That’s pretty clever! It will make a great gift, everyone wants a warm head in winter and a lot of people love blue. Is it another Musselburgh? I made my first last year and it’s the warmest hat I’ve ever had.
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It is another Musselburgh! They really are cozy.
My niece is hosting two foreign exchange students this year (not planned, but their original host family didn’t work out…long story, lol), and I needed a last-minute gift for Christmas. I had a few wool/silk/mohair Musselburghs already made and gifted them to the girls and my niece. They loved them, and my niece told me that they didn’t have winter hats yet, so it was quite the useful gift. 
It’s Michigan! So, yes, excess warm accessories are always good to have on hand.
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01 - NEEDLE FELTED FROG (WIP)
Last December, our local museum collaborated with The Flannel Couch to offer a needle felting workshop. I couldn’t pass it up!
The event was very well organized and informative, and gave me the itch to race home afterwards for some online shopping to start a stash! Haha.
The three hours flew by very quickly though (a bit of crafting, a bit of gabbing), and with that, the project moved onto the W.I.P. list.
I got to finishing up the mouth, and cutting out a felt shawl last week. I was also hoping to create a pair of glasses to dress her up a little more but didn’t have the appropriate wire gauge on hand (I’m trying really hard to use what I have rather than purchasing supplies this year).
She’s a little plump but for a first go at needle felting, I’m quite pleased!
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Well done! Now you have a frog to dress up as you please! I like how the feet are done.
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I love the scenic/setting photography people do with their creatures. It’d be great to make some cute outfits and get this frog out for some fishing or hiking.
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Week three question:
Think of a WIP that you have had for some time. What is keeping you from finishing it? Can it be overcome and how (ie. buy more yarn, frog to a certain point, read directions)?
If not, what can you do to remove it out of your brain and WIP pile?
3 points for answering; 5 points for removing it; 10 points for finishing it.
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I started making a crochet sweater a few years ago. I made the entire sweater body and sleeves and even sewed it together, except for one sleeve and the pockets.
All I have left is to make ONE pocket and finish sewing. Why haven’t I finished it? Because it is nothing exciting. I am not wild about the color (a black and white speckle yarn) and the crochet was quite boring.
I just need a kick to finish it. I know I will like it once it is done and can be worn. I just need to focus and get it done. There are just too many other fun things to make so it keeps getting pushed to the back burner.
Also, a gentle reminder: remember week two question? The ONE wip you must get done?
How is everyone doing? I have only seen @jellybean and @AntBee working on theirs in the Snapshot thread…I am guilty of not even looking at my Catalona Flower Shawl…sheesh…
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Week 3 response:
The only WiP I have right now is the sweater. I have kits for things I never started that are in the line up, and yarn that never found its pattern, but no languishing WiPs.
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I am so envious! Good for you!
I know you will get the sweater done so then everything will be NEW! YAY!
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Week 3 - My oldest knitting WIP is a shrug I started a couple years ago. It was put aside for a while because I wasn’t sure how to pick up the stitches from my provisional cast on and then kept coming up with the wrong number of stitches when I finally tried.
I recently picked it back up and figured it out so I could move onto the next part of the pattern! 
(my sophie blanket has 3.5 rounds left!)
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Over time, with more experience and having done so many other projects, I think we start to be able to figure out what went wrong and how to fix it. I know I have a few things that I got frustrated because I couldn’t figure out how to do a stitch. Some, I think I might just frog and do an easier pattern. Others, I am determined to figure it out. By now, some of the things also have video tutorials that the pattern writer must have gotten a lot of questions on.
I am anxiously awaiting the completion of your Sophie (and I know there are a lot of people rooting for you to get it done!)
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I accidentally pulled a shawl WIP out of timeout. (I was looking for a different WIP)
Anyway, it went into timeout because I had the wrong number of stitches and couldn’t consistenly count them or work out where I’d messed up.
The yarn is a sheepjes and so soft, so I am now trying to work out how to ‘fix’ it without frogging. I remember that there were many rows that got messed up and tried to fix along the way, but this last one eluded me.
I think I have worked it out.
Interestingly, the time that this went into timeout correlates to when my peri-menopausal symptoms started kicking in, I just didn’t realise at the time. I appreciate correlation doesn’t always link to causation but… it got me thinking.
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I’m generally pretty good about finishing or culling WIPs - my brain doesn’t love to leave things unresolved if I can help it. However, I put my Mondrian sweater to the side when I unpacked my winter woolies because I didn’t like how it fit anymore and wanted to redo the arms, collar, and hem (it was too cropped for my liking, the hem was too short so kept rolling up, and the arms were too long). If we’re counting this as a WIP, then I just took the offending bits off, and am mid-progress in reworking the collar now.
