UFO Update

While there was a long time I wasn’t posting here, I was still crocheting. I got a new job in March and it got really demanding this summer so I spent any free time crocheting and held off on the blogging.

I thought I’d update what happened regarding the FO Pledge I made back in February. That would be… not that much.

Thomas the Train Blanket

After my son started frequently asking when I was going to finish his Thomas the Train blanket I “gave” him as a Christmas present, I finally wove in a zillion ends and added the border. It actually didn’t take that long. I figured I should finish it before he didn’t like Thomas anymore.

As I posted here, I finished and sent the squares to Share A Square months ago.

As for the rest… uhhhh…. well…. they’re still in their unfinished object state. My grandmother is still asking for her polar bear. I purchased lining fabric for the backpack… but still haven’t completed it. I frogged my turtleneck after realizing I am not the size I fooled myself into believe I was. My husband’s sweater is still just the back of a sweater. My hooded jacket still has a few more ends left to weave in and is waiting to be sewed up. And of course, several more UFOs can now be sighted throughout my apartment.

P.S. I have started designing a new series of Rainbow items recently. The first Rainbow pillow pattern will be posted later this week. Why complete old things when there are so many new things to be made?

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FO Pledge

I pledge to actually finish some projects this week since I am on vacation.

I pledge to finish the following projects this week:

• Black Stitch Sampler Backpack – I just finished the crochet and only need to sew it up now.
• Share a Square Squares – There’s one face that needs to be embroidered on, a few ends woven in, and they need to be steamed. Then I just need to mail them. I pledge that this will happen tomorrow.
• Hooded Jacked AKA De La Soul Jacket – I need to weave in the ends and sew it up. I would say “just need to” weave in the ends, but there’s like a million of them.
• Sergio’s Turtleneck – I finished the back a month and a half ago. This is a boring project in all DC, but I could probably finish in a day if I could pay attention long enough.
• My Turtleneck – I was so psyched to start on this and couldn’t get a hold of the pattern fast enough. I had to order a hard copy snail mail -gasp, say it isn’t so- and of course by the time it arrived, my enthusiasm had dwindled. I have a whopping 6 inches of the back done. I would actually like to get through this before it’s too hot to wear it. It uses one of the yarn colors from the Hooded Jacket, so if I finish that I would wear this with it.
• Ewing’s Thomas the Train Blanket – I have 7 more rows of light blue, then the border, and need to weave in a zillion ends. Being that officially this was his “Christmas” present, I pledge to finish it this week.
• Grandma’s Polar Bear – Another “Christmas” present. I just need to embroider the face and sew him up. Really, he’s stalled since December, really? Ridiculous.

I figured if I published my pledge I had a better chance of holding myself accountable.

I would say I pledge to finish them before starting new ones, but that would just be a lie. Did I mention I just bought yarn for 4 new projects last week? I couldn’t help it. They’re going to come out so cool.

Christmas Presents – Leave Em for Next Year or Actually Finish Them?

Aah… January 25. Exactly one month after Christmas. Yet I still have uncompleted Christmas presents stuffed in my project bags. Do I finish them and send them out or put them on hold until next year?

Two of them have only needed to be sewn up since Christmas week. What I’ve been waiting for, I do not know.

One is a polar bear for my Grandmother who has been to Alaska to photograph the polar bears in action twice in the past few years. Now that she’s in her 90’s her polar bear visits have ceased, but she is expecting a little polar bear to come visit her via USPS and I still need to sew him up. I actually finished crocheting him pretty early on in December, but the instructions stopped and didn’t tell me how to sew him, not that I can’t figure it out, so I kind of stopped to. Bad, bad granddaughter. Being that my Grandmother specifically requested an amigurumi on Christmas after I had given a few others as gifts, I guess I should really finish this one and get it out.

Another is a Dragosaurous Harf. A dragon/dinosaur hat/scarf made out of super warm Wool-Ease Thick & Quick. This one is for my nephew who really likes dragons and dinosaurs. With the weather we’ve had this January in NY, I really should have finished this one, especially since all I need to do is sew it up. It would have kept him nice and warm… and would have been a lot of fun too. Bad, bad aunt.

Some of the others are seasonal, like Paz the Angel and Snowflake Girl. Maybe I’ll finish them over the next few months early for next year, but those I don’t feel so bad about not finishing now.

Then there’s the epic project, a photo blanket of my son for my husband. The completed part was revealed to him on Christmas Day. He’s started asking about it again. My new goal is to finish by Father’s Day.

So perhaps the Polar Bear and Dragosaurous Harf could be called Valentine’s Day presents, giving me a new deadline that I could live up to?

Then again… Christmas 2012 is just around the corner.

Sweaters Lost in Space (4 sweater UFOs?)

This weekend was super cold, as in single digits, so we were staying in and I was crocheting.

As I was trying to figure out what to work on, I looked through my project list on Ravelry and saw 4 sweaters I’d started over the past 2 months. That seemed a bit much. It was freezing now, but at the rate I was going these guys would still be in UFO stage once it was time to turn on the AC.

As I started a new scarf project, I contemplated why I refused to even work on the sweaters and it came to me… They are boring! They are large pieces of fabric in repetitive stitches and take a long time to finish. In concept they’re great… how cool you can make your own sweater! In reality, yarn has variables, so even trying it on as you go may end up in a sweater that “grows” or yarn that doesn’t hold its shape. Then there’s the tedious torture of sewing all the pieces together.

My first sweater, which is quite warm and comfortable and has sleeves that are way too long and ends sticking out everywhere, sat there for several weeks waiting to be sewed together and didn’t look so great once I finally did.

Now that I got that rant out, maybe I can actually get somewhere with one of them so it can be worn before summer. For now, they’re looking like this: