using another Lucy pack - this time the coastal colorway.  I dig me some Stylecraft Special DK, y'all.

There are 83 of 90 squares in this bag, and I have two more around here somewhere but let's be real, 83 squares in a bag looks an awfully lot like 85 squares in a bag, so I trust you'll forgive me.  I plan to use gray to do a continuous join, and then I'll think of something clever to do for a border.

If you've ever ordered anything from Wool Warehouse, you'll recognize my fancy project bag. 

5. Okay, but you see what had happened was...  Look, it's not that I am only crocheting blankets anymore.  It's just that I'm not finishing them at the rate that I'm starting them.  In my defense (and I clearly need defending, this is getting ridiculous) I have actually finished three blankets in the last two years.  I just started...uh, more.

Anyway, already fed up with my own nonsense, I named this blanket "oh for the love of pete."  I'm using the Battenburg Blanket by Sandra Paul for some loose inspiration, and am mostly just making a whack of tiny squares.  I started it on June 9, 2021, and haven't touched it since July.  Maybe I'm actually making a nice pillow...

I don't actually have a picture of all the squares in one place, but imagine a whack of these in various shades of fingering weight wool.

6.  Would you believe that this is NOT another blanket?  (Don't fret, there's one more coming.)  I started a plain, oversized stockinette sweatshirt of a sweater for myself on August 5, 2021.  It's knit bottom up and in the round.  I was cruising along and stopped to try it on after I had knit most of a sleeve and realized that it's awful.  The sleeve was stupidly big and really looked bad on me.  The most painful part about this is that I am not a small woman.  I was knitting at a fairly fine-ish gauge (around 5.5 spi or so).  That's a LOT of extra knitting I ended up doing.  (Pattern?  What pattern?  I'm winging it...and this here is the consequence of doing so).

Anyway, I have a plan - after a nice long time out for most of December and January, I pulled it out the other day and ripped back the sleeve.  Next I'm going to unpick the 3 needle bind off and shorten the armscyes.  I'm considering riffing off of a boxy style and doing shorter, tighter sleeves.  I need to dig out some of Joji's patterns and see if my gauge is close enough to keep the math from being too much of a PITA.

This picture doesn't do it any kind of justice - it's a pretty heathery olivish green.  Right now it just looks like a sack of potatoes (sans potatoes.  So just a sack, really) but I have every faith that someday it will be a comfy sweatshirt.

7.  Yuletide Blanket by Lucy of attic24 (stop judging me.) Crocheting this as called for and loving every minute of it.  I started it on December 5, 2021, and I'm right exactly at 50% finished (as determined by the number of DCs.  No I didn't count them, I'm not a mad woman.  I have a spreadsheet.)  It's right around 52" across right now and I'm loving having it on my lap as I work on it.

No more blankets after this - from here on out it's just knitting.

8. as of yet unnamed, test knit for Heidi Nick, started January 1, 2022. I'm using Junkyarn Smooth Sock in the "Molly" colorway.  I really enjoyed knitting this (which is good, because I have two feet and will need to do it again).  I rarely knit toe-up socks or patterned socks either one these days, mostly because I use sock knitting as "no eyes needed" knitting.  After this experience, I may go back to knitting patterned socks, because this is a pretty good sock, y'all.

9.  zichra baruch (her memory for a blessing).  I cast these on January 18, 2021.  A dear friend and beloved member of my online knitting community passed away on January 17.  It was  not unexpected, but still genuinely heart-wrenching.  As a part of her process of preparing, she threw a Hobbit Birthday party and gave gifts of stash and hand-knits to her friends.  This is the sock yarn that she gave me.

10. on par with ancient talismans (clapotis).   Stop laughing.  This totally counts. (Cast on January 23, 2022).

So there's the list.  Neither so long as some years, nor as short as others, but it will do.  I clearly need to get a grip on this whole blanket issue, but yannow.  It's fine.  We're all fine here.

