Category: WIPs (Page 1 of 2)

Misbehaving Hexies

June 14, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

So I have some of the pieces to Jewelled Star sitting here…I finished all the hexagons then ran out of steam:

For one, they aren’t overly hexagonal, which I thought might be a problem, and two, they are slightly different sizes which makes joining them miserable, and three I really, really don’t want to make the stars and have been putting it off for something like a year and a half. So I decided I’d just make something with the hexagons and immediately ran up against the problem of their irregularity. I have no idea at all what I’m going to do with the damned things.

I suppose it’s time to put them back in the naughty corner until I have a burst of inspiration. Hopefully I’ll figure out what to do with them, but it’s a relief to declare the blanket a failure. Some projects just never come together they way you think they will, and that’s ok.

This is what happens when you put a project down for too long.

June 4, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

See that garter stitch that snuck in there? I read from the beginning of the pattern instead of where I left off, and didn’t even question myself. This is my longest running wip, started October 28, 2012! 12! Dear lord. It’s coming along nicely now though and should be finished in a week or two depending on what I focus on.

The pattern is “My Garter Slipped Scarf” and I love it. 🙂

My kitchen needs rugs

May 27, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

So I’m making one.

We’ve needed a mat in front of the sink and for some mysterious reason, we’ve never bought one. We’ve always just thrown the dirtiest towel within reach down on the floor to sop up the water that escaped. This makes us sound like loons, but we got in the habit of spending very little on the nice-to-haves back when things were truly desperate and we’ve never entirely broken free of it.

This would be better if it had some nonslip material of some kind, but even plain cotton beats the hell out of a random towel. It’s coming along nicely:

This is painfully simple: chain until it’s long enough, do rows of sc, hdc,and dc in whatever order depending on what you feel like. Go until the damned thing is big enough.

I love this kind of project, minimally structured and great for watching TV.

It’s also a great way of getting back in the game. I’ve been slowly adding more crochet and knitting into my day, even if it’s just a bit before bed. I can’t work for all that long before my hands just aren’t having it, but that’s ok. Not a perfect world.

After this I plan to go on a finishing spree so stay tuned!

the more wips the better

October 1, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve noticed something peculiar over the last few months: the more wips I have the more I work on them. This leaves me with projects that each take longer but overall I’m making much more progress. so now I’m embracing my desire to start one more thing and I’m much happier. I love bring able to pick up whatever I’m in the mood for and just go.

when to kill a work in progress?

April 30, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve got a few things on the needles/hook right now and I’m struggling a bit with not wanting to work on one of them. It’s funny, there are things that you just don’t know about a project until you’re well into it. There’s no substitute for experience I suppose.

So I went like gangbusters through the first foot or so of Grain. I somehow managed to make mistakes even in garter stitch, even with yarn overs for increases. This should have been excellent TV knitting and yet I was managing to make a mess. That bit eventually smoothed out, but then I learned something truly problematic:

Each row getting longer drives me insane. This is not a good thing if you want to knit shawls. And I don’t know why I want to knit a shawl. I have no use for one. My daughter says she loves them but doesn’t ever wear them. I certainly won’t. I don’t know any shawl-people.

So what do I do with this growing beast? Do you frog just because a project isn’t speaking to you anymore? Do you hide it in the closet? Do you power through?

I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

WiP…Friday?

January 19, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

This week has been all about Jewelled Star. I got obsessed with it and went from this:

To this:

Not too far to go until I start the star motifs. I’m so excited to see how this turns out!

And…that is absolutely all I’ve worked on this week. Sometimes it’s good to just work and work and work on something. And it’s always good to go where the work leads you.

this & that

January 4, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

Just now made another mistake on Grain. I dropped a yo instead of knitting it I think? In any case, everything’s secure, just odd looking in a spot. Won’t even notice in the fo.

Got some stitch markers from ChiaoGoo that are making things much easier where I’m using them. Proper tool for the proper job. You wouldn’t think a stitch marker would make much of a difference but it really eliminates a friction point.

I got my latest purchase from Knitivity today. It’s gorgeous as always. Pictures to come.

I got some Scarfie this week as well and thought I’d picked a pattern for it but changed my mind when I actually started working it up. So that can be stash for a bit while I work on other things.

I’ve been doing a lot of gaming this week. I think my hands appreciate being asked to do something else.

And there’s even more going on but that seems like a good list!

a job for the mandala thick&quick

December 30, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve been noodling around with this yarn for a day and I found what I want to do with it. It wants to be a bag. It needs to be a bag.

I’m working it up like this: with a 10 mm hook I chained until it was the right size for what I want to do with it. Sc in 2nd ch from hook, sc in each ch across, in last st 3 sc then sc in the other side of the chain back to the start. 2 sc in last ch. (3rd sc is what you started with). Work in a spiral with a sc in each sc around.

I haven’t decided on the strap construction yet.

Working with this yarn and hook combination is challenging my hands, but the yarn’s so bulky that it’s working up really fast. I’ve needed a smaller bag for a while so I’m excited to finish it.

hooks and tools

December 27, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

Look what else I got for Christmas!

I’m so excited! I really like working with bigger yarns. I can’t wait to get my hands on some and make lovely chunky things.

In other news, I finished the second sock of the worsted lavender pair and though I’m super stoked to have done it I’m feeling like I don’t want to be near another sock anytime soon. Maybe if I get over it I’ll try toe-up and see if they drive me any less crazy.

Grain is coming along but I’m starting to feel like I overestimated my love of endless garter stitch. It’s beautiful but I’m more and more reluctant to work on it. I’m not sure I can keep it up for another few thousand stitches.

And last but not at all least, after some swatching and playing around I decided to keep the same hook on my big brown throw. Mostly it’s nice to be working on it again.

a “big brown” dilemma

December 24, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

So I have this granny square throw underway that I refer to as Big Brown. It’s made of RHSS stripes in the colorway Latte and it looks fantastic in 1′ squares with the way it makes the colors pool. It was the first project of any size I took on after I started crocheting again.

I pulled it out last night to work on it and discovered that I have a problem. The hook I’ve been working it with is really too small for my tension and the yarn. I was having trouble hooking the yarn and my wrists were complaining that it was just too tight. The kids are encouraging me to just continue but I don’t think I’m up for the discomfort.

The problem is that I already have a substantial portion of the thing done. Not half, but enough to make me pause rather than just diving in with a bigger hook. And since I only have so much yarn to work with, there are potential problems with reworking squares if needed.

I think the best thing to do is probably to work a full square with the bigger hook and see how it looks and feels before I stress too much about how to handle this. It’s another bump in the crochet road but how boring would it be if it went smoothly?

So I’m making one.

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