A commenter, Lynn, asked about the “balance between New! Sparkly! Creative! Idea! and the long slog it takes to actually make something.” And this really got me thinking. Now really, with more than 30 works-in-progress that I’ll own up to, am I the one to ask about this? I am all about the new and shiny distraction from the finishing slog, but I guess that I do get a few things done too. This is worth some thinking.
I took a look at my WIP list and figured that many were begun more than 2 years ago. Some were impulsive and others were well-planned. Whereas, the majority of my finishes are impulse projects. After years of doing some ad hoc apprentice knitting and sewing to practice techniques and gain new skillz–pretty much by knitting whatever other knitbloggers were knitting, I did finally reach the moment of understanding the types of projects I like to work on and to finish. Here is an example that illustrates the type.
They should be colorful. I like the effect that using the full color spectrum can have in a piece. Controlled and confined palettes have their appeal, but my impulsive starts that are ultimately finished tend to be riots of colors–using manymanycolors of yarn or using a wide variety of fabric scraps.
They should be modular. Building up to a whole by constructing smaller parts and assembling as I go might be the most important criterion. If I set out to make one garter stitch scarf, it might take me months to finish. But somehow, a blanket constructed out of several garter stitch scarves only takes one month. Each separate scarf represents a giant step towards the finish and this is the motivational key. Seaming as I go emphasizes the progress made with the completion of each part.
Modularity also makes the project portable so that no moment of the day is wasted. Working in “found moments” is the only way to make stuff when you have a busy life.
There should be an opportunity for improvisation. This is so fundamental to the way I prefer to work that it’s hard to explain. In a word, it’s freedom. Within the usual constraints of maintaining integrity of construction, I have to be able to follow whims. When improvising, surprises can happen throughout the work and it provides opportunities for problem-solving, engineering new-to-me solutions. There’s more to it than this, but I don’t know how to say it.
That seems like the big three criteria. It goes for quilts too, although there are a few other criteria there. Actually, writing this also generated a list of “project deal-breakers,” but we’ll save that for another time.
So the cliche way to say it is: “Make what you love in the way you love to make.” It can take a while to identify your own list of needs, wants and deal-breakers, but once you know your crafty self a little better you might start fewer things that you’ll never want to finish.
The Details:
Design: just knit improvisational garter stitch scarves and seam them together; add applied i-cord edging
Materials: 1970 grams of various worsted weight yarns in manymanycolors
Sticks: US7 (4.5mm)
Hook: G (4.5mm) for seaming
Finished size: 72″ square
Started: December 24, 2011
Finished: January 31, 2012
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A note about the blog: I have reformatted the display so that you’ll see only one post per page. Any disclaimer is then good for the whole page and navigation links at the top and bottom allow you to jump from post to post easily. I have also added pages linked in the header so you can find tutorials and other stuff without wading through posts you might not want to scroll through at that time. I hope this makes this site more user-friendly. Unfortunately, I can’t change the mobile format (for phones and tablets), which displays photos automatically on the front swipe page.
completely cauchy. 
What a fabulous creation, makes me smile to see it.
This is stunning!
shit, bitch! that blanket is incredible!
i’m so afraid of color like that. i need to learn from you.
Jeez Louise. That blanket is ace, C (using name for emphasis and also prove I know your name is not, in fact, Louise). It is spell-binding!! I love how you completed it lightening fast and gained so much insight into your creative process at the same time! I agree 100% about finishing impulse projects over longer, well-considered WIPs. I find this has become chronic for me in direct proportion to the amount of time I spend online, soaking up inspiration.
Great post. Killer blanket.
love, love, love your blanket.
MWAH! Love it!
O.M.G. I knew this would be good but this is beyond awesome. Now I see why it’s your new favorite. I especially love the shot of it on the bed. It’s a great thoughtful post too, I need to go back and re-read. I was too distracted by the beautiful blankie! (and I’m very interested in hearing about your deal-breakers as I have not yet identified mine)
I too found out that work with many, many colors is the best way to finish something!
First of all, love the blanket, absolutely gorgeous. Secondly I’m really interested by your reflections on what leads you to finish things. I’ll have to have a think about that for myself. Thanks for sharing.
I love that blanket.
My metrics for interesting projects keep shifting. Things I used to find exciting now border on tedious, and things I found intolerable are sