Some WIPs…

Beyond the active WIPs (works in progress) that I’ve already mentioned (Koigu Falling Leaves socks, blue and tan baby pullover, sock yarn baby sweater), I have a few others hanging around the house… I’m not exactly sure how many, just that they’re around somewhere (probably with the exact needles I need right now) and I have a vague sense of guilt that they’re not done. So I decided to start tracking them down.

We begin with a tote bag I never use because it’s stuffed full of WIPs that I’d rather not think about.

Below is a poorly conceived tank top. I actually like the swirling (from not alternating skeins of variegated yarn – let that be a lesson to you), but it ended up too short. I picked up around the bottom and added a spiral lace border. All I need to do is crochet around the neck and armholes, but… I don’t want to finish it because I don’t want to wear it. I’ve decided it looks silly with the lace border at the bottom. And I think I’d rather have this heavy cotton yarn (Brushstrokes cotton) as a cardigan than as a tank anyway. So really, I should just rip it out and be done with it, right? Oh well. Back in the bag it went.

Obviously, a petal washcloth. Completed, except for weaving in the ends. However, this was to be the first of four petal washcloths for my family for last Christmas. Not quite so finished looking when you consider it as part of a set of four, is it?

As I was dragging WIPs out to photograph them, I realized several things. The first is that I have a lot of projects in black. No surprise, as I wear a lot of black. Why knit hot pink when I won’t wear it?

The second is that black projects do not photograph well with my crappy digital camera. Hmm, would I wear hot pink, taking its photographic qualities into consideration? Nope, probably not.

The third is that my black cat, chosen over the white kitten because I wear a lot of black, doesn’t photograph well either. I suppose I could take him back to my brother’s house and switch him out for his snowy white brother, Diablo, but my brother has vowed that my evil cat shall never again enter his house.

The fourth is that Chaos is, well, not exactly evil, but definitely very, very busy and sometimes naughty. Knitting projects being photographed have a magnetic effect on him.

But I digress… The picture below is Door County Cable in black Cotton Fleece. The body was knit in the round up to the armpits. When I started to go back and forth, I got really confused and put the project away in a snit. Two years later, I might not find the directions as confusing… or I might still. Best not to find out.

This is a pair of black Fortissima socks for my dad, promised for his birthday two years ago… or was that three? The problem here is obvious, there being only one sock…

Yet another black project. This is a tank top knit in fingering weight (#25 from Sandnes Book 0404 in Fortissima cotton), but the cat playing with the needles on the project is more interesting than the cat-free pictures of the project itself. The tank was going quite well until I lost my mind while picking up stitches for the armhole edging, picked up far fewer than I needed, and turned the armhole into a tourniquet. This project and I are on hiatus. It’s winter. I don’t need a tank top for months.

Here’s a mobius cat bed for Chaos. Since it still has a hole in the bottom (and is definitely not felted yet), he found the row counter much more interesting. I put this project aside one hot and humid day this summer – it filled my entire lap with its way too warm self, and lured Chaos in for a nap. Sounds perfect, now that it’s cold out! But… I had forgotten that this project existed. Whoops. As soon as I get some of this baby knitting done, I’ll be back to this (if I remember I put it back in the WIP bag, that is).

If you’re wondering why the cat bed isn’t black, it’s because I was planning ahead… this time. I’ve already knit Chaos a black felted cat bed, and as you can see below (Chaos at six months), it’s quite difficult to get a good picture of a black cat in a felted black cat bed. Check out the claw action from the happy paws. He loved his felted cat bed, and still tries to squoosh into it sometimes. If he’s ever successful, he’ll have to be surgically removed. Hence the need for the giant mobius cat bed, so this one can be passed on to someone with a smaller cat.

12 thoughts on “Some WIPs…”

  1. your cat kills me. here i am, half asleep and giggling maddly to myself at work… my co-workers must worry about my sanity sometimes…

    your projects look good… at least you will always have something to work on when you run out of actual things to do… 😀

    my wip graveyard ends up being someone elses treasure trove of unused wools and supplies.

    how do you make those beds? nappy would so love one…

  2. Nothing wrong with having wip guilt pangs! Stuff ’em all in a basket so they’re out of direct line of sight, I say!

    I know what you mean about the colours. Most of my projects are purple. It’s amazing how many excuses to use purple you can find if you try.

    Does Chaos snuggle in the night? It’s starting to get really hot here in Australia, and my three still insist on cuddling up to me to sleep. Oof.

  3. I have a fair amount of purple yarn, too – mostly sock yarn. I’m much more adventurous with sock yarn.

    Chaos isn’t allowed in the bedroom at night very often. Several reasons for that – he gets too happy, and will suddenly start licking my eyelids or trying to pull an earplug out of my ear. Also, I’m allergic to cats, but don’t have much trouble unless they’re near my eyes – and Chaos loves to curl up on my pillow in the middle of the night.

    But he is very snuggly on the rare occasions when he’s allowed in – and at this time of year, it’s much appreciated here!

    –pause for a moment to be jealous of warm Australians–

    It was -6F with a windchill of -20F when I got in my car this morning. Brr flippin’ brr.

  4. hm…. that is cold…

    – “how cold do you think it is?”
    – “i dunno… one?”

    steve martin and john candy in “planes tranes and automobiles”… for some reason every time i think of cold i think of that…

    the only time it’s *really* cold here (in bermuda) is aroun 5, 6 am when i’m on the bike going to work. other than that.. it’s just… weather 😀

    yay for knitting to make that better

  5. And I was feeling guilty about my WIPs 😉 Not only the ones that I actually need to finish but those that I’ve started in my mind… the thought is scary.

    Actually, I was wondering what happened to Chaos’s new bed. I’m sure with the tempture as low as it is, he’ll appreciate it when it’s done.

  6. bermuda’s not so bad… it’s the humidity that’ll kill ya *har de har har*

    that bad… i forgot the name already and i was JUST listening to them… gees… they remind me of when i used to play sax…

    *sniffle* brings back memories… good song though

  7. Hey, I used to play alto and some tenor sax in high school band. That was forever and half ago.

    There’s probably a blog ring for former saxophonists who now knit with pesky kitties.

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