Trish Knits.com

Day Four: Where Are They Now? (UFO Hell, That’s Where!)

March 31, 2011 by Trish 1 Comment

Almost everybody who knits in today’s world knows what this is:

This is, of course, the famous Clapotis. Come on, I know you’ve made one. Haven’t we all? All, except… me. You see, this is my attempt at Clapotis. Probably my second attempt, at that.

No, it is not hard to do. In fact, once you get it down, which happens pretty quickly, it is reasonably mindless knitting. Which, you’d think, would be a good thing. But, I guess not! That is, if you happen to be… well, me.

I am so bad at finishing anything! I’ve been knitting for 6 solid years, and it’s becoming painfully obvious that my UFO (UnFinished Object) pile is at least 10 times larger than the pile of things I have finished. Sure there have been some lovely hats along the way, but truthfully, not much else. Not even this, my Clapotis.

I even have such fond memories of knitting her!

Knitting at the sadly former Folk Art Studio Cafe

In this particular instance I spent an afternoon knitting with a friend at what was my favorite local yarn shop at the time. It is long gone but the memory isn’t. It was my first time sitting and knitting with a friend, rather than just my computer for company. The yarn was a really cool kettle dyed colorway from Rio de la Plata, which at the time reminded me of some sort of funky tie dye that appealed to the hippie in me. I got SO close to being done with this, but then I realized two things:

One, the yarn was so thick, there was NO WAY I could ever really wear this as a shawl, and even though it would have been a good sized shawl, it would be way too small for a blanket; and
Two, the last two balls didn’t look ANYTHING like all the other balls in the lot. That’s what you get with kettle dyed, little did I know. I’d probably be fine with it now, but then, I just couldn’t live with it not matching.

I still have this project, what’s knitted and what’s left of the yarn. I still love the yarn, and have spent the last five years trying to decide whether to take the thing apart and make something else with the yarn, since I love it so much, or to just soldier on, and finish the thing. You never know, I might like it after all.

The thing is? Once a UFO becomes a UFO for me, it’s pretty much over. I don’t think I’ve ever gone back and finished ANYTHING in my enormous pile of yarny misfits and undone things. It’s not that I don’t love them; I do. I really do. Each project has some cool memories attached to it. I just have an apparent aversion to finishing almost anything. What is it about being done that’s so hard, anyway? At this stage of the game, I doubt I’ll ever figure it out.

I even joked with a friend the other day that maybe I should frame some of my UFOs, just as they are, needles and all. Perhaps that in itself makes some sort of artistic statement that I have yet to realize. I suppose, if I ever do frame any of my unfinished lovelies, Clapotis will probably be first. I love her the most. Just look at the header graphic of my blog. There it is, every day. Finished or not, it will always be a favorite.

The Dog Days of Summer

August 20, 2009 by 3 Comments

This has been the longest knitting slump ever. All summer, I’ve been knitting this:

It’s a pink scarf for my friend Jen, that I was hoping to have done in time for her visit IN MAY. So much for that! I take the scarf with me absolutely everywhere, but over the last few weeks it’s only made it out of my bag a few times. I took it with me to dinner at the pool tonight, and I got THREE WHOLE ROWS done. Whoop-dee-do. I really need to find my mojo and get this project done! I had such good intentions. Don’t I always?

The sad truth is that my UFO pile is at least three times bigger than the pile of things I’ve actually finished. This has me wondering at times if I even like to knit! Oh, I know I do like knitting, but am I passionately in love with it? I don’t know. Probably not at the moment. I need to find a project that really excites me and makes me want to finish it. Heck, some projects even have road blocks to getting started! Such as:

The Lace Yarn Sampler Shawl from Knit Picks. It’s even purple, people! My most favorite color. What’s stopping me? It’s knit on two strands of each yarn throughout, so you can drop one and add another color, one at a time. So it blends nicely. Cool idea! Except I don’t have a yarn scale and the idea of winding two little balls out of each hank seems like a pain in the butt. Stupid, huh?
The Girasole Blanket by Jared Flood. I got some beautiful Eco-Alpaca to knit this in. It is SO soft, and so pretty,and I got it on a discount! But that ball winding thing again is getting in my way. Why oh why do I find ball winding to be a chore? Because my kitchen table is always a cluttered mess, that’s why. I seldom have enough room anywhere for my swift and ball winder to be set up. Sigh…
The Tam of Doom. I don’t know why I call it that. But I never got past the cast on before having to frog. I’m trying to learn Tubular Cast On and I messed up. I will get back to this…someday.
My conscience. This is my biggest roadblock of all. I have so many UFOs, so, so many, that really, honestly? I have no business starting something new. There’s a pink scarf to finish after all, and my February Lady Sweater, and let’s not even talk about last year’s abandoned afghan. It was for a sick co-worker. The co-worker is well now, thank goodness, and the afghan is just mocking me. It’s in my active project bin, snickering. Can you hear it?

Sigh.

Listen to this article

My UFO Hall of Shame…

October 7, 2007 by Trish Leave a Comment

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

These are the ones for which I have evidence, anyway…

My first cabled poncho was made from Alafoss Lopi–can you say itchy? I was a young knitter and didn’t know better. Plus I didn’t know yet how to make mirrored increases and so my increases look yucky. Rhoda says I should felt it a little and make it into a bag. Maybe I will… someday.
Clapotis #1–I made this with a kettle dyed yarn and even in the same lot the color variance is huge. I should have varied the skeins more as I went but I didn’t and now all I have left is the yarn that doesn’t match. Sigh.
Alison’s Poncho–This is my most shameful UFO to date. I am so regretful that I didn’t finish it but I may yet one day. It’s huge, so hard to lug out and work on. Ponchos will be 10 years out of fashion. Worse yet? This was a gift. And the recipient knew about it. And the yarn was expensive. Sigh.
Cables and Eyelets Baby Blanket — by Nancy Hearne. I started this one for the baby of a former daycare teacher of my son. Kept losing stitches here and there, and lost my mojo.
Clapotis #2– I started this skinnier one a couple of years ago when my dad was dying… knit on it a lot in waiting rooms. Can’t finish it.
Latifa — I like this one, I really do. But I made the first ruffle with too small of a needle and it’s too puny for my taste. I just need to take a pair of scissors to the ruffle and well, you know…
My son’s “Thomas and James” scarf — Mommy guilt! I’ll finish it this year. I must.
Cables and Eyelets Scarf — Too much of a good thing maybe? I fell out of love with this project.

There are many others started but not completed. Quite a few that for whatever reason, I never photographed. Someday I will dig them out.

Many of my UFOs are projects that I have no intention of finishing at this point. Do I keep them? Or throw them out? What about the unused yarn that went with each of those projects? What’s a girl to do?

Sigh…