Friday, January 23, 2009

** Pro. Cras. Tin. A. Tion. ** (and a surprise give away)

(singing to the tune of Anticipation by Carly Simon)...Procrastination, pro-cras-tin-a-a-tion, is making me late, is keeping me wai, ai, ai, ai, ai-ting

So I've been working on my Tangled Yoke sweater for eons...or so it seems. The pattern sat in my queue for a while. I purchased the kelly green yarn in September or October of 2008 and cast-on October 28th (according to my Ravelry notes). And I love the fact that it's knit in the round - cause seamless is really the way to go!

But the weekend after casting-on I went to Stefanie Japel's workshop...and HAD to work on my design and sweater. And then I HAD to finish the Tahki Cape. And then I got sidetracked and HAD to knit a Santa pillow, a couple hats, a sweater for Nana, and a Geode sweater for me.

But now all that's left at the top of my Ravelry projects page is the Tangled Yoke - stuck at 40% complete. Poor tangled yoke.

In trying to pinpoint my procrastination with this sweater I realized it's not that pattern is bad, or that I don't like the yarn. It's the rows and rows of garter ribbing - it's like you never really get into second gear and progress is painstakingly slow.

But this week, after the Geode sweater was finished, I made a concerted effort NOT to wind any more yarn...and not to look at my queue for what's next...and not to gush over the beautiful box of yarn I had just received from Kaleidoscope.

No, my friends, this kelly green sweater is not going away that easily! I picked up the sleeves (being done 2 at a time) and am busily knitting away and half way through the 8" of garter ribbing - hooray! And I know that once the arms are joined to the body/yoke it will be smooth sailing (at least until I get tangled in the cables - ha ha).

Ah, tangled yoke...why couldn't the knit fairies just come at night and finish you for me so I didn't feel so guilty :o)


And now for a little Friday give away! Let me know a project that you were in love with...and why, despite your best intentions, it sat in your UFO's so long! I will randomly select a winner next week and send you a prize! Hooray, we love prizes!


Happy Friday y'all!

7 comments:

LillyZoo said...

I can't wait to see it. funny post

Rogue Rylla said...

The wrap jacket from Ella Rae designs-Book 1 is my UFO. It's been a UFO for about 3 years. I fell in love with the alpaca yarn suggested by the book (Atacama) and made the t-shirt sweater from the same book. When I started the wrap jacket, I didn't count on how bored I would be with the pattern. I still work on it every once in a while, but once I learn how to make socks I got hooked on them.

A Homely Heroine said...

After a couple of years break I got back into knitting and started out with huge enthusiasm for the huge triangle shawl in Greetings from Knit Cafe. I knitted that thing for hours, days, weeks. But then I realised that swapping the suggested aran weight for 4ply wasn't 'no big deal', when I had 400 stitches on the needles and the shawl would barely cover my head. I knew then I'd made a major mistake and it sat in my wip pile for 3 years - I couldn't bear to unravel, I'd spent to much time on it and I was so happy when I started it. Eventually I just cast off a few months ago and folded the mini-shawl up. I have to figure out something good to turn it into now, plus my stash still has all those balls of 4ply. : )

Dora said...

My big UFO is an afghan I started working on right after I learned to knit. It has 42 squares that you knit, then have to put a border on and then seam together. I have knit the 42 squares long ago. Putting the edging on is about half way done and I have been doing that for the past 4 years. My hubby laughs and says "what are you making 42 potholders". I am one of those who can't stand to not finish something so after reading this post I will again this week dig out some squares and put the edging on them and I will get that thing finished.

Oh and the best part... I picked the colors to match my living room. Since I started it, I have bought new furniture and repainted. Now it won't even match :)

MoniqueB. said...

Hi Karen,
you go girl! I know how easy it is to get sidetracked by other projects, impulses, pictures and cuddly yarn. I surrendered yesterday to a KAL of Victorian Lace Today, with only 2 deadlines for knittingprojects in the back of my mind.
On the other hand, after a bit of time, you look at your project with other eyes and just see it through in one burst of enthousiasm. And the fact that it will be done after that.
Only so you can start a new one... hahhahahaaha.
Keep it up!

Creative Chaos said...

Hi Karen , a great question , time to come out of lurkdom :-)
About 5 years ago i started a huge bright colored folk sweater ... last year I remembered that it still was in my UFO box and I decided to finish it ... 2 weeks ago i dicovered a mistake which means i have to frog (yuckkkk) , so now it is in my UFO box again !!! lmao
You can see a pic of it at the beginning of my blog ..
Patti xx

ikkinlala said...

For me it's Hedera socks. I started them several months ago and, while taking a break from them, swiped one of the needles for another project. That needle has been in use since, and I've never gotten back to those socks.