Too Many Unfinished WIPs (works in progress)?

And diagram for: Super Easy Poncho (scroll down)

Well, I opened the tote up yet again. I am just not happy with how it comes up. Maybe I should use slightly smaller needles to make it not look quite so sloppy? In any case, when I start them again, I will knit them in the round, I think. I have done a little research, and it appears, that is the most common modification people make when using this pattern. I will give it another try, but not today. So, technically, that's not an unfinished project any more. The yarn went back to my stash...

Because I was so frustrated with the tote, I started another pair of socks.

At least I know how to do socks by now. My old stand-by. But then my daughter counted all my WIPs for me, and I felt compelled to keep working on some of them. So, here is my progress...

I worked some more on the cabled shrug and finished it today. I wish I had used different yarn, as the Wool-Ease is a bit scratchy, but my dd says she likes the shrug anyway :). And here it is:


And another picture:


So, I finished one of my WIPs. Good for me.

And here is another project I have been working on for a long time. It's just a plain triangular wrap/shawl. I am very unmotivated about it, because I am tired of the yarn. I have made so many ponchos with Bernat Bling-Bling (see pictures below), that I just need a break from it. I bought a whole bunch of the that yarn in all kinds of different colors and made these ponchos. With the last color, I thought I would try something different and I am making this shawl. I will finish it eventually...



You can use any pattern you would like for the poncho. You can knit the two rectangles or crochet them. And you can decide on the size as well. My two pieces were roughly 70 x 40cm or 30x15", but of course that all depends on who you make the poncho for and how big you want it. You can add fringes or not. Since mine were knit kind of loose, I added a black ribbon to one of them around the neck, so the person wearing it can tie it a little tighter around the neck, rather than wearing it more off the shoulders. Your imagination is the limit...

Here are the parts and how you assemble them:

Hugs, shrugs, cabled shrugs, boleros, and superchunky

Other than the "endless knot" socks, I am working on a shrug for my daughter right now. She takes a sweater to school every day, because she says it's always cold inside. Jennifer Thurston calls her pattern "Hug," and Jenna (knits & pieces) altered that original pattern into a "cabled shrug" (see Jenna's picture). This shrug is basically two long sleeves that connect around the shoulder, thus keeping all the parts warm that usually get cold. It is knit starting from one wrist across the shoulders to the other wrist. I am using Lion Brand Wool-Ease solid, looking pretty much like Jenna's picture here (color is called "Fisherman"). The original pattern was knit with Cashmerino Superchunky, so I am doubling the Wool-Ease to make it "superchunky."

It's really fast and easy, except I think I made the first arm too long, so I am waiting for my daughter, so I can measure it on her. I might have to open parts up again. As easy as these shrugs are, getting them the right size always seems to challenge me.

I made this other, really cool shrug, called Ribbed Lace Bolero by Kelly Maher for my daughter. Instead of using Lion Brand Cotton-Ease like the "recipe" said, I used Knit Picks Shine Worsted, which somebody else on Ravelry had used. It came out great! Really awesome!! But after the first time it was worn, it "grew" to about double the width. The pattern completely lost its "spring," and I am totally bummed. I definitely want to make another one with the Lion Brand yarn to see if that makes the difference. By the way, I had the hardest time with the pattern at first (remember, I mentioned before that I have a hard time "reading" knitting patterns), but once I figured it out, it was totally, totally easy!