Here's the plan:  

• Finish the two pair of socks.
• Finish my sweatshirt-sweater.
• Finish the squares for the snuggle is real 
• Make significant progress on Yuletide (I aim to hit 75% by end of month)
• Make decisions about the two fingering weight, scrappy crochet blanket starts.
• Make enough progress on the Clapotis that you can tell it's supposed to be a Clapotis.

I've put myself in a pretty pickle with all those blankets, so the finishing might be a little sparse around these parts.  It'll feel good to get that sweater done though, and I can move the blankets forward a bit.

We'll see how I go!

The Way Things Are

I've always been pretty good (I thought) at making sure I have my stash updated in Ravelry.  This faith has meant that if I'm shopping and I run across something I know I've considered buying before, I can run a quick check and find out if I just considered it or if I actually pulled the proverbial trigger.   This has paid off handsomely in the Rock and String booth at more than one fiber festival.

I've recently been giving the stash a bit of a toss and a tidy, doing some spring cleaning and finally enacting my plan to actually use the "stored in" field for Ravelry stash to match skeins to bins.  The theory is that this will make it easier for me to put my hands on a given bit of yarn if I’ve a mind to. 

This was the scene going in:

I've run across one or two things that weren't listed in Ravelry as I went, but not so many as I'd feared.  A yarnbox monthly subscription from 2016 here, a random bit of sock yarn there, but really, I was feeling pretty proud of myself.

Until.

I picked up a gorgeous gobstopper ball of self-striping yarn with the fantastic colorway name of Gimli, Son of Gloin.  Confident and pleased, I searched my Rav stash to locate the entry so I could update which bin it's in. 

Wasn't there.  Hunh.  Well, I must have missed entering it.  No harm, I know the shop, and since they're on Etsy it's easy as pie to find the order details so I can fill in the date purchased, etc.

Off to Etsy I go and happily type “Gimli” into the “search your purchases” field.

I bet you can guess where this is going.

 

 

Apparently, not only did I not put dear Gimli into my stash the first time I bought the yarn in 2019 (nor his tall boyfriend Legolas neither), I also failed to add it to my stash the SECOND time I bought it in 2020.   A year ago.

You will note I did not realize that there were two of them in this house until I saw it in my order history.

Somebody really needs to do something about the way things are over here.

February is for Finishing - 2021 Edition

Okay, so first off we're not going to even talk about the fact that I started 2020 strong with blogging and then suddenly stopped.  We all know what happened.

But if there's one constant in this inconsistent blog of mine, it's the annual airing of the WIP pile for February is for Finishing.  We're not going to let the fact that today being February 1st somehow came as a complete and total surprise to me stop us from making our list and thinking about how we're going to work on finishing up some WIPs this month.

(Seriously though, one of my besties said "Happy February is for Finishing!" this afternoon and I just blinked in shock.  February? Again? Already? Mind you, I knew yesterday was January 31.  That knowledge just didn't come with any attendant "and that means tomorrow is February 1" understanding.)

This year's list is pretty reasonable by chez woolly standards.  Neither the longest (25+) nor the shortest (4, back in 2019.  That was a year), but nicely reasonable at 7 works in progress.

As is the custom, I'll list them oldest to newest.  And dear reader, please brace yourself.  Longtime friends of the show will be shocked to learn that the Hogwarts Studies Blanket is no longer on the list.  That's right, I finished it last summer (and to my shame, I didn't blog about it.  Maybe later).

Oh hey - links go to Ravelry, so please click with caution, if you're one of the people affected by the changes to the site.

1. Weekender Blanket, started May 20, 2018.  This is a modular JAYG hexagon blanket, crocheted out of Stylecraft DK in the "cottage pack" put together by Lucy from Attic24.  I'm not in any particular hurry to finish this, just adding to it as I get the urge.

2. Scrappy Granny, started April 1, 2019.  This project is in deep hibernation - I don't think I picked it up even once in 2020.  At some point I need to decide if I'm really making this blanket or not.  I don't want to hold 2020 against it though, so it gets a stay of execution until I can decide if I want to go back to it.

