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Great Tips for Putting a Project to Bed

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use project cards to keep your ufos in orderWe’ve all had times when we knew we were putting a project in time out. Usually that is accompanied by frustration and getting the project out of our sight as quickly as possible.

But we really should be kind to our future selves and take a moment to write down some things about the currently offending pattern in the hope that some day we’ll want to deal with it. This is also good advice when you’re putting a project away for a while even if it hasn’t been behaving badly (say it’s the dead of summer and you can’t stand working on that stranded knit sweater any longer).

Ashley Little from Crafty’s knitting blog has some great tips for taking notes on a project before you put it away. She says you should note what the pattern is and where it came from (yes!), as well as where you are in the pattern, what yarn you were using, needle size and the size of the garment you were making.

I’m sure I’ve forgotten all of these things about a project I put into hibernation at one time or another — sometimes more than one.

This is such great advice! Check the site for a link to a cute download (those project cards pictured above) that might help you get your UFOs a little better organized, too.

[Photo via Craftsy.]

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Comments

  1. This is a great idea!! I gave a knitting project a little “time out” a few months ago. I have the yarn and pattern all tucked away together, but have three sets of needles in the project bag. I plan to get back to this project soon, but I can’t for the life of me remember why I put three different sets of needles in with this sweater (?!?)

    Oh well, I guess I’ll be swatching again 🙂

Have you read?

A Short and Sweet Top to Knit for Summer

I think one of the things that keeps me from wearing some of the summer tops that I have knit is that when they use worsted weight yarn, they’re actually heavier and warmer than a normal T-shirt would be. Which sometimes is fine, since I tend to be cold, but it’s not always what you want from your warm-weather gear.

That’s why shirts and tops knit with fingering (aka sock) yarn are so great. They’re super light weight and honestly they don’t take as long to knit as you probably think they will.

I’m sure that’s true with the Maya Top from Gavriella Treminio, especially if you choose the cropped length option. This top down sweater has a textured circular yoke with bobbles and eyelets, while the rest of the body is worked in stockinette stitch. Other than the integrated ribbed neckband, other edges are left in stockinette so they will roll slightly to finish the casual look. 

The design comes with seven different size options, ranging from 36 to 62 inches in the chest. The pattern page doesn’t say how much ease is meant to be included in the pattern, but starting at size 36 would leave it pretty roomy for folks in the smaller sizes.

I don’t think the suggested yarn is made anymore, but it looks like a top that would be lovely in a mercerized cotton or a linen and silk blend, something with a little bit of shine to it. This is one of those times when the yarn suggestions on Ravelry can be super helpful because you can see what yarn other people used and how their finished projects came out.

You can get this pattern on Ravelry.

Looking for more summer top patterns? I’ve collected some lacy top knitting patterns here, and a few great tank top knitting patterns here.

[Photo: Gavriella Treminio.]

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