An Open Letter to My Project Stash

Dear Unfinished Projects,

Now that I have finished the Pearl Buck Swing Jacket, you'll be happy to know that it is now time for me to decide what to tackle next. As I began to do a little spring cleaning in my fiber room, I realized, however, that a number of you larger sized projects have been hiding out, waiting to be found. Some of you, in fact, have been waiting a shamefully long time with relatively little left remaining to make you complete. I have decided that I just can't justify starting something new until a few of you become the finished projects you were meant to be.

Top Left: Jo Sharp Kaleidoscope Vest, Bottom Left: Handspun Spiral Rug, Top Right: Liberty Wrap Top

In order to help me combat project neglect, I thought I would engage in some self-analysis.

Handspun Spiral Rug. Poor rug! I knitted through all your garter stitch monotony, figured out how to connect your edges together in a way that appealed to me, and then neglected to give you the border edging that you deserved. The word "neglect" in that last sentence was not one I chose without reason. I literally lost track of where you went. Yesterday I discovered you in a basket on the high shelf in my laundry room under a table runner waiting for a bath. How did you get there? I suspect that a well meaning husband, straightening things up before our cleaning lady came to clean, put you out of harms way in the basket and the basket got moved to a place that is above eye level for me, and since I was in denial about dealing with your applied I-cord edging I did not put to much effort into finding you. Clearly I must work harder to make sure that future projects are stored away more carefully when I am not working on them. And deal with my deep-seeded issues relating to applied I-cord.

Liberty Wrap Top. Beautiful and soft, but plagued with two issues that can bring me to a total standstill every time. The first, and more surmountable, issue is that after your pieces are complete, I will have approximatley 1,324,926 ends to weave in. If I avoid colorwork, it is almost always because of the issue with weaving in ends. The second, and much less tractable, issue is the my constant fear of running out of yarn. I have finished your back and am but a short distance from having both fronts finished. Two large sleeves and a significant amount of ribbed edging finishing still remain. And all the yarn I have left is what you can see in the picture. So in this case, the fear of running out of yarn, also exacerbates the fear of weaving in all the ends. I don't want to weave them in as I go along, because what if I run out of yarn and can't complete the sweater? All that weaving in of ends will have gone to waste. I didn't buy an extra ball of that grey and orange yarn because I've been okay with Rowan patterns in the past and because I am a cheapskate who didn't want a bunch of extra, somewhat expensive, yarn left over. I am paying for that cheap-heartedness now.

Kaleidoscope Vest. More wonderful colorwork, but fewer unpleasant ends to weave in because the incredible Jo Sharp decided to design you in such a way as to make it not so difficult to carry yarn up the sides. I started you not so long ago, with much enthusiasm (it is hard not to be enthusiastic about Jo Sharp DK weight wool). Why did I cast you aside, even after putting you in one of my cute new Longaberger baskets? Apparently in addition to my fears of weaving in ends, interminable amounts of applied I-cord, and running out of yarn, I also have a fear of garments being too small for the intended recipient, and I do not trust my own measurements, even when I have calculated them several times and know they are correct. Especially when combined with having to break the continuity of a ball of yarn into multiple pieces that cannot be re-attached if the sizing is off. Nothing would help me go further with this project unless I could hold you up against the intended recipient. Since he doesn't share a house with me, that didn't happen until February. And in the meantime my eye was drawn by the seductive Pearl Buck and the call of some long ignored yarn in my stash.

I want to let you know that there is good news for all of you. Because all of these issues are issues with me, not you, I am going to work to overcome my problems.

To my Handspun Spiral Rug, the closest of all to the finish line, requiring only blocking and a finishing edging, I promise that I will block you soon. I will also look through all my books on edgings and trims and find out if there is something that can replace that dreaded applied I-cord. Perhaps a simple crocheted edging is in order? If not, I will suck it up, pour myself a glass of wine and queue up an audio book, and deal with the applied edging like the dedicated knitter you deserve.

To my Liberty Top, although the issue of weaving in ends cannot be solved, other than by weaving them in, I will finish the remaining front piece and work on the first sleeve before I decide to be too concerned about running out of yarn. In the meantime, I will contact the place where I got the yarn from and see if they have any more of the grey and orange yarns in the same dyelot. If they do, I will order them even if I don't end up needing them. Consider it penance for being cheap (a stupid thing after you have already spent a bunch of money of the recommended amount of yarn) on a sweater that I should not have purchased yarn for if I was only about cheap.

To the Kaleidoscope Vest, abadoned because of my issues and because I am easily drawn by another pretty face, there will be no more big projects started until I have worked some more to bring you to fruition. I will curb my wandering eye. Whenever I think about buying yarn for another sweater project for myself, I will think of the two pounds of moorit CVM roving waiting to be spun, and I will sit down in front of my wheel instead. It takes me much longer to create temptation than it does for me to buy it!

In closing, I hope you all realize that I am working hard to overcome my fears and to get beyond my shortcomings. At least, I can honestly say that I think in picking you, I have picked good projects that I will look forward to wearing and using or sharing. I have come a long way from the time when I would cast anything on, even if it was not quite right for me. Clearly, I still have a long way to go in considering techniques that I will see through to the end and keeping my roving new project eye at bay, but if you will give me another chance, I will keep working through my issues and hopefully you will all be finished soon, and future projects will not be tormented so much by my lack of attention.

Sincerely yours,

The Keyboard Biologist