WIPs and Blahs

It is very much Spring here in New Mexico. The weather is gorgeous - I'm sitting in the garden in nothing more than shorts, a tank top and flip flops while I type this - and spring activities abound. We've begun our seedlings and are already seeing sprouts. Weeds are already taking over and I'm sporting a sunburn. My husband is busy plotting changes to our vegetable garden and I've sewn new pillows and cushion covers for our patio furniture. All these things fill me with joy... so why do I feel so "blah" right now?

Lunatic Fringe Pattern by Jennifer Dassau
WIP by Jessica L'Heureux since 2013!

First, let me be clear. NO, I'm not depressed. I am filled with joy and loving the early Spring. It's my knitting that is "blah".

This time of year always fills me full of creative ideas. New growth brings forth beautiful colors I want to capture in yarny creations (or in the yarn itself when I'm inclined to dye) and I'm always eager to start new projects. It's almost like the reverse of Spring Cleaning because instead of cleaning and uncluttering, I become overwhelmed with ideas and the need to start new projects and designs. I akin it to mental fireworks. This year is not different. I have an idea for a garter shawl, a lace shawl, another pair of socks, etc, etc, but I also have a startling number of WIPs laying around.

Why so many WIPs?  A number of reasons.

My full-time occupation doesn't afford me time to knit during the day, with the exception of my lunch break, whereas prior to this year, I literally knit at my desk while working part-time hours, then left and stopped at my LYS on the way home, only to knit some more. I have far less knitting time at my disposal, therefore, less gets finished.

Secondly, I hosted a couple of KAL this past fall.  Now, I don't know about other designers/KAL hosts, but if I have knitters all working on a project together, whether in my classes or strewn across the plant and participating online, I knit the project in time with them. These projects override any other knitting I'm doing. They are my focus so that I am there to support my knitters if and when they need me.  I love doing this, and seeing all projects, mine and yours, develop together. That being said, if the class or KAL is for socks, often the class/KAL focuses only on completing one, leaving the knitter to finish the second one in their own time.  I have two first socks laying around waiting for their friends to emerge from my project bags.

Thirdly, I have budding designs in various stages of testing. These stop and go as issues arise in the design and as my time demands pull me to and fro. Sometimes designs need to rest and pull themselves together. Often this can take time. Sometimes a design is dependent on other factors such as fiber or tools, where acquisition can cause delays. I have a very exciting shawl full of multiple lace panels that I've been working on since July 6, 2014. I got going a little too comfortably on it and made a mistake in my work that needs correction in order for me to test the math, and sadly, I just haven't had the strength to face that correction yet. (I HATE ripping back, and can't see through how to drop back the error and simply correct the stitch yet. It will take more fortitude than I have at the moment.)

Finally, there is the personal knitting. The patterns I purchase from other designers that I intend to knit for myself or as gifts always end up on the bottom of the pile. I have a shawl I started for myself March 22, 2013. Yes, OVER TWO YEARS ago. How did this become so neglected? Easy. I can't make money knitting someone else's pattern for myself. My design work has to come first, and therefore anything I'm doing purely for myself is the first thing I sacrifice.

I made the mistake of piling it all up and reviewing the stack.

WARNING. Don't do this.

I find myself overwhelmed with knitting obligation.

I tried the usual tactics - I sorted into 3 categories. Love it, Like it, Frog it. Everything fell into Love it;only one item teeters precariously on the Like it/Frog it border, and it is a pair of socks from a now reworked design, so my practical side is hard at war reminding me that they are socks and I will wear them and love them, if only I will finish them. I managed to eliminate nothing from my workload.

So I moved to the next tactic - 15(ish) minutes a day(ish). This is a great way to slog through projects that you just aren't feeling inspired about, in a baby-step approach. I'm more than confident in my ability to turn 15 minutes into 2 hours simply by starting a row in front of the television. Suddenly I am mindlessly knitting along, and had my yarn been a bag of orange cheesy puffs, my fingers and teeth would be stained and I'd be facing two treadmill hours to recover from the weight gain. I still find I cheat a little here. Sometimes I'm simply not in the mood and replace the knitting with other activities, like working triage on the plethora of dog toys that have lost limbs to the wild beasts in my home, or doing prep-cooking for the work week (we all need cupcakes in our lunches), or flipping through knitting magazines, or designing a new paint theme for my mailbox (yes, really) - anything to avoid finishing these projects. I carry my projects with me to and from work daily, yet often skip knitting on my lunch break in lieu of a book on my Kindle (that I've already read three times!). Can you say "blatant procrastination"?