3. the art of creating comfort, started November 3, 2019.  I'm also using Stylecraft DK for this blanket.  This is the "woodland pack," but with a couple of extra colors introduced. I put a lot of work into this over the last year, and it's close enough that I could conceivably finish it this month.  I've completely joined all 90 squares, and am working on the border now.

I don't have a proper picture of where I am on this one, but here's a teaser shot:

These are the only projects that were on last year's list, so when you find out I've started yet another blanket (SPOILER!) I'll thank you to remember that I've finished one and am about to finish another.  Also, I do what I want.

4. seasick crocodile, started November 26, 2020.  I have a tradition of starting a new pair of holiday socks on Thanksgiving day, while I'm taking a break during cooking.  I have spent a lot of time this past year doing my best to keep up with observing traditions, and just doing my best.  In a normal year I would have finished up the Thanksgiving day socks sometime between Christmas and New Years.  But this year I forgot I had a pair of Advent socks that I wanted to knit (I should have gotten the cuff started for those on Thanksgiving instead, but whatever) and what with one thing and another the normal tradition didn't get quite get pulled off.  And if that ain't a metaphor for 2020, I don't know what is.  

Eventually I'll finish them (maybe even this month, who knows?) and they'll be delightful.

5. first blank page, started January 1, 2021.  I got my two besties to dig around in my Ravelry stash and to pick a new pair of socks for me to knit.  Jess picked a skein of variegated with gold stellina called Glitter Gel Pen, in the Jelly Bean colorway.  The dyer, With Pointed Sticks no longer seems to have an Etsy shop, so they may be out of business.  In any case, we all agreed that glittery gel pens are exactly what's called for on January 1, a day typically given over to playing with and setting up new planners.

I chose Hermione's Everyday Socks (one of my favorite patterns) with a Fish Lips Kish Heel.  I'm about 60-65% on these, with one sock done and an other started and on the leg.   The color of this yarn is much prettier than this picture would have you believe.  I couldn't get the light to cooperate with my camera.

6. a vibrant inner life, started January 1, 2021.  This was my other January 1 cast on.  It's the Venation Shawl by Ambah O'Brien out of a set of 10 20g mini skeins.   The set is based on Strawberry Shortcake, so it was basically a moral imperative to get it.  (The yarn does not smell, it was the first thing I checked.)

Forgive the nighttime photo, I'll do a better job of capturing the gorgeous color when I do the FO shots.  The plan is definitely for this to get done in February.  I'm around 65% done with this one as well.

7. Aria, started January 9, 2021.  I told you I started another blanket.  This is Aria, by Lucy at Attic24, using her kit from the Wool Warehouse. The blanket will have 144 granny squares in a 12x12 grid, finished off with a few rounds of border.  I'm barely started, with 7 or 8 squares done.  Pictured here at 6 squares:

The final blanket is a burst of color, with reds and oranges in the center, radiating out to greens, blues and purples.  I love it, and I'm loving working on it.

The Plan

So now that I've done the accounting, here's what I plan to finish in February:

• first blank page socks
• a vibrant inner life (Venation shawl)

Stretch goal finishes would include:

• art of creating comfort (granny square afghan)
• seasick crocodile socks

I'm not really targeting the other three blankets, though I do plan to work on Aria some.  And in the spirit of full disclosure, I should tell you that I just cast off a shawl at the end of January.  I need to weave in ends and block it, but for all intents and purposes it's finished so I didn't list it here.

What I Was Going to Blog About

I meant to blog all last week about my progress towards my goals, and how I'm doing with my Make Nine Challenge, but I can't quite bring myself to care enough to talk about it.

green checks are completed and the orange star is on the needles

TL;DR, it's going very well, thank you for asking.  I seem to suddenly have as much time as ever for knitting, despite my new found love for Animal Crossing.

