The year's plan.

While shoveling through piles of knitwear and yarn and half-finished projects during Carpet Beetle Fest '08 (those little bastards have a lot to answer for), I ran across, I kid you not, this horrifying situation:

-four, as in FOUR, one-armed sweaters
-three other half-finished sweaters, in need of simple finishing
-yarn for at least four other sweaters

So when I wondered what I should do as a yearly theme, it didn't take much to come up with "Finish all the crap you've got laying around here, dumbass." I put it a little more politely on the button, though.

Do you like the swirly background pattern? I chose it because that's how my brain feels at the thought of all the stuff piled into the Yarn Closet that needs finished.

Now, that said, I have a couple plans to pull this off. One, before starting anything new, I should finish something old, first. In some cases that may take as little as a couple days, even hours in the case of a cotton tank waiting for some crochet at the edges. Once I start something new, I've gotta finish IT before going on to something else, or I'm just creating more unfinished stuff to lurk around the house. Sooo, finished project one will be my father-in-law's sweater (due by the end of January), and after that I hope to finish the Russian Prime in time to wear it this winter. Using up yarn that's been in The Pit counts as finishing something, but it also counts as a new project; either way, it's gotta get done before I start on something else. I've got a bag of lavender cotton here that I've been meaning to knit into a summer sweater of some kind since BEFORE I MOVED AWAY FROM HAWAII. That makes it at least five years old. Since I don't - normally - stash like some knitters, it's getting pretty ridiculous. Traditionally I buy yarn, knit it up, and then buy more. I don't know how I wound up with a closet of yarn, but I'm pretty sure it's due to the influence of other knitters.

I do need to keep two projects going at one time, at least usually. When I'm doing something heavy (my father-in-law's sweater on size nines), I like to have something light going too (lace) that I can switch off with, because I'm just not capable of knitting on heavy stuff that long. Either way, the same rules apply. Finish the heavy project before starting another. If possible, on lighter wool projects like the Russian Prime (on size fives with sport weight/what, uh, four-ply) I'll just work on the one.

You get the idea. This plan will have the added bonus of saving money in a year that it'll probably be a good idea, what with moving and job changes and all.

That said, look what I started on December 31.

This is the Faux Russian Stole from "A Gathering of Lace". I'm doing it on smaller needles with silk/alpaca yarn, so it's more like a Faux Russian Scarf. I've wanted to knit it for a while, I had the yarn (in that case it's kind of like finishing something, watch me justify), and I REALLY need to knit something for my friend. We swapped, and the jewelry she made was given away at Christmas. So I'm not going to explain to her how I have to finish five other things first.

So there we go. Year of finishing the stuff in The Pit. First up, my father-in-law's sweater, and this scarf. Then I'm going to do the Russian Prime. And then... well, I've got something in mind that's a new project but will use up stuff from the stash.

I do not, as in NOT, promise to finish all the one-armed sweaters here. Two of them have significant construction problems and need torn apart and re-sewn, and in some cases, bits unraveled and re-knit. But two are definitely getting done because nothing has stopped me from finishing them so far except my usual, when I stop work on projects for me to make things for other people. SELFISHNESS SHALL RULE!


Anyone who wants to join in, feel free to swipe the button.

Oh, and Amy Lane and I have cooked up a nefarious knit-along for February, once the Holiday Spaz-Out is finished (it goes to Chinese New Year, January 26). I don't want to get into details, but brush up on your mad sock-knitting skillz. It won't be normal. Amy thought of it and I agreed to it. Fear us.