And so I move on. Now I'm strongly considering a new tactic. Bartering. I desperately have held off starting an new project for fear it would trump the WIPs and I'd only grow a larger pile. I've warred with myself and set demands that I must finish things before moving on. This has only served to squelch my creativity and frustrate me, which in turn has enhanced the "blahs" and made me even less ambitious to face the baby-steps so resembling mountains. And so, negotiations have begun.

When I review the ways that the WIP pile formed, I'm reminded again that all new designs stop and start. This allows time for other things. Provided I allow for the truly organic nature of that ebb and flow, and don't get all time-table about it, and I promise myself that "when Project A tires me, I'll grab Project B for 15(ish) minutes" I may yet be able to muster through the "blahs" and accomplish two things at once.

Now it's just about giving myself permission.

Do you suffer the crafting "WIPs and blahs"?  What tactics do you have for getting yourself back on track? I'm always open to trying new methods. (insert cry for help) Tell me how to relight that fire.

Keeping Perfectionism in Check... Mostly.

I've often written about being a perfectionist.  There are aspects of perfectionism that are good and useful.  It helps me produce clean finished designs with clear instruction. It gives me humility and pushes me to make corrections quick and publicly so other knitters don't get stuck or frustrated with my patterns.  It gives me pride in my work.

Perfectionism has a dark side as well.  Striving for the ultimate is frustrating. It fills me with self-doubt and makes me second guess every step of my design - every aspect, choice and idea from fiber to needles, gauge to stitch pattern and name to choice of abbreviations.  It bins ideas before they get a fair shake.

Double edge swords need to be kept sharp, stored well and used wisely.  I think perfectionism is just such a beast; sometimes you need to indulge in it, and sometimes you need to make efforts to keep it in check.  Today I had the pleasure in doing just that.

There is a wonderful business here in Albuquerque that offers "Sip & Paint" classes.  Each date has a different offering. Book for the image of your choice, grab an apron, glass (or bottle) of wine, listen to good music, follow along with a skilled, entertaining and fun instructor, and anytime your inner perfectionist starts to butt in, have another swallow of wine and remind yourself to let go.

I went with my dear friend Becks.  Becks is the best kind of friend. She inspires me, supports my work (she's my test knitter and exquisite at it!), listens, advises and balances me to so many ways.  She is fun loving, enjoys a good glass of wine, and is up for adventure.  We each painted our version of the class painting. We both encouraged each other to push off our own personal perfectionist. We laughed, we shared a bottle, we painted.

This exercise hasn't eliminated my perfectionist, but it has made me feel more balanced.  I ended up with a painting I love. Every time I look at it, I'm reminded of each moment, each decision that I hesitated thinking it wasn't good enough, then set my hesitation aside and let go.  I "wung it" and just painted, knowing that I wasn't there to create art - I was there to have a good time.  And in the end, I actually like the result. It's proof that not struggling each choice doesn't always make the end product better.

Jumping into the deep end of the pooling

I'm forever trying new knitting techniques, stretching my boundaries and exploring new territories for design inspiration.  Most recently, I've been playing around with the techniques presented by Laura Militzer Bryant in Artful Color - Mindful Knits and her companion class on Craftsy, Color Patterning with Hand-Dyed Yarns. 

I love hand-dyed yarns. I've amassed quite a collection as anyone looking at my ankles can tell you - I've knit MANY socks with hand-dyed yarns! - but sometimes I feel... limited.  What? I know, that sounds really weird.

Hand-dyed yarns, although offering gorgeous colorways with vibrant self-striping patterns often detract from the look of fancier stitch patterns.  Sometimes you want the stitch to be the focus, sometimes you want the color to be the focus, and sometimes you want to approach the delicate balance of both.

Laura Militzer Bryant presents her close study of hand-dyed yarns and the math necessary to CONTROL them.  Through use of a "Magic Number" which is actually a simple measurement and calculation of color repeats, you can actually creatively FORCE color pooling into more pleasing stripes, stacks, argyles and controlled chaos.

