The Bog of Lost Scholars

Dear self:

As nifty (or at least, as much to your taste) as many of the KnitPicks Simple Stripes color combinations are, and as good a deal as the Simple Stripes sampler is, you may not buy it until you have used up at least a decent portion of your previous KnitPicks purchases. This includes, but is not limited to:

• the shawl (Alpaca Cloud. Third lace pattern, row 35 of either 46 or 68)
• the nephew pants (Merino Style. Legs done; now on the body)
• the nibling sweater (Shine. Pattern started. Sweater’s turning out larger than I’d planned. I did knit a gauge swatch, but obviously not a big enough one; however, I’m okay if it turns out to be an 18 months size rather than a 6 months)
• at least one pair of socks from the multiple skeins of Dancing you bought a few months back (unstarted)

And by the way, you had the Palette Sampler on your wishlist before you saw the Simple Stripes; it would make sense to buy that first, given that you did want to make some Turkish or eastern European socks for folk dance, remember?

Sincerely,
Myself

Sewing: Hat’s coming along; all that’s left is the back elastic and casing.

Shawl: The good news is that I’m up to row 29 of the third lace pattern; the bad news is that to get the shawl diameter I want, I’d better repeat the first part of the pattern, which means I need to knit 68 rows instead of 46! Argh! I’ll see how I feel about it once I’ve made it through row 46.

Nephew’s pants: I’m halfway through the A of UAH.

While I mostly find Flylady‘s advice helpful, useful, and sometimes insightful, there are definitely some areas where I disagree with her.

Take her advice on paperback books, for example: if you’ve read them, get rid of them. If I followed that advice, most of what I tossed would be books I love and regularly reread, and most of the books I should unload would be kept!

So I ignore her advice [ETA: or more precisely, I ignore her specific advice to follow her meta-advice]. I keep the books that make me happy, that I reread or refer to often, no matter what their binding; I try to gradually cajole myself into unloading the books I’ll never reread, or that make me feel guilty for not doing something about them. (If I really have the time and inclination to learn Sanskrit someday, I can buy another copy of Teach Yourself Sanskrit.)

Craft projects are another area where we disagree. A few weeks ago a woman wrote Flylady saying that she’d finally gotten organized to the point where she had time to tackle her unfinished craft projects but couldn’t decide what to work on first; Flylady’s response was to get rid of them all, because if the woman had really wanted to do them she’d have been working on them — and while she’s at it, she should unload all the craft supplies that she’s not immediately using.

And I read that and thought, “come on!”

There’s lots of reasons why someone might not have been working on a craft project, besides not really wanting to do it. From my own experience:

• The project requires concentration and dedicated time that isn’t available right now but likely will be later. (Just Nan’s Heart of Gold, started when my son was very small, on hold for some years, now finished.)
• The project’s hit a snag, and I can’t face fixing it right this instant. (Lace tablecloth; needle came out and a bunch of stitches dropped. Stayed in a bag for over a year; I finally got back to it, picked up the stitches, and finished the thing. More recently: same thing happened with Shetland Shawl [no, I have not learned my lesson about point protectors]. Only took a week this time to face it again, fortunately.)
• The project’s for me, or has no set deadline, and another project needs to be finished first. (Any number of my projects, especially around Christmas or important birthdays.)
• I still want to finish the project, but right now it’s a bit boring. (Any number of my projects; most recent example is the crocheted lace blouse — I set it aside for some months, and now I’m working on it again.)
• I’m knitted/crocheted/cross-stitched out; I want to do a different craft. (Any number of my projects.)

Yes, sometimes I do decide to scrap an unfinished project — the granny square afghan’s the most recent example — but most of the time, I push on, and I’m glad I did.

I have a guess where Flylady’s coming from; she’s posted before about a quilt that she never finished, didn’t enjoy working on, and always felt guilty about not working on; when she finally got rid of it, she was overjoyed. And she was absolutely right to get rid of that project and the other quilting supplies; of course you should get rid of stuff if you find that you really don’t like a particular craft! But that’s not the only reason you might not be working on a project. And if you get rid of all your UFOs, and then immediately restart one of them because you really do want to make it? That’s a waste of your past effort and money.

How I would have advised that woman if I were writing her:

It’s a wonderful feeling, isn’t it? Finally, you can find your craft stuff, and your house and life are sufficiently under control that you can enjoy working on crafts and not feel guilty about the time!

So, about those unfinished projects….

First, make yourself a list of your unfinished projects. (If you want, go ahead and make another list of projects that you want to make and have bought supplies for but haven’t started; let’s deal with the started objects first, though.)

Now, take a look at that list. Is there anything on there that makes you think, “sheesh, why did I even start that project?” That’s one you should toss. Ditto anything you’ve found you absolutely hate doing, anything that you started as a gift for someone that you’d really rather not give anything to now, any clothing that clearly isn’t going to fit the intended recipient, etc.

