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Tip of the Week: Visualizing Your On-The-Needle Projects

So somehow it is already February; how have your new year’s resolutions been treating you?

 

I’ve had a few that I have been considering: uncovering more great fibre arts podcasts, aiming to complete a sweater per month, making my tips-of-the-week more weekly! Some have been successful, and others are a work-in-progress. Something I hear a lot of while working at the yarn store is the tug-of-war that people play with themselves over continuing on with the projects they have already started (lovingly called WIPs in the knitting world; short for ‘works of progress’) and validating the cast-on of a new project.

 

Here’s the progress on my sweater/month resolution; my ‘January’ sweater is not quite complete, but I’m pretty happy with the progress and think I can catch up in February with an almost completed sweater WIP from last year… that still counts!!!

 

Remembering that knitting, like all fibre arts or other artistic pursuits, need to have an element of inspiration, here is one solution (resolution?) to this potential struggle: allowing yourself to happily work on multiple projects at the same time. In my recent post about Fab Podcasts I mentioned the Lovetosew episode on Resewlutions, and one of the suggestions they made was to set aside a small area to visually house your current project or projects. I ran with this idea and put together three projects: one new sweater project, one new small easy project, and one albatross WIP that I have been working on (and off and on for over three years).

 

My three on-the-needle grab-and-go projects in my KNITSPIRATION corner (from l-r): My ‘January’ sweater, a new triple-hat project in some new to Baaad Anna’s yarns that I can’t wait to try on my needles, and my albatross WIP which is a four skein fingering-weight shawl that I am 3/4 done.

 

They are in separate, pretty and easy to grab-and-go project bags, and all serve a different purpose: currently my sweater project is a long, seemingly endless stockinette that I can work on without much mental energy, the small new project gives me inspiration, and the WIP reminds me of the satisfaction I will feel when I can soon take it off my needles and into my wardrobe!

 

So here’s a suggestion: the year is still fresh, so find any surface in your house that will provide you with a visual daily reminder that there is joy in knitting. This could be your night-table or a shelf in your bookcase, and then find a way to show off your current on-the-needle projects you want to invest in this month. And treat yourself guilt-free to some nice yarn or a project bag that makes your heart sing!

 

And don’t forget to celebrate the small victories!

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