Want to play?

I purchased the book before she developed her Craftsy class, and can honestly say I'm not thrilled with the presentation.  It was a lot to swallow and wordy with tons of high-gloss vibrant pictures that left me just overwhelmed.  (That's me - this is my personal opinion.) Then the class came along.  In her Craftsy class she presents the concept, math and examples clearly and concisely with a complementary video format that allows me to go back and watch it again, make notes and even ask HER questions.  Having taken the class and referred back to the book, the book has become more comprehensive and manageable. (Again, all me, all my opinion. You may find otherwise.)

So, what did I learn?

Cool math, neat yarn magic trick, and that overall, I'm not interested in designing with this technique in mind, but I'm likely to try to make someone a gift only because controlling a colorway in this manner is a super-cool impressive knit-master kind of thing to do.

And here's where I tell you, no one asked me to review this. I'm not getting paid.  The only benefit I could possibly get for this is if you use one of the Craftsy links here on my blog to purchase a class, I will receive a minor referral fee (and thank you very much if you do), but I don't request or require it of my readers.  I simply tell you about things I like.

Coupon codes!

Two Coupon Codes for my Ravelry Pattern Store to Celebrate Valentine's Day!

Perfectionism and Knitting

I'm currently hosting a KAL on Ravelry for my Forbidden Forest Shawl.  KAL's are fun. I get to work with a group of people on a common project. It being my design, I get to see how the pattern is received and how other people perceive the design.  Everyone brings their own vision to the project, whether it's a different gauge, an additional repeat of the lace pattern, alterations to the size, or adding more color via striping or singling out the lace panel.

One of the things I run into in every KAL are participants that are either perfectionists, like myself, or individuals that somehow feel they are letting either themselves or me down by not working the pattern perfectly.

I'm a horrible perfectionist.  Horrible. I have no problem spending huge amounts of time correcting even the smallest error in my knitting.  I will park a project for months while I gain the courage to go back and make corrections.  I'm aware how absurd this is.

Someone once said to me about one of my design elements that anyone close enough to see the element would most definitely have other things on their mind... ;)

This impacted me and changed how I thought about my errors.  I'm still a horrible perfectionist, but now I'm much more aware of how rarely I see design elements in other people's work, and I'm a lot more comfortable with the elements in my own.

In one of my knitting classes I had a student that was struggling.  She desperately wanted her work to be perfect. Another student spoke up and told her the errors were okay, and that she actually made sure there was an error in each of her pieces as a tribute to being one of God's children; that only God could be perfect.

I like that idea.

Not enough to overcome my own perfectionism... but the idea makes me feel good.

I coach my KAL participants and students to simply be consistent with their "design elements". An error can become simply a different take on the design, helping to make the project "more your-own".  I've adopted this for myself.  When I'm knitting a shawl that calls for a CCD and I accidentally work an SSSK, I simply continue.  Both are decreasing from 3 stitches to 1, they simply look a little different... and what's wrong with being a little different?  Different can still be perfect.

New Pattern Available: Forbidden Forest Shawl

The Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden, unless, of course, you’re a giant, centaur, spider, unicorn, three headed dog, dragon, thestral, troll, werewolf, or strictly forbidden yourself. Punishment for entering varies; you might die, get detention, or be escorted out by a wild turquoise Ford Anglia.

This pattern is being featured as a KAL. Feel free to join in/get more information HERE.

Finished Measurement: 
18” deep at center / 56” wide at neck

Yarn Requirements: 
Necessary yardage will vary with gauge.
Approximately 750-800 yards were required for shawl as shown.

Shown in Supernatural Yarns Pixie Sock 
(Approx. 463 yards/100grams, 75% Merino, 25% Nylon, color: Shoot Me Again, Best Pray I’m Dead).

Recommended Needles: 
Size 8 (5mm) 47” or longer circular needle 
Size 10 (6mm) 47” or longer circular needle for cast on and Row 1 ONLY

Supplies: 
Tapestry needle for weaving in ends.

Gauge: 
Approximately 22 sts = 4” (10 cm) in lace pattern after blocking, however, gauge is flexible and can be adjusted to your personal preference and yarn/needle selection for this project. Bear in mind that yardage needs will differ.

Ravelry $5.00 USD