Today should have been the first day of my Passover PTO.  I try to take the Wed-Fri before our Seder off to get ready, and then the Mon-Tues after to recover.   But what with one thing and another, my plans have changed, and I'm only taking two days off.

I mean, everyone's plans have changed right?

For the first time in over twenty years, I won't be having Seder with my community.  Gathering 30+ people into my living room right now would be beyond irresponsible, so we're doing the smart and sensible thing, and eventually I'm going to have a good cry about it.

I haven't yet, but I can tell it's coming.  A dear friend linked me to a Darcy Lewis (MCU) Passover fic and just reading the summary was enough to get me to tear up.

"This is the bread of affliction that our ancestors ate in the land of Egypt. All who are hungry should come and eat. All who are in need should come and make Pesach. Now we are here, next year out of quarantine!"

So here I sit at a cross roads.  I can decide to wallow and be angry and sad and to say the hell with it and eat bacon cheeseburgers on Saturday (okay, I lie, just typing that made me twitch a little).  But the point remains - I get to decide how to respond to this.  And yes, it's 100% valid to be upset.  My oldest daughter has her own household now, and we won't be sharing Seder together this year for the first time since our family began this tradition.   Some of the kids (I say "kids" ... they're all adults) that are part of my family-by-choice won't have this celebration to come to this year.  I won't see the wonderful friends and community members that I see so rarely.  And yeah.  All of that is true, and it's okay that I'm sad and angry and a little bit heart-broken.

a naye yor, a naye cast-on

But, Passover is a time of renewal.  It's a time of hope, and new beginnings.  At Passover we celebrate the fact that however hard things are right now, we know that it will not always be this way.  Tomorrow things will be better. 

I get to decide how I want to respond to this.

We will have a tiny family Seder here at the Burrow, with Carl, Morgan, and Rowan.  It will be lovely and intimate, and with only four of us ...  this year we can see what that line about "reclining" is all about.  Think of the bounty of space we'll have! 

And in this moment, let me share my extreme gratitude and love for my sweet husband.  He is driving this tiny family Seder, and making sure that it happens.

We'll have charoset, and home-made horseradish, and if we can't find lamb we have back-up brisket, and I have wine (oh yes, I have wine) and it's going to be lovely.

This year, a tiny Seder.  Next year, at the Burrow!  Now we are here, next year out of isolation!

All the FOs: I Was Made For Social Distancing

There's been quite a surge in finishing related activity here at chez woolly in the past few weeks.  Now that I'm a 100% remote employee, during the day if I'm not actively typing or writing something, odds are good there's knitting or crochet in my hands.   Need time to think?  Knit a round on a sock.  On a conference call?  Whip up another granny square for that blanket.

I finished my Exploration Station by Stephen West last Saturday, but it was several days before the light was right for pictures.  I took the first set of pictures while it was overcast, and it sucked the joy out of the outrageous colors I chose. 

I was glad to have the chance to try again a few days later when the sun finally made an appearance.  It was gloomy and grey here in Middle Tennessee for entirely too long.

This shawl is so far outside of my normal "1970s Kitchen Appliance" color palette that it's almost shocking.  I adore it - it was just the shot of cheer that I've needed this winter.

I used two skeins of Dream in Color Jilly, and two of Suburban Stitcher Single Sock.  The rest of the details (including specifics on colorways and how much I used of each skein) can be found here.

I've also recently finished my Litmus Cowl by Amy Edwards Green (Amyflorence of Stranded Dyeworks and Podcast fame).  

This picture was taken on one of those grey days I was talking about - while this cowl actually is more reserved in color than the Exploration Station, it's not as muted as it looks in this photo.

Look at that cute kid, y'all.

I'd originally been worried that I was going to run out of the contrast color, but it turned out perfectly.  I used every drop of the Canon Hand Dyes mini set, and 90 out of 100g of the White Birch skein I paired it with.  Each color was approximately 11 rounds, so I did 9 rounds of the contrast and that solved it.   My Ravelry project page is here.

