WIP Wrangling

I have a confession to make.

I'm a monster. And I getreallyreallyexcitedaboutthings and don't finish them.

Consider it my (d)evolution as a knitter. I used to be "a finisher" and would only have 1-2 projects going at a time. Then I started working in a yarn shop and fell victim to bad influences like Christie, whose tales of sweaters without sleeves I did not believe. How could you have SWEATERS just sitting there without sleeves? Huh? She was my first "bad" influence and it's hard to fess up that I have surpassed her. I am now the monster.

At the time of writing this I have about 4-5 sweaters without sleeves/collars: Featherweight, Pomme de Pin, Aereon, Tinder, etc. And three more in need of buttons. I get it now. After spending xxx amount of hours working on a sweater and thinking, "Hallelujah! I'm almost done and soon I'll have a wonderful new sweater to wear and ohmygod I'm SO awesome," you realize that all the fun is behind you. What lies ahead? Sleeves. And endless (my record is 42) ends to weave in. And where's the fun in that.

Most of my WIPs are bigger projects, so it's hard to really find that motivation to finish them, especially as the temperatures continue to climb. 81 tomorrow! Who wants to work on a big wooly sweater? I also have two blankets, 1 sample sweater (don't even get me started...) and endless designs that are somewhere between 25-45% done that seemed so much better on paper. All of those WIPS require so much extra energy that could be spent on starting something new. And that's when you realize that you haven't finished anything in over a month. *Gramps doesn't count because I need to redo the buttonband.

Earlier this week I made a pledge to myself that I won't start anything new until I finished two projects. I've been *itching* to cast on for Grace and try to race the other ladies to the Mad May finish line, but I can't. I just can't. See all those WIPs up there? There are 14 and that's not even all of the ones lurking around my weird hotel home. I found a few project bags lurking under yarn (...shame...) in my closet and felt so silly. These are hats! I could knock them out in a weekend if I wanted to.

Ravelry: Fisherman 2 (my design)

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Rittenhouse (discontinued)

Needles: Hiya Hiya Sharps

Started: October 7, 2012

Finished: May 12, 2013

And that's exactly what I did. This hat is the second of it's kind, a design I started last year inspired by some fisherman sweaters. The first hat was waaaaay too big and I feared the worst for this one when I found it squished in a project bag. But I pressed on and behold! It fits. I finished it in a night and I really do love it. The design still isn't perfect, so I won't be publishing it anytime soon, but it's one more WIP that's out of the way. I'm 1 for 2 this week!

I'll spend the rest of the week working on a Habitat I started last fall and my Madelinetosh Color Affection. I've knit both patterns before, but the Habitat was a gift that I almost stole. Seriously. Jared Flood knows his way around a cable let. me. tell. you. I started the third color on my color affection last night, but it kind of looked like the 1984 threw up on it, so, after stashdiving, I had to order another skein of TML in Grasshopper when nothing else would cut it. Thankfully it should be here on Friday. I'll use these next two nights to really put the pedal to the metal on my sweater sample for Fairmount Fibers. I've been trying really hard, but the motivation just isn't there. I've already knit the front and back once but had to frog it when they came out way too large. It will be a poppin' bubbly kind of night when that sweater is finally out of my life ;)

Here's to getting things done!