My background knitting. Slow but steady, these are part of my grand plan for increasing my pairs of plain socks.
All evidence to the contrary, I know, but it’s true: Just because I’m not actively working on a project doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about it. And, more often than not, I’m debating when/if I should pull it out of my basket and get back to work. I finished my Flukra on Tuesday (proper photos to come) and since I plan to cast on New Girl in the near future, I thought maybe instead of starting something new I’d pick up something that had been languishing. I’m not quite sure what that will be, other than the socks at the top of this post, which have been background knitting for two months now and thus, despite their slow progress, always in active rotation.
It occurred to me that some of these projects had never made it onto the blog, or that even if they had, possibly not for a year or more, so here we go, a tour through my works-in-progress (presented approximately in chronological order by cast-on, according to my Ravelry notes).
Shaelyn, cast on March 3, 2013.
Shaelyn has definitely been on the needles forever. I cast this on when L and I went to Eleuthra last year, and then spent the week knitting socks instead. I did work on this on the flight home, but we fit turbulence and my ruler (marking the row I was on in the chart) was jostled. I lost my place, couldn’t figure out where I was, and put the project away without trying very hard to sort things out. I may also have been frustrated by how awful this yarn was to wind (both skeins doubled back on themselves in the middle, meaning they required cutting, untangling, and rewinding). Anyway, now that I have snuggly Flukra to wear I’m dying for another equally scrumptious shawl, and this may be it.
Hunter St. Cowl, cast on April 6, 2013 (appearance not improved for having been shoved in a small bag. Ahem.)
There is no excuse for my languishing Hunter St. Cowl except that I cast it on during the same period as most of these WIPs, so it may have been the victim of my restless spirit and a spate of startitis. I love this pattern, I love this yarn (Tanis Fiber Arts Pink Label lace weight in Lucky Penny), and even though I’m not really a cowl person, I sense this is one I would wear. Progress was slow at the beginning, and I guess I was in the mood for some quick gratification, so I cast this aside. I would like to wear it this spring though.
Grace, cast on June 1, 2013.
Not finishing Grace is my No. 1 knitting regret of last year. I cast it on a little too close to summer, I think, and put it down in favour of Kit, and then never quite got around to finishing it. I always forget that fall is pretty much all holiday knitting, which means that great lightweight cardigans that I’d wear all winter basically need to be knit before the end of September. I might not pick this up before New Girl, but I think it’ll be the first thing I knit afterwards – I hope I left myself a good note about where I was in the pattern.
Daphne, cast on July 18, 2013
The minute it gets warm, I’m knocking out this second Daphne sock. This is less second-sock syndrome than putting down a for-me knit to pick up a gift-knit, and then not quite getting back to it. That being said, the first sock flew off my needles (having knit the pattern before made it easy to return to), so I know these will be quick to turnaround when the weather improves (wool/silk/bamboo blend yarn in openwork just isn’t robust enough for winter).
Stasis, cast on Feb. 2, 2014
Stasis is a pretty recent WIP. I cast on the week before the Olympics, but it’s true what they say about knitting white/grey yarn in February. I got through the colourwork without incident, but the minute I got into the fields of stockinette I just couldn’t handle it. This is a shade I love to wear in the winter, but one I apparently can’t knit with. I’ll pick this back up in May (before it’s too hot to have a sweater in my lap) and finish it so it’s ready for me in the fall.
And I think that’s it! What do you think? Are you shocked I have any needles left for new projects or are you laughing that I think this is a lot of WIPs?
Pans & Needles 
they are all so pretty, and such nice yarn – how do you decide what to work on? This is many more WIPS that I let myself have – I would just keep starting things. 🙂 Never thought about the white/gray problem in February, but I can see it. Ugh. It would be hard to work on.
Well, obviously I am bad at working on things but great at casting them on! Haha.
lol but you enjoy what you do, right? That is what counts.
I like how you’ve justified each WIP. I tend to do that with new stash. I know you’ve got a plan, but I’m personally going to vote for Grace being done sooner. I have one and I love it, despite having the reknit both sleeves. (I would highly recommend going up a needles size or two for the sleeves if you did your gauge swatch flat and you find that you purl a little looser than you knit. That was my undoing.)
Every time you talk about Grace you make we want to pull mine out. I am definitely going to finish it soon – I feel like it will be an immediate wardrobe staple.
My sister came to stay this week and interestedly tipped out my WiP basket to look at all the projects I had in there… it’s probably the same number as yours. It was quite good to go through all the back burner projects though. I ended up reluctantly frogging one today, but I got the gauge wrong and there was no way to fix it except to start all over again (if I have the heart for it!)
Your projects will all look amazing when you finish them.
I’d never-ever laugh at you!
I think it is worth to go through a stack of WIPs every once in a while and to decide whether you want to continue or frog them. Six WIPs is one more that I am comfortable having around.
I have about … errr … four at the moment, but I am counting my 15-stitch blanket in and that will be a WIP for quite some time. 😉
I love all of them and have often looked at your project page to see whether you had continued any of them. Your flukra, btw, turned out stunningly beautiful! I love the colour.
Curious to see what you’ll be working on next! Keep up the good work! 😀
I love this post – it’s a real feast of colour. Enjoy the knitting.
My WIPs might say something about the selfishness of my hobby
I’m much more likely to finish something I’m making for myself. The few WIPs languishing in the basket are/were intended gifts.
Those are all going to be lovely, someday…but I urge to you throw them aside with gleeful excitement for New Girl very soon. 🙂 I’m an enabler, what can I say. If you’re like me and you have a needle (or several in some cases) in every size, that just means you have even more license to keep casting on.
So many projects on the go! As a monogamous knitter, I feel very overwhelmed if I have two things going on at once. Will definitely let you know when I get to the splitting the sleeves on my Grace ‘cause the yarn you chose for yours is lovely and you should totally sport it this spring.
look at all those gorgeous WIPs! A nice range of colours, too. I need to get some super easy WIPs for ‘movie theatre’ knititng, the kind you don’t have to really think about to do.
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