Ready your frogging hand, it's time to begin!

 

Today's task will be simply pulling out your works in progress (wips), photographing them, and deciding which order you'll get to them. You don't have to decide whether to finish or frog everything today, and in fact I'd love to throw our wips out to the community to help us decide!

 

Great places to do that are on our Knitters and Crocheters of Maine Facebook group, Maritime Family Fiber's Facebook page, or Instagram using the hashtag #frogalong or #maritimefamilyfiber, since apparently it hasn't been done before!

 

Also, I always have several projects going at a time. If it's something I cast on recently or have been steadily working on, I won't be considering those a problem.

Many people only complete one project at a time, so you may be a little puzzled as to the necessity of a frogalong, but you might want to hang in there for the coming yarn organization phase!

 

A note before we get started: I'm a practical, old-fashioned type of girl. If we can get by without it, we will. It might not be pretty, but we'll use it anyway. It's definitely a Maine attitude: we won't build a shed where a blue tarp will do, and if we've got a car there's no need to replace it until the wheels rust off.

However, I'm giving myself permission to be wasteful if I need to! You can graciously accept poor old Aunt Ethel's 'string collection' from your neighbors, but don't feel bad passing it on to someone who actually might want it, or tossing it if it's unusable.

You can rip out a project you don't want to finish even if you spent a long time on it. It's not a waste: the project taught you techniques along the way, and more importantly it helped you learn what you don't like to work on.

You own your stuff, don't let it own you. Packrat that I am; I've still learned that all my incomplete projects and good intentions left in a basket somewhere only serves to clutter my mind and keep me feeling down for not finishing them. Knitting [life] is all about the process and what each project teaches you along the way. It's a hard lesson for a down-to-earth mainer to learn, but it's true!

It only became clear to me when my wrists started bothering me from excessive crocheting and knitting, and also when babies started to encroach on my crafting time. Unfortunately, I may not have enough time in one lifetime to make everything I'd like to, so some triage is necessary!

 

Ok so here we go! This is the majority of my UFOs (unfinished objects), though I'm sure I'll discover more along the way. Don't worry about taking quality photos, just snap and go!

1) Here we have a scarf that was abandoned for several reasons, one being that I missed a cable, and another being that I don't think I've enough to make a good long scarf. So we'll see what happens.

 

 

2) Next up is a pair of socks. Again, I'm not sure what I was thinking but I so wanted a pair of socks in this hand-dyed tonal purple Tuffy, but I went a little wild with the cuffs and I think I'll run out of yarn. I might add grey toes, but I don't know if I like it or not.

 

3) While we're on the subject of socks, there's these Celtic Knee High socks. I messed up the heel pattern on them many moons ago and can't decide whether I want to frog back to the instep and do it right or finish the second one and give it to someone I know would love them and not care about the messed up instep. 

 

4) A single sock that has been floating around forever with no match. Why? I have no idea!

 

 

5) I don't even know what the deal is with these socks. They were kind of a dyeing experiment gone wrong, and they are not very even. I can finish them for myself but I don't know if it will bother me that they're not perfect.

 

6) A baby sweater I designed for a friend and I'm not sure what design elements to add to it. It's a little different.

 

7 + 8) Here's some mittens and a baby sweater that are perfectly fine. Just need ends tucked in!

 

9 + 10 + 11) Here's some clear frogs: a hat I tried to make to match my sister's gloves but won't have enough yarn, a design swatch gone wrong, and the start of a pink hat that I already made 4 of and then decided I was done.

 

12 + 13) Rippit! More frogs here: an unidentified merino project and some yummy cashmere: too yummy for the couch pillow I was making.

 

14 + 15 + 16 + 17) These 4 wristers and mittens are straightforward finishes, as long as I can find the needles I stole from them!

 

 

 

The last one I'll share today (yes, there are more) is an interesting one. I made these delicate, intricate, silk and cashmere purses with the intention of giving them to my bridesmaids to walk down the aisle. Except that in the pandemonium of nuptial responsibility, I forgot about them. They just need liners, which are made from the dress material my mum used to sew my bridesmaids dresses. Fortunately many knitted elements did make their way into my wedding, including a coffee cozy for each guest! Yup, 300 coffee cozies...

The question is, what to do with the purses once I finish them?

 

 I think the best way to proceed from here is to simply write down all your UFOs in the order you'll work on them, and what decision you come to when you get to each one. This may take some time, and that's ok, as long as we have a plan to get to them!

 

I'll update you too as I work on each one! See you then!

Lacie