(mis)adventures of spindlerose

On becoming a finisher

Erin over at Unclutterer posted her third quarter resolutions this morning.

• Identify all of my unfinished projects.
• Finish ALL of my unfinished projects.
• Take on no new projects until all old projects are finished.

Anyone who knows me at all will not be surprised that those resolutions resonate with me. I have always struggled with finishing. My childhood bedroom (much like my home today) was filled with half-read books, half-sewn clothes, and craft projects in various states of completion. It took me an extra 11 years to graduate from college. Every now and then an uncluttering project unearths another notebook filled with ideas or lists of things to finish before I start something else. I spent much of June starting new knitting projects instead of finishing any of the nearly completed ones—that I want to wear. Even the half-marathon training project got side-tracked by a bad cold and business travel after the first month.

I'm not sure how well I will do at identifying all of my unfinished projects because I so rarely finish anything. I will maintain a running list of unfinished projects here at least through October. This will help me track my progress and force me to make decisions about abandoning projects that just aren't working. I will cross off the projects I finish or abandon and add new ones as I come across them. I don't think it's possible to list everything without tossing the entire house in the process.

I will finish things. Or I will abandon them and do something appropriate with the stuff associated with that project.

I know myself. Starting nothing new until every UFO is finished will not happen. There are days when I crave the feeling of new yarn on my needles or new fiber slipping through my fingers. At work, I rarely have control of when a new project will land on my desk or in my inbox. I will strive to keep the startitis under control and switch to a different unfinished project when I feel that urge to start something new.

My resolutions for the next 3 to 6 months:

• Maintain a mostly public running list of projects. I will keep a separate, non-public, list of work projects, but everything else will be posted to the list.
• Finish things.
• Be mindful about starting new projects. As Is there something already in progress that will do? before diving in.

Please keep me accountable to these plans.

First Socks of 2010

1. Alexei's Socks

Pattern: Hedgerow Socks (but I messed up the rib pattern)
Yarn: Regia Kaffe Fasset Design Line Mirage in Canyon (4353)
Notions: 2.25 mm DPNs
Time: November 9, 2009 to January 10, 2010
Comments: I knit these socks for a co-worker who asked nicely after watching me knit socks in every training week (2 or 3 times a year) for the past four years. I did not manage to get a photograph of the finished pair because she nabbed them as soon as she saw them; she emailed the photo to me. I gave her a choice of a few different yarns for the socks, and she pounced on this one. I started the pair during a week of training in November, and these socks matched almost every outfit she wore that week. I finished knitting these socks sometime December, but I didn't weave in the ends until I was flying to California in early January. I feel kind of cheesy counting these as 2010 socks, but that is when I finished them.

2. Red Whitby

Pattern: Whitby from Knitting on the Road
Yarn: Louet Gems Sportweight in Cherry Red (11--now discountinued). I used just over 1 skein, but remember that I have pretty small feet.
Notions: 3.25 mm DPNs
Time: January 4 to January 30, 2010
Comments: Sportweight socks are fast. I don't knit them very often, so I forget just how fast. It took me a few tries to figure out the correct needle size to use with this yarn and pattern. My first two attempts (one a few years ago and one in January) were too small. The Dutch heel on these socks fits me surprisingly well. The diamonds down the center front do not show up at all in the photo in the book, but are a really neat detail when the socks are on my feet.

I knit both of these projects from yarn that had been in stash for quite a while, so I feel extra virtuous about finishing them. My goal this year (again) is to finish 12 pairs of socks. I didn't quite make it last year because I lost my sock mojo partway through the spring and ended up doing a lot of frogging. I ended 2009 with more odd socks than I started with, which was definitely not in my plans. This year I hope to do better.

Mysteries

In September and October, I challenged myself to knit mystery socks. In both cases, part of the pattern was posted once a week, and I two socks at the same time on two sets of DPNs. The challenge of keeping up with the clues inspired me to knit quickly. I think I'm going to try the Sock Knitter's Anonymous mystery project in November, too.

SKA September 2009 Mystery Socks
Pattern: Fox Faces by Nancy Bush
Size: Mine (US Women's 6.5 D)
Yarn: Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Sand. Part of the challenge for this mystery was to knit yellow socks.
Notions: 2.75 mm Darn Pretty DPNs
Time: September 2 to 27, 2009
Comments: I had a great time knitting these socks with the 500 or so others who knit them as part of the Sock Knitter's Anonymous challenge on Ravelry. It was great fun to see everyone's interpretation of yellow socks appear through the month of September.

Mom's Mystery Socks
Pattern: TTL Mystery Socks 2009 by Kirstin Kapur
Size: Mom's (US Women's 8 or so)
Yarn: Fleece Artist 2/6 Merino. I call the color Autumn Sky since it contains lots of blue combined with all the colors in the leaves I admired during my week in Wisconsin.
Notions: 2.5 mm Darn Pretty DPNs
Time: October 5 to 31, 2009
Comments: I gave the yarn and a sock knitting lesson to Mom for Mother's Day a couple of years ago. She is not a fan of sock knitting. When I was home, I reclaimed the yarn to turn into socks for Mom. I had a great time knitting these socks and plan to make another pair for myself sometime soon.

How many socks did SpindleRose knit while on vacation?

So, I have been home for over a month, and I never did post the vacation sock contest results. Work and visitors took over for most of June. I did not travel much for a change, I just spent so much time attached to my computer during the workday that I had no desire to fire it up at night. Then we had visitors in and out for the past two weeks—which also required a fair amount of preparatory cleaning and organizing since kids slept in the wool room. First, my college friends Rachel and Hilary and their three boys visited for a long weekend. Then, my sister and her family arrived for a week. I had lots of fun entertaining all those kids, but I have no idea how their parents can do it all day every day. Just a few days wore D and me out.

To answer the big question, I knit about 1/2 of one sock on vacation. I also added a few inches to the summer shell while we shuttled across central Maui getting from our home base at Kanapali to fun activities. Amy was right—there is just too much fun stuff to do in Hawaii to spend time knitting. I knew that, but for some reason I thought I would spend more time knitting at the beach and pool and less time reading. I think I read about 10 novels on the trip (close to one a day on the days we lazed around). The random number generator picked 1 and 8, so the first and last entrants Susan and Angela win.

Amy wins her choice of blue or pink silk yarn from Japan—I'm keeping the other color. Susan and Angela both win a lovely little change purse (also from Japan) that is perfect for storing knitting notions. I found both the yarn and the purses at Yarn & Friends in Honolulu.

Thanks to everyone for commenting and being patient while I completely ignored the blog during June. And here's a new contest for July: I'm closing in on 300 comments. The 300th commenter will win a prize from my bin of handspun yarn.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 11: Falling Leaves Socks

Falling Leaves Socks
Pattern: Falling Leaves by Jessica Landers from Knitty, Fall 2005
Size: Mine (US Women's 6.5 D)
Yarn: Socka from the depths of the stash. I think I purchased this yarn at Dee's Nimble Needles, Walpole, MA, back in December 1997.
Notions: 2.25 mm Brittany DPNs
Time: Sometime in 2005 or 2006 to December 30, 2008. I rescued the nearly finished first sock from the bin of unfinished socks in mid-November.
Comments: This makes 10 pairs finished in 2008, and I finished the year with 1 or 2 fewer pairs on the needles than I started the year. This is an easily memorized pattern. I suspect that I put them away before we moved and got distracted by all the other lovely sock yarn and new patterns. I'm happy I pulled them out and finished them. In knitting this pair, I discovered that I'm not a fan of using a short row toe for toe up socks—the wrap bumps on the outside of the toes bug me and I do not enjoy doing a provisional cast on for socks.

My only knitting goals for 2009 are to finish 12 pairs of socks and end the year with only one or two pairs on the needles. I intend to alternate knitting a pair of new socks with finishing a pair from the odd sock box. That also means that finishing 12 pairs will mean knitting 18 or 20 socks.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 10: Serendipity Socks

Serendipity Socks
Pattern: Serendipity by Adrienne Fong. This is the first kit from the 2008 Rockin' Sock Club. The pattern will be available to the public later this month.
Size: Mine (US Women's 6.5 D)
Yarn: Blue Moon's Socks That Rock Lightweight in Dragon Dance
Notions: 2.5 mm Brittany DPNs
Time: May 28 to December 21, 2008
Comments: The only 2008 sock club kit I started; at least I finished it. I'm a little surprised at how much I came to love the orange yarn. I modified the pattern knitting a heel flap rather than a short row heel to better fit my high instep.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 9: Mom's socks

Mom's Green Socks
Pattern: Cookie A.'s Baudelaire from Knitty, Summer 2006
Size: Small with the large instep modification
Yarn: Socks That Rock Mediumweight in Falcons Eye purchased from The Fold at MD Sheep and Wool, 2006
Notions: 3.0 mm Brittany DPNs
Time: September 8 to October 18, 2008
Comments: This is another pair that turned out too big for me. They fit Mom perfectly, and now maybe she will stop begging for handknit socks every time I talk to her (and finish the pair she has on the needles). Someday I will master toe up gusset construction; I forsee spending some time with Cat Bordhi's book and experimenting with other sock construction methods in 2009. The most interesting thing about these socks is the way that the light and dark colors striped on the foot (over 60 stitches) and pooled on the leg (over 68 stitches). It is a little difficult to see in the overexposed picture; one side of each leg is clearly darker green than the other side.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 8: D's Striped Socks

D's Striped Socks
Size: US Men's 7 EEE with shaped toes
Yarn: Regia Mini Ringle in 5220 (Navy, Royal, Green stripes) that I swapped for in 2002.
Notions: two 2.5 mm KnitPicks Harmony circulars. Yes, I knit a pair of socks on two circs because all my 2.5 mm DPNs were occupied.
Time: August 30 to October 13 2008
Comments: I improvised this pattern: cast on 72, k2p2 ribbing for a few inches, traditional gusset heel, and shaped toes. D says they are too short for flying and a little loose around the top. He has requested that I knit long, over the calf, legs on his next pair. I guess I need to start buying 3 balls of "boyish" sock yarn. I'm not one to turn down a stash purchasing opportunity like that. If I knit another pair of short socks for him, I will start with fewer stitches or on smaller needles. I may also try a star toe to see if he likes the way that fits since keeping track of the decreases for left and right toes is a pain.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 7: Mockery Socks

Mockery Socks
Pattern: Mockery by Katie Grady
Size: Mine (US Women's 6.5 D)
Yarn: Trekking Pro Natura in color 1607 purchased at The Knitting Basket in Richmond, February 2007
Notions: 2.25 mm Cover DPNs
Time: June 21 to September 24, 2008
Comments: This was my lone Summer of Socks project, and I did not manage to finish them during the summer. I knit most of this pair during my summer travels: developer conference sessions, class reunion, and August family visit. I would not knit this pattern again. It was an interesting knit, but in wearing the socks twist around on my ankles and feet because the mock cables make for a strong bias in the fabric. I'm not a big fan of the Trekking Pro Natura. In knitting it is a little harder and more string-like than regular Trekking, and it has not softened with washing and wear.

12 Projects of 2008, Part 6: Lenore Socks

  

Lenore
Pattern: Lenore from October 2007 Blue Moon Rockin Sock Club
Size: Mine (US Women's 6.5 D)
Yarn: Socks That Rock Lightweight in Lenore
Notions: 2.5 mm Brittany DPNs
Time: November 11, 2007 to May 25, 2008
Comments: Somewhere between when I finished these socks in May and when I found them for their photo session and first wearing this winter a cat (or a m*th, but my money is on a cat) used one of these socks for playtime. I thought the repairs could be accomplished by grafting the hole in the heel and re-knitting the last few rows of lace and the toe. As I started to pick up the stitches after ripping out the toe, I found many spots with one frayed ply—spots just waiting to turn into new holes. By the time I was into solid yarn, I had frogged almost all the way back to the end of the gusset decreases. It's a good thing that the cats are cute and snuggly, I really enjoyed knitting these socks, and I had plenty of yarn left over. Right now, the whole sock is in my sock drawer and the other one is in the knitting bag waiting for me to recover from the trauma enough to finish it again.