Thursday 30 July 2015

WIPs

In the world of knitting and crochet we have a lovely three-letter acronym - WIP (Work In Progress) - that refers to projects started but not yet completed.

I've been quite agitated recently because I have a bunch of WIPs - not just crochet projects but all sorts of other things - like the replacing the silicone around the basin (I pulled most of it off but haven't finished the scraping that needs to be done before I can replace with new), a work project I'm excited about but haven't made any progress on and a bunch of crochet WIPs and crafty projects (damn Pinterest for its project ideas!) that I haven't event started but that I want to do.

With crochet it is easy to end up with WIPs, especially if you do big projects like making a blanket. A blanket, for me, isn't something I work on all the time so while the blankie is still a WIP, I'll complete a few smaller projects. Some become bigger and they end up as WIPs too.

On Ravelry -  a pattern/project/social sharing site for knitting and crochet - you can set up projects and add start and finish dates, include details like hook size, yarn type, how much yarn, money spent on yarn and photographs of your project. There's also a 'progress bar' where you can indicate how far you are - 10%, 30%, 85%.


I appreciate having a projects page because much of what I make is not for me and over time I forget about what I've made. This is a great way to see how I've spent my time.

On Monday night I completed a 'Sophie's Universe Crochet-A-Long' blanket that I started at the end of January. I haven't worked on it full time so in that respect it has actually gone quickly. Six months is not bad at all for a blanket of this size. She's big and heavy and lovely.


The past two weeks have been all about finishing Sophie to free me up to work on Stella's blankie and also to start a Corner-2-Corner blanket. I've got the yarn for both of these projects.

There's a distinct satisfaction in completing a WIP and on Monday night when I changed my project status on Ravelry from WIP to completed I breathed a sigh of relief.

It isn't just in crochet that I have a WIP issue. I like to think of home and work tasks of projects - displayed like my Ravelry projects - that I can monitor and gauge in terms of time, materials, cost, outcome and progress. I have a dozen home and work tasks not even begun as well as those not yet completed.

I'm on a mission to complete WIPs. Finishing a project takes it off the to do list and brings with it a sense of satisfaction and accomplishment. And it frees up time and energy to start new projects.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

THAT is the coolest blanket I've ever seen! I'm inspired to make a beautiful heavy
mess like that now!!!!!!