After I finished the shawl, the only thing I had left other than four (?!) blankets was a pair of shorty socks.

That didn't last very long.

It's time to figure out what the next big thing is going to be. Another shawl?  I'm on quite a shawl kick right now. 

I'll think about it while I work on this sock.

The World's Gone Wild

This week I've developed a weird and intense love-hate relationship with Twitter.  The world's gone wild, and it's like watching the slowest, most ponderous trainwreck.  You can't look away, but nothing's happening. 

There's no toilet paper in the middle-Tennessee area; flour, sugar, and meat are in short supply, and pasta is a dim and distant memory.

But on the bright side, there was a sale on wine, so we're well stocked there.

I'm working from home now, as are many of my close friends.  Which is pretty cool in one respect -- they've specifically asked us not to turn on our web-cams or use video streaming, due to the load on our servers, so that means conference call knitting is happening.

How are things where you are?

February is for Finishing Review, or "How'd all that finishing go?"

We're a week into March, and I've yet to provide a round up of February's finishing shenanigans.  I came into the month with eight projects, and ended with six, so that's a net positive gain of finished projects, and the kind of forward movement we like to see here at chez woolly.

Last year, I pulled a bunch of nonsense and started with four projects, cast on three (oops), finished two, frogged, one, and rounded out the month with ... four projects.  What the hell, last-year Bekah.  What the hell.

Anyway, none of that malarkey took place this year.  I kept my nose clean and poured some solid energy and time into several of my projects - including a couple of the blankets. 

1. Hogwarts Studies Blanket.  I added one row (12 squares). It's now 12x15 squares, and when I hit 12x18 I'm going to think real seriously about stopping.

2.- 3. Weekender Blanket and Scrappy Granny.  I didn't touch these two at all in February.

4. the art of creating comfort.  I really busted a move on this one, doubling the number of finished squares.  I'm aiming for 90 squares and am sitting pretty on 35 (I still need one more of the light green ones to finish out that color.)

5. Divination OWL: a secret country (Exploration Station). On Feb 1, I was a few rows into the brioche section.  I didn't focus a lot of time on this shawl, but still moved it forward nicely.  The brioche and another section are done, and I'm into the last bit before the final border.  This needs to finished by March 31, or I don't get my invisible internet points or my OWL Mistress badge.  I want that badge, y'all.

6. mighty in battle (Hitchhiker).  Finished!  You can read all about it here.

7. to catch or ensnare by the foot socks.  Also finished!  *

8. bold branches bid farewell to rainbow leaves (Litmus Cowl).  I knit roughly half of this cowl in February (using rough maths, and positing about 10% complete coming into the month and figuring 60+% done now).  This cowl is a complete dream to knit -- the only complaint I have is that it's getting long enough now that I have to stop and untwist the whole thing.  It's like a sleeve on steroids.   Remind me how much I love this and how simple it all is when I'm kitchenering the whole business shut in a few weeks, will you?

So that's the wrap-up.  While I only finished two projects, I feel really good about the progress I've made - especially considering that the four not-blankets were all started in January.  I expect and intend that the cowl and shawl should be done by end of March, which means it's time to cast on more things.

Starting with some socks, I think.

* I didn't share pictures of the two finishes, since they both got full FO posts.  Click the links to see pictures!

The Intersection Between Magic, Politics, and Knitting FO: to catch or ensare by the foot socks

In the center of the Venn Diagram between magic, politics, and knitting lies these socks.

These are White Birch Fiber Arts self-striping sock yarn in the “Study In Peach Mint” colorway. (If you don’t natch right away, try saying it out loud.) I started knitting them in late January when certain political events were playing out in Washington because I’m angry and wanted to do something productive with that anger.

Let me backup a little. Let’s lay some groundwork and define some terms.

Let’s start with magic. I was taught, when I was a wee baby pagan, that magic is the “art of changing consciousness through will” (paraphrased from Dion Fortune). Another way to put that might be “you get more of what you pay attention to” if you want to take all the romance out of it. Here’s the underlying premise--humans are both incredibly powerful and incredibly limited. Our reality is largely defined by how we experience and interact with the world.

