Taking Stock
I’m always working on some project or another, and most weeks I talk about what I’m working on Wednesdays as part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. You can see past WIP Wednesdays … right this way.
What’s in progress?
Somethings you’ve seen before:
but it hasn’t come out of it’s project bag since you last saw it.
Some totally new things:
-a simple elegant circular purple shawl
-a coat, which I kind of done because it’s been damn cold
–swatches for the next Shawl Geometry book about mutant shawls, at least the swatches aren’t green this time 😉
-a non-sucky about page, which is harder than it sounds
-the pattern for this shawl went to my technical editor Monday.
What’s coming up next?
-a new blog series about binding off, specifically for shawls
-writing the pattern for this shawl
-writing the mutant shawl geometry book
Announce! Announce!
I sent out an exclusive free pattern to the list just before the new year, if you aren’t on the list, and want the pattern, you can sign up here.
This was part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. If you’d like more WIP Wednesday posts, from other bloggers, visit Tami’s blog.
getting “stuck”
I’m always working on some project or another, and most weeks I talk about what I’m working on Wednesdays as part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. You can see past WIP Wednesdays … right this way.
Even though I LOVE blocking, that’s often the place where my shawls get “stuck.”
Sometimes I finish a shawl and block it right away, but more often than not, it sits around for a bit.
Everything gets blocked eventually, no need to worry about that, but sometimes (many times) shawls just sit around waiting for awhile.
I have yet to figure out why this is where I get “stuck” in my knitting.
Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I block everything on my bed, so I have to get the timing right.
Maybe it has to do with the fact that I photograph things in batches, so my brain thinks “hey, if it’s just going to sit around once you block it waiting for the next couple shawls to come off the needles, you might as well hold off on the blocking too.”
Or maybe it has to do with the fact that I ALWAYS think blocking a shawl will take longer than it actually does. In my mind, blocking a shawl takes agonizing hours and hours, when in reality it takes (from starting to clear off the bed, to putting the box of T-pins away) an hour TOPS, and usually around to 20-30 minutes.
What parts does your knitting usually get “stuck” on? Blocking? Weaving in ends? Casting on? Finding the perfect yarn?
This was part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. If you’d like more WIP Wednesday posts, from other bloggers, visit Tami’s blog.
movie marathons don’t hurt knitting progress
I’m always working on some project or another, and most weeks I talk about what I’m working on Wednesdays as part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. You can see past WIP Wednesdays … right this way.
When I’m working on a long project or a semi-monotonous* project, I get disheartened when it gets harder to see progress. And I bet I’m not the only one, right?
*not necessarily monotonous in a bad way, but a project that is not snap of the fingers instant, and involves lots of one simple stitch (such as garter stitch shawls).
I use a couple tricks to keep myself motivated, the easiest and most reliable one being to keep visual track of my progress using row markers.
It’s really simple and very motivating.
So if I’m feeling unmotivated or trying to knit fast on a deadline, when I sit down to knit I’ll place a row marker in the row I’m starting on. This way as I knit, I know exactly where I started and as I knit I try to run away from the marker.
The next day, I’ll place a new row marker in the row I’m starting on, and try to knit more than I did the day before. (Of course, some days I knit less, but it’s only knitting, so it’s all good.)
Combining this with continually shortening rows is awesome, because it makes you feel super speedy.
(Movie marathons also help.)
This was part of Tami’s WIP Wednesday project. If you’d like more WIP Wednesday posts, from other bloggers, visit Tami’s blog.