But if you’re like me, you’ll still have several items left on that list. Here’s four ways to decide what to work on next.

• Pick the project you most want to do, the one that you’ve thought “oh, I wish I were working on X” when you were stuck doing dishes or wading through paperwork. It’s your reward for getting your house in order!
• Pick the project that’s closest to being finished.
• Pick the project that has a deadline — it’d be the perfect present for a relative’s birthday or for Christmas or for a friend’s baby shower.
• Write all the projects on separate scraps of paper, put them in a bowl, and draw one at random.

And to keep up with those unfinished projects — you’re a Flylady reader; you know about 15-minute increments. You could spend 15 minutes on one project, then 15 minutes on another one, and so forth until you’ve spent time on all. Or you could assign a project to each week (use your calendar!) and spend 15 minutes/day on that one project all week. Or if you’re a multi-craft person, you could have zones — this week is the quilting zone, next week’s the scrapbook zone, then the knitting zone. The important thing is that all your unfinished projects get some attention.

The bag full of reed in my closet has been glaring at me and saying, “Use me or lose me.”

So I made a basket.

I’m a so-so basketmaker, mainly because I haven’t done it that often. I like it, but it’s not a craft that interests me enough to get into it full-bore; I bought a few hanks of reed fifteen years ago, but I haven’t done much with them — a cat basket that I’ve since tossed, a square utensils basket that I gave away because it toppled over too easily, and a round wicker basket that I still store tools in. This current one’s a low wide basket, more of a tray with high sides, to hold some of my yarn stash.

There’s still a lot of reed left; I’ll see if I can get a few more baskets churned out, and then I’ll give away the rest. If I ever want to make a specific basket, I can always order the reed I need at that time.

Sewing: I still think my sewing machine is suffering from a disagreement it had with a piece of heavy canvas, but in the meantime, I’ve sewn a few seams on the hat.

Shawl: I’m on row 18 (of 46) on the third lace pattern. 574 stitches/round = zzzzz. But I’ve recovered from dropping 30 stitches, and it’s moving along. I’d really like to finish this before Texas Camp, but that’ll be a stretch.

Nephew’s pants: one leg is done; I’ve started the second, but I’m not yet up to the lettering.

Nibling’s sweater: My swatch was 5.5 stitches/inch. My first six rows? 4.5 stitches/inch. Argh! I’m continuing nonetheless; if it ends up too large now, it’ll fit within a couple years. Babies do have a knack for growing….

Crocheted lace blouse: Another square done. I’m aiming for one square a week at the moment.

It’s been a while since I posted a UFO picture, so…. Projects in progress as of 2 October 2005.

Left half of the picture:

• The sunflower needlepoint. Hard to see in this shot, but only a very tiny corner in the upper right is done. I’m debating whether I want to activate this again once I finish the crane, or just ditch it.
• The crochet lace overblouse. A tad further along than I’d thought — twenty squares are done out of 56 (if I follow the pattern) or 66 (if I lengthen it so that it fits me better). I made a couple new squares over the past week.
• Cross-stitch of Mucha’s Ruby. Still haven’t really touched this one; not in a big hurry on it.
• Fleece hat (on top of Ruby). Something I’ve long been meaning to make to match the fleece coat I made a few years back. Fabric’s cut out; I just need to cut out the lining and interfacing, and then sew the puppy.
• My nephew’s pants, currently nought but a sad and lonely seed stitch cuff.
• The alpaca shawl, doing its best imitation of a lump. I take it on faith that a good blocking will make a dramatic change. I’m on the third lace section and grinding slowly through the 574-stitch rounds.

Right half:

• The crane, with some of the blasted gold couching visible. I’m not sure why I hate doing the couching so much; it’s not that hard. Maybe it’s just that I have to check the pattern so closely to figure out where I’m supposed to put the stitching? Anyway, some day I’ll get sick of this thing and sit down and finish it all in two days.
• The harbor scene needlepoint. Those two slightly more saturated blues and the white in the upper right corner? That’s all I’ve done on the thing. I may ask my mom whether she’s interested in the finished product or whether there’s something else she’d prefer; if a boat scene is of interest, I think I’d probably enjoy working Teresa Wentzler’s Tradewinds more. (On the other hand, this piece certainly won’t take long to do if I sit down with it regularly….)
• The pentacle. Progress is actually somewhat visible on this one; what’s slowing it down is the small-count black Aida and the large sections of dark floss. I’m much more enthused about it when I’ve done a length of lighter floss; I can actually see progress then!
• Flanders map (folded; there’s a bit more done inside). Haven’t touched in months. One goal of my home office cleanup is to clear enough space to set the hoop up so I can work on this more easily.
• Cat quilt. I’ve chosen the outer border fabric; now I just have to cut it out and sew it.

(The astute reader will note that the Solstice Sun is nowhere in the above list.)