Project Hydra - A Bad Case of Start-itis

Lately, I've had a bad case of start-itis. I was finishing my many knitted projects fairly quickly, so was starting two projects for every one that I finished. It was a form of Project Hydra -- cut off one head and more grow in its place.

As you might imagine, this propensity was going to lead me into a lot of trouble. At first, this system worked because I was knitting quick small projects, like hats.

Then, I started projects that were bigger in scope, like Louisa from CocoKnits. (I'm 16 inches into the sweater.)

(Louisa by Cocoknits -- Photo by Cocoknits)

And Leftie, by Martina Behm, which is an easy shawl but grows quickly. I love these colors!

I still had to knit up horns for a friend's Viking hat that I had promised for his birthday.

AND....I still had a few other things on the needles, like Dragons, Dragons, Dragons by Mary Scott Huff, which is a complicated fair isle pattern cowl. 

 

(I'm much farther along than this photo suggests)

My Doctor Who cowl for the Who Knits CAL on the podcast. And I'm not even counting the socks I have on the needles. Needless to say, the practical knitter in me started channeling Elizabeth Zimmerman. 

What was I doing?!? 

I couldn't be expected to finish any given project in a reasonable amount of time if I was splitting my time in between multiple large projects!  I mean, I know that I like having different projects for different occasions --- simple stockinette for when I have to pay attention; complicated projects for when I can sit down and really concentrate; etc....but this was getting out of hand.

At heart, I'm more of a project knitter -- I love making projects that I can use, which is problematic if I'm not actually able to finish an object TO use.

I think it's time to cut off all the Hydra heads at once.....

Finishing UFOs

As I noted before, I'm working on finishing up some works-in-progress (WIP) projects, which makes me less antsy about the number of projects I have on the needles. (And I don't feel so guilty about starting new ones!)

This is a relatively simple pattern that eats up any yardage of handspun and shows off a lot of variegated yarn. It's knit in the round so there isn't any need to purl. (I need to write up this simple pattern one day.)

I had started this earlier in the year and then put it aside. I had almost forgotten about it, until I was digging through my knitting basket and found it. I had only a little bit of my handspun left, so I simply knit until all of the yarn was gone.

Here's how it looks up close.

Finishing a Knitting Backlog of WIPs

As I was cleaning out my large knitting basket, I discovered that I had a few too many projects on the needles. I tend to get a bit antsy at how many works-in-progress I have at any given point. Normally, I don't like having TOO many project on the needles, and now I currently had seven WIPs, whereas my comfort limit is about five.

I took a look at few WIPs and some were nearly complete, like a Scott Pilgrim hat. I had actually gotten really tired of knitting it; it was comprised of a series of welts. BUT, it was half-way done to being complete. I didn't want to frog it, but I also dreaded the idea of knitting all of those welts to actually finish the hat.


It's knit out of leftover Cascade Eco+  as well as some Lionbrand Homespun that I had been gifted. I discovered that the Homespun was much too slippery even on my wooden needles and I really disliked knitting with it. (Hence why it languished.)


However, I discovered that when I put it on, it was perfect for a slouchy hat. I just needed to start the decreases, so I did! Within two welts and some aggressive (and imperfect decreases), I was basically done. And the hat is surprisingly soft.

I'm going to try and get some headway into my current WIPs and see if I can't get it down to a more manageable size before I cast on something new.

WIP: Intermediary Post

While I get my Fanime/Clockwork report and photos written up, here's an intermediary post outlining some of my Works in Progress.

My Denver Cowl using Miss Babs yarn, "Copper City". This pattern is pretty simple and easy to memorize, so this WIP is my knitting when I don't need to pay attention.

This is one of the cables from my Aran sweater by Alice Starmore, St. Brigid. Unlike the cowl, I do need to pay very strict attention to this particular pattern.