Ages ago (like, in January) I signed up for Mission Possible 2008 (a Ravelry group). This Mission was intended to get us to root out a dozen projects that have been lurking for far too long and/or that had due dates and really needed to be finished. We promised to finish these 12 things before the end of 2008. The penalty for failure? You had to DONATE whatever you didn't get done!
Now... getting done could include admitting that any given project wasn't actually a UFO (Unfinished Object for those unfamiliar with the knitting acronyms), but was instead -- a TOAD (Totally Offensive, Abandoned in Disgust). Thus, frogging an item and reclaiming its yarn counts as "finishing" when that is really the appropriate response.
Even with that option, as the year rolled on, that penatly started looking rather scary. Yeah, I know.. if you pop over to that "Finished Objects" photo album for 2008 you'll see at least fourteen finished objects in there. But those fourteen include other things... things not on this list... and those things, technically, don't count!
I started out with twelve projects -- well, okay, actually more than that, because I lumped three sock projects into one "item". All of these were in progress. 9 of them had been so for over a year... The photo album showing them all is here.
Since then, I've finished (no really, finished, and even worn) thee and three/thirds (so as to acknowledge that number 9 could have been listed as three separate projects of them) of these projects. The links are to pictures in my photo album, not to patterns.
1. The Pre-Columbian Shawl - Mission Accomplished 2/4/08
4. Finish Mermaid - Mission Accomplished 4/23/08
9. Finish all socks currently in progress -- Mission Accomplished 5/25/08
9a. The Spiraling Up Socks in Fleece Artist's Sea Wool Done 3/4/08
9b. Blue Stocking bail out in Fleece Artist merino -- Happily worked into Socks de la Mer - DONE 5/25/08
9c. The experimental (heel out) sock - this yarn is being reclaimed for other purposes -- so it counts as being DONE
9d Added -(and thus counteracting the reclamation of the Experimental Heel Out Sock, which may yet appear in other yarn later) Harelquin Socks for DH DONE 5/3/08
10. Finish the sweater I'm knitting sans pattern out of Grignasco Spongy - Mission Accomplished. 11/2/08
I've accomplished one of the two missions that did not actually include finishing the project (though I may yet finish before year's end, if I can figure out how to adapt my previously planned end to shawl so it won't be past my knees).
3. Figure out what I did in Willow 2" back so I can resume knitting it. (note: the promise was to resume knitting... not to finish). -- Mission Accomplished in July.
So that's 5 out of twelve solved by knitting.
I frogged three outright:
7. Deal with DH's abstract sweater. Mission Accomplished - frogged in a fit of reality. The sweater, designed at started in the late 90's was a bit to 80's even then, and though the design might still fly -- the colors will NOT -- seriously --- go peek at that picture. No way would DH ever wear it. Not even in the house, much less in public. The yarn is available for purchase or trade.
8. Finish or frog the Fair Isle Nalgar (raglan backwards) that I once started for someone's baby. Last year I frogged it back to where I'd started the sleeves, but there it remains. Now I’ve frogged it the rest of the way, reclaimed the yarn, and swapped it for some I love more (which is sayin' something, 'cause I do love that Kimono).
11. Finish the tee dress I started in that ribbon yarn (Olga?) Frogged -- and gave away the yarn as well. Mission Accomplished
That leaves four projects to be dealt with ... in only two months. It looked bleak, let me tell you. Two of these were still lurking about because frankly, they seemed daunting, so I kept delaying the pain. And three of them were side panel/sleeve related (leaving me to feel an inferiority complex about sleeves despite my recent set-in-sleeve-from-the-top-down coup on Spongy). But, with my support team leader sitting by my side.... I took a few minutes yesterday to really think about it. Here's what I've decided:
2. Mission: Fix Thistle's sleeves and get her buttons on. They're too tight. I have no more yarn. The shop had no more yarn in this colorway when I bought it originally. The dye lot will matter. I must either find a way to block in a few extra inches (hahaha) or undo the seam, and insert a gusset in black.
