January - PhDs, UFOs and WIPs

After reflecting on projects completed in the last year, it is time to think abut the uncompleted ones...

PhDs - Projects Half Done

UFOs - Un- Finished Objects

WIPs - Works in Progress

I suspect we all have lots of PhDs and UFOs - the lure of an exiting new project, or some sense of dissatisfaction or boredom with a current one can lead to us abandoning one project in favour of something new. This may apply in several areas of life but I'm going to restrict myself to spinning and knitting projects (well, that's all I'm admitting to anyway!).

Since I finished my Christmas knitting (late on Christmas Eve of course, to keep in with tradition!) I have been concentrating on a UFO that has been around for a number of years.

A knitted blanket combining three commercial yarns, it is loosely based on the Lizard Ridge blanket pattern published by Knitty.

I worked out five different ways to combine the yarns, and knitted five strips of five blocks in these combinations. Last Thursday I finished knitting the last strip and since then I have been blocking them.

I have only got space (and enough pins) to block two strips at a time, so the last two got washed and pinned out this morning. last night I joined the first two strips together and tonight I will sew on the third one. Once all five strips are joined I will have to crochet an edging - but as I have very little of the three yarns left I will have to get a bit creative when deciding how to do that.


I also resumed work on another UFO - infact this one is a PhD!  a half knitted scarf in handspun yarn which shades gradually from black at one end to white in the middle.

 Now I need to knit back to black at the other end. I created the yarn from two fleeces, blending them in different proportions to make seven intermediate shades, before spinning a continuous yarn that changes colour along its length.

  I stopped once I had knitted to white and started to use the scarf as a sample for my Playing With Colour workshop (next one in November 2014). It will be good to finish it off.


My knitting WIP is a pair of lacy socks - I always have a pair of socks on the needles to knit when travelling. So far these socks have been knitted while travelling to and from Shetland, Piedmonte, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Reykjavik. I expect to finish them on a working trip to Edinburgh next month.

My spinning WIP is the yarn for a Rams and Yowes blanket (designed by Kate Davies).

I'm renaming it Mixed Flock as instead of the nine natural shades of Shetland wool for which Kate designed it, I am spinning wool from several different sheep breeds. I have spun six different fleeces 'pure', and blended three shades by using different proportions of white with black or moorit. Today I spun a bobbin of Shetland in a lovely colour called sholmit - a light brown. When I have spun the rest of that I will have the three blended shades to spin, before I can start the knitting.

My design WIP is to continue to develop the charting and knitting of elements of Willow Pattern from the china shards I found on beaches in Shetland. I have a few ideas for how to use these once they are knitted.

I also have a new design in my head, not even in paper (or wool) yet, which will use natural shades and an everyday image as inspiration, more abut that one in due course.

So I'm looking forward to a busy and woolly 2014!!