Knitting

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Getting a Start on Finishing

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prima shawlI don’t know if it’s spring or just beginning of the month frustration, but I’m just about sick of all the partially finished knitting projects sitting around my house. So I’ve decided that for the month of April, as much as possible, I am going to focus my time on finishing projects I’ve already started rather than casting on new ones.

I am a great starter and I often get really close to finishing without actually doing so. I have a knit dress that has almost all of its crocheted edgings done, for example, and has been in that state for more than a year! There’s a sock I started earlier this year that’s the mate of one I knit a couple of years ago. There’s that lace scarf I told you about that needs to be blocked, and a cowl that just needs its ends woven in.

Oh, and that pretty bit of knitting up there? It’s the shrug that’s part of a free class at CreativeBug I told you about recently. I’m not actually watching the class, and I’m using a different yarn, but isn’t that colorway just perfect for spring?

Please tell me I’m not alone in needing to focus on finishing. Better yet, tell me you’ll join me in working on finishing projects this month. Tell me what you need to finish and why it hasn’t gotten done yet, and we can keep each other accountable.

Through the month I’ll be sharing my finished objects and tips on getting things out of the UFO pile and onto your body, or wherever they need to go when they’re done.

I hope you’ll join me! All you have to do to start is leave a comment, and we’ll finish the rest together.

Comments

  1. You are SO not alone. Been trying to do the same thing since the first of the year. I HAVE managed to finish a few things but the pileof unfinished projects seems to be getting taller.

  2. You are SO not alone. Been trying to do the same thing since the first of the year. I HAVE managed to finish a few things but the pile of unfinished projects seems to be getting taller.

  3. LoL! I was just thinking that myself a couple of nights ago. I started projects for National Crochet Month, and suddenly the month is over, and I still haven’t finished! Well, I did finish one afghan/throw, so it wasn’t all bad. But there’s those supposedly quick projects that are almost done – the linen stitch cowl and the Reds Waves Cowl.

Have you read?

Knit a Log Cabin Blanket with All Your Scraps

I guess I must have had this pattern on my mind, because I had chosen this log cabin blanket recipe to write about, promptly forgot about it and a couple of weeks later started knitting a log cabin blanket using all my pink yarn. 

It might stay pink if it makes it to baby blanket sized, or I might add in some pastel green and blue, too, to make a bigger blanket. We’ll see. I’m also holding several strands of yarn together to make a kind of bulky yarn, which means it’s deeply satisfying how much yarn is used even as the project is still relatively small. 

In Kristen Finlay’s version, DK weight yarn scraps (or fingering/sock yarn held double) are used to make a simple scrappy log cabin blanket that’s lighter weight than my version. Log cabin is a great technique for knitters of any skill level because it’s worked in garter stitch. The only not completely basic technique you need for log cabin knitting is picking up stitches. 

If you’ve never worked a log cabin knitting project before, this is a good introduction, and it is really nice to use all your yarn scraps in one big project you’ll use for years to come. 

If you use a lot of DK weight yarn you can keep building on it whenever you finish a project, or if you use more worsted weight you can do the same thing with it, it will just be a little bigger starting out than the pattern calls for. How big it gets is totally up to you. 

I have really been enjoying working on my log cabin project, and it’s my current sitting at my desk and need a break knit (do you have one of those or is it just me?). 

Ready to start your own log cabin blanket knitting project? You can grab the free pattern from Kristen Finlay on Ravelry. 

Need more log cabin inspiration? Check out more log cabin knitting patterns. 

[Photo: Kristen Finlay]