I've found all the yarn. BUT... I have also learned that my mother's arms are skinnier than mine. (I had her measure. Her arms are skinnier than mine even when she's wearing a long sleeved thing). I'm thinking of solving this problem by popping on some lovely closures, and wrapping it up as either a birthday gift or Holiday gift. The Divine Though Blogless Elizabeth mourns this decision, as the jacket really is gorgeous. But .... it was also a fun knit. If I find myself pining... I'll buy more yarn and do it again. So, unless I come across a miracal solution for blocking finished sleeves into 2-3" of biggerness... it's become a gift.
5. Mission: Finish swatching the Bohus, and start knitting the thing! Oh,... finishing it would be good too... but I so did NOT promise to donate this if it's unfinished by year's end. The promise here was to get it well and truly in progress. This can be done in a weekend. Any weekend. Heck, the LAST weekend. I'm not worried about it. I'll tackle it soon, though. The bag is now next to my knitting chair.
6. Mission Finish fixing the Ribbon & Spritzer Tee from Tess that I'd originally made too large. I'd managed to talk myself into thinking this would be tedious and hard. Yesterday I drug it out to look at and made the following assessment.
This is the original side panel,
It is far too wide for my current frame (still.... over a year and a half after shedding the weight). Hell, it was too wide when I still had the weight. Each side panel is approximately six inches wide -- fully compressed, but will happily stretch to eight inches with no signs of strain. I took out the bottom edge (6 rows), and then disassembled the sweater to get rid of the side panels. I then put the sweater on and had Elizabeth pin it up the sides. We discovered that, though I can fit into the thing having excised that panel alltogether, I probably oughtn't and a panel of about 1.5" on each side would be a better plan. However, a 1.5" wide panel in this chevron shape would be a) fussy beyond measure to knit and b) look a little dumb -- and thus c) way more trouble than it's worth. I chose instead -- vertical stripes. Which meant picking up the edges on the sides, working 6 rows, and binding off with the three-needle bind off.
Got that done yesterday. It's on needles for the bottom edging, and thus is not it's smoothest best... Though you can't see it here, that vertical stripe is very similar to the edging at the bottom of the sleeeves and of the whole sweater (except, of course, that they're horizontal).
This morning I set the thing to flame.
No... not to destroy it, but to seal all the little nylon ends that in this microfiber ribbon would otherwise unravel to long impossibly thin strings. I've also picked up the stitches around the hemline, and am well on my way to finishing the knitting. I admit that I'm not looking foward to all the end weaving this will involve... but it should be done by Monday.
And last but not least ...
12. Mission: Fix the damned Silk Garden Jacket! (need to pick out the sleeves and re-knit them ... I knit them in in the wrong place). That was the plan.
Yesterday, I put it on for Elizabeth... and we agreed --- this jacket cannot be saved. My original plan looked great 15 pounds ago. Folks told me so. Folks told me it was awesome, but for that sleeve thing. Folks who had no reason to lie to me.... But now... ain't nothin' I can do that will make this thing look good on me.
So... here is a sleeve and a side panel ... and part of a second sleeve.
I can't quite call it done... but soon... oh so soon... I'll have a bit almost a full bag of Silk Garden to play with (not a full bag, because as I knit the jacket, I excised the brown bits that looked so off to me -- that yarn became a hat a while ago). I'll be washing and hanging the skeins, then winding them up and weighing them to see just how much I have to play with.
That mission goal sounds totally reachable now!
So... I'm swatching for a new sweater for J, and contemplating that if I give Mom a jacket, maybe I should make a sweater for Dad too..... there's this discontinue Reynolds yarn in the stash..... hmm......
What a great thing to do - burning a sweater! I would be afraid to take a match or lighter to anything. Maybe one day you can show me just how that is done. Not afraid to cut a steek, but truly frightened of flame! Still, Brave One, a great idea.
Posted by: Bev | November 07, 2008 at 08:58 AM
You must feel so freed-up! Excellent.
Posted by: kmkat | November 07, 2008 at 09:54 PM