WIP It!

Into Shape!
Shape Up!
It's Not Too Late!

Sorry to put Devo in your head but I do like appropriating tunes to match whatever I'm doing. And lately I've been making stuff! Hooray for making stuff! And since I no longer work in an office where Management requires a weekly hour long Work In Progress meeting where I have to detail every single project I've been working on, leaving less time for actual work on said projects, I've felt a WIP meeting gap in my life. Perhaps I need some KPIs. Then I'll need to see some ROI for my efforts at those KPIs. I'll action this immediately and get back to you all by COB today okay?!

So here is my WIP report. Feel free to judge, provide constructive criticism, feedback or tell me to work harder, faster, better, whatever. Just do it condescendingly so I get that old office hierarchy feeling flooding back!

WIP #1 is inspired by soft lil yellow ducklings and fluffy grey kittens. Well, actually those thoughts came to me well after I chose the wool plucked from my mother and her mother's stash. But it's a nice thought, isn't it?

This little WIP is destined to be a cozy neck warmer/cowl. Double sided, lemon and grey, knitted up in a moss stitch using two different sized sets of needles. I even learnt how to knit button holes for this project, which is quite frankly an amazing feat of learning on my behalf, from a book no less. Yes that's right, I followed instructions from a book. I can't even follow a recipe without thinking I know better. Very proud of my humble restraint and will to learn here! Although, foolishly I knitted button holes for buttons which I don't actually have yet, so now I'll have to find some that not only match my colour scheme but also fit the holes!

WIP #2 is supposed to be bright, cheery and fun. A burst of sunshiney goodness and floral frippery in the form of a crocheted pin cushion. I'm not sure if that's just too much to ask of a crocheted flower or just too much to ask of my crocheting skills. Luckily it's just a practice run for the Pin Cushion swap over at Foxs Lane because it's really not doing it for me. I think I'm going to have to get all Blondie on this one and rip it to shreds.

WIP #3 is not really a WIP anymore, but I'm going to share it anyway. I SEWED! I haven't sewn anything on a machine for years. I never really made friends with my sewing machine in the past. We'd fall out over silly things like broken needles, forgetting how to thread a bobbin, snapping cotton thread or slipping stitches. Plus with an expert sewer for a mum, it was always easier to put in an order rather than make something myself. Lazy, I know. But I decided that this is the year to move on from whatever trials we'd experienced in the past and learn to be a better, more understanding, caring friend to my machine. Listen to it. Hang out. Have cups of tea together, maybe a chocolate biscuit or three.

So I ordered Mum to hand it over (do you still stash stuff at your parents house even though you're grown up and own your own home? nah, me neither.) dusted it off and enlisted the help of a kind and patient real life friend, Alex, to help me re-learn some basics and whip up a simple tote bag, even though I didn't have a pattern or a clue.

Alex was super helpful and encouraging and we had whipped up a tote in (almost) no time! I was 99% of the way through, racing towards the finish line when a horrible groan escaped from my machine. Actually it was more of a frustrated growl, which I promptly matched with my own frustrated growl. We'd had a few hiccups along the way, but nothing that a timeout and a rethread hadn't magically fixed. But this time my machine decided enough was enough and officially carked it.

So I marched back to Mums and she kindly applied the finishing touches on her machine. She also told me not to tell you that she helped me like that, that I should take all the credit for my efforts and sewing success. She's nice like that.

Now that I have conquered a simple tote bag I'm thinking my next project should be something like a three piece suit. You know, to look smart and professional for our next WIP meeting. Well, once my machine is back up and running of course. Whaddaya think huh!?!