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@Renstar and @sheepBlue Both of those projects definitely sound like they are worth doing! There is just something about having a hand knit item that makes them worth the trouble of reworking or switching gears!
I have a couple of shawls that I just got tired of all the different stitches. The simplest thing was to pick my favorite and finish the rest with that one stitch. Artist license! And, it is wearable so who cares if I didn’t finish it like the pattern!
Get them done and get 10 points.
I promise the prize (s) for this will be worthy!
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I only have 16 / 17 rows to finish, if i can get the stitches back to normal, it should work…. maybe with a slight wonk!!
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I feel guilty on this one because the WIP I keep coming back to is the Quiltalong prize…the one I offered to provide, but still haven’t finished 
. Okay, so what is the main thing I’m struggling with? Time management. I’ve started on the prizes (I have 4 prize packs to make, which will each have three handmade items). I just have been struggling with finding making the time to finish the prizes. I find it difficult because I was really excited to make these, but my excitement has abandoned me for future prize packs (as in I am more excited about my ideas for future prizes than I am for this current WIP), causing these to feel like work. Then to top it off, I signed up for the Galentine’s Day swap, which has to be done and sent out by a specific due date.
So, it sounds like I need to come up with a tentative schedule to get these prize packs done and out of here sooner, rather than later.
Okay. My current plan of action is to get up from the computer right now, eat a See’s chocolate, give LittleBookLover his medicine and water - wait no - first medicine, then reward candy, lol. Then, I will cut out the fabrics for the prize packs. That way, the ‘hard work’ is done, then it’s just a matter of sewing.
I am posting this plan to keep myself accountable. Getting up now.
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I also don’t tend to have a lot WIPs. Most of my projects are smaller scale and/or for swaps with a built-in deadline, and I can pretty easily let go of something that isn’t clicking for me anymore (maybe too easily…)
But if I’m honest, the main component is that I often have a hard time starting. Letting the project live in my head means I can’t screw it up. And yes, not trying is essentially another version of failing, but it’s failure on my terms, and that control is hard to let go of.
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@AudiobookLover Lately I have had to do some really hard inspection of why I have so many projects started and not finished. This “habit” has gone on since my high school days. I pretty much have narrowed it down to a couple of things:
- I am, and do acknowledge, that I am a perfectionist. When something messes up or gets too difficult, I give it up. I’ve had years of therapy to “fix” this. I am much better since I have adapted a more forgiving attitude. My new motto is “Exceptional and done is better than perfection and not done”. Let’s see if I can get that pile reduced. (Fact: when I moved to Atlanta back in the 1980’s, I finally threw out the WIP dress that I was making for my Aunt, who had passed , and literally almost a wardrobe box of other projects as well. The guilt of throwing all that fabric away was great, but the burden of hauling them around was gone.)
- I have an attention deficit that bounces me from thing to thing in all aspects of my life. It is like a big swirling tornado of stuff that I have to just reach up and grab something before it is pulled away again. This group and also lots of notes and weekly checklists helps me stay focused.
@megwell Yeah, those types of projects in the head seem to reach a point of busting out and then they become more WIPS for me. I also think it is part of my “perfectionist” trait. If I don’t start, then I can’t fail.
That being said, thank you everyone for sharing your insights. We learn about ourselves and each other and can come up with some happy solutions.
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It’s not uncommon for me to have multiple projects on the go, but I don’t typically think of them as WIPs in the “big, bad albatross around my neck” sense. However! Last year I unearthed an old cross-stitch kit that I’ve had for more years than I care to admit (it was a gift from my grandmother when I had first started stitching). I’ve got it in a Q-snap, have all the colours sorted out, and only let myself work on it on the weekends to prevent getting burned out. I don’t know that I’ll finish it this year, but it’s back in rotation, and I’m OK with that.
As for what (maybe) kept it on the sidelines for so long? Because I was a novice stitcher, I made the rookie mistake of using the cover photo to help determine which thread shade I should be using, so the stripes on the cat in the centre may be somewhat “off”. I’m working around it, and telling myself that nature isn’t perfect (but reserve the right to fix it later).
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I don’t count multiple projects as WIPS. Some projects are just ongoing. For me, a lot of those are crochet or knitting things that take a long time so I have to break them into chunks. A lot of embroidery projects are that way as well, especially if there are sections that are all one color!
I have made a list of pretty much all my unfinished projects. I put stars by the ones that I can tackle quickly by just focusing and doing. I put red by the ones that are OK for doing in chunks. Some might get done this year, some might not.
I think a wonky cat is fine! I hope you get it done!
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