I’m not going to get into a debate about objective vs. subjective reality, not even to point out that from our limited perspective as meatsack-mecha pilots, the closest we can get to an objective understanding of reality is a communal agreement that what we’re all seeing (subjectively) is really the way it is. That’s perhaps a rant for another day.

In my practice, I approach magic through metaphor. I find meaning in symbols or stories, and use that to focus my will. A fine example of this (and a nice tie-in with the knitting piece of this equation) is the Knitting in Red shawl that I knit several years ago. The metaphor was that red thread has the power to help knit a life back together. The goal was to process through a period of deep depression. The shawl took me around four years where I spent more time ignoring it than knitting, but by the time I was done the shawl, the worst of the depression had also eased.

Yes, I understand that I was able to finish the shawl because I was less depressed. I also understand that exercising, regular sleep, and an overall reduction in daily stress were also all major contributing factors. That doesn’t mean that the shawl didn’t work -- it totally did. It allowed me a place to focus my will, time, and not inconsiderable talents towards the change that I wanted to see in my life.

My approach to magic tends toward the personal. I use magic, as I define it, to improve my life and well-being. My goals are to improve my health, both physical and mental, and to leave the world a better place than I found it. “Changing consciousness through will” works really well (or as well as it can when the will in question is stubborn and occasionally refuses to cooperate) when I’m only focusing on my own life.



So where does this connect to the political? Feminists and others of a certain age will remember the phrase “the personal is political.” This phrase rose out of Second-Wave feminism in the 1960s, challenging the prevailing idea that the “personal/private” sphere is apolitical and that the “public” sphere is the only place where political discourse belongs.

That sounds pretty great right? Government should stay the hell out of my home and my private life, right? Well, yes, except -- by depoliticizing the “private” women were in effect completely removed from politics and political discourse. (Coincidence? ...I very much think not.) Nevermind the very real consequences of having no societal conversation around things like domestic violence, which member of a household works, legal protection for divorce, etc.

“Therefore feminists argued that the personal is political from two distinct standpoints: politics should include women, who have historically been seen as private individuals; politics should include a wider range of issues, including those historically considered to be private” (source).

So let’s bring it back around - my primary magical focus has historically been personal. I am working to change the world by changing myself. I also hold it to be true that “the personal is political” (second-wave feminism was certainly not without its faults, and we’ve come a long way baby, as they say, but I think they were right about this one.)

Which means that when I use magic and metaphor to change myself, I am indeed impacting the world. When I knit a pair of socks with a snarky colorway name that encourages the removal of our current head of state because I’m absolutely livid at the cesspool that our country has become… well, what does that do, really?

What’s the actual, real world benefit of knitting angry political socks?

1. The socks are awfully damned pretty. They are also warm and comfortable. I have turned my disappointment and frustration into something positive and lovely, and that’s no small thing.
2. I have talked about what I’m knitting and why with friends, on social media etc. I used it as a vehicle for conversation.
3. It helped me to remember to vote in the primary. I had the project with me when I cast my ballot for Elizabeth Warren, but the line was so short I didn’t have time to knit them at the polling station. (No pictures either - they get squirrely when you try to take a picture inside the polls).

So as a result of this magical act I have transformed something hateful into something beautiful, and I’ve gone out into the world and acted in accordance with my beliefs. From my perspective, that makes these socks pretty strong magic, indeed.

Project Notes

Project Name: to catch or ensnare by the foot
Pattern: my standard vanilla sock, CO 68, FLK heel
Yarn: White Birch Fiber Arts 80/20 Merino/Nylon, in "Study In Peach Mint"
Total Yardage: 320 yards
Needles: US 1.5 (2.5 mm) 32" circulars, magic loop
Started: January 25, 2020
Completed: February 26, 2020
Ravelry Project Page: here

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.