Chilling

So, what is the technical term for when you attack your wips and actually get a few finished? I’m sure there must be one. Suggestions on a postcard… 

I woke this morning and announced to M that I was going to do a spot of wip shaming today. He’s long suffering when it comes to knitting and crocheting talk but to be fair he’s also supportive. Way back when I was learning how to cast on for knitting he surprised me by showing me that, not only could he cast on, he could knit too. He’s quite vague about how or why he learned to knit though. I’ve told him that if Russel Crowe knits then it must be cool but he says he’s never felt the need to be that cool!

What on earth is wip shaming was M’s reaction to my plans for today. I had the fabulous idea of gathering all my wips and photographing them for a visual ‘to do’ reference; a printed out reminder not to start anything new! A list of shame! Several projects in and I’m beginning to think it’s time that would be better spent actually getting on with one of them!

The pram or newborn sized ripple blanket only needed twenty more rows to make it a useful size. If I’d worked that out and ploughed on regardless of the blue yarn issue I’d have finished this, ahem, a while ago! The intended recipient is coming up to her second birthday. This may have to go in the future grandchildren box, which might be never according to E who is spending a year with a class of six year olds, loves them all to bits but is very glad she doesn’t have to take any of them home.

I only needed to do one stripe (two rows) in the new blue and it’s really not noticeably different to the other blue after all that procrastinating! I kept the border simple with four rounds of dc stitches. I’m definitely improving when it comes to borders, I can remember feeling puzzled when I did my first one and it ruffled up a bit. I now know that was due to introducing too many stitches. This blanket could do with a light pressing but the border is staying flat fairly well. Along with the blue yarn running out I think I was also worried about messing up the border. I need to ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ more often!

Let’s not talk about how many knitting wips there are in my two wip boxes. In my defence I switched to crochet because it doesn’t cause any wrist pain. I can get those wips finished but it will take a lot of short sessions. I may decide to frog a few and use the yarn for crochet.

I’ve photographed three crochet wips so far, I think there might be three or four more! The Aran jumper is just waiting to be sewn up now and edged. This will no doubt be quick and easy and I will wonder why I put it off. The socks are from yonks ago. I think I just got bored and lost confidence in the sizing of the part I’d reached. It’s a 5mm hook but thin sock yarn which I find a bit tricky to work with. I must have been carting this project around to various cricket matches when I last worked on it because I’ve photocopied the pattern I was using and also left an old aluminium hook in with the project to remind myself of the size I was using. I don’t use these hooks anymore but they are a quick way of leaving the size info with a wip.

Finally, the Newt Scamander inspired scarf for E. I think this one has finally taught me not to start very long very repetitive projects! It is lovely yarn and I reckon there will be some leftover, even after adding tassels, for something like short wristwarmers so I’ve got that to spur me on I guess. I’ll enjoy making the wristwarmers more than the scarf.

Harvey and Riley are enjoying our chilled Sunday morning. J is finally feeling fit enough to play football again even though he still has a lingering cough which doesn’t seem to want to go. M is watching the match and sending me frustrated texts about how useless the rest of the team are (he might be a bit biased!). E is in Leeds this weekend. So it’s the perfect Sunday morning with just my four legged boys at home.

I never stage any of the photographs of Riley. I simply wait for him to do his thing and rearrange the blankets or cushions and then make himself comfortable. He spent some time digging and tugging this blanket into a suitable nest and yes, I must admit, it looks pretty cosy. I wouldn’t mind adopting a similar position myself, instead of tackling laundry, hoovering and dog walking.

In a few hours when we’ve braved the gale force winds here today they will no doubt be needing a long drying off session or even a quick shower before they go anywhere near crochet blankets and sofa cushions! I do sometimes wonder what I would do with all the time I spend on hoovering up dog hair and mud, bathing dogs, washing dog towels and bedding… and then Riley comes and lies down, puts his head on my lap and sighs a big sigh of contentment and I figure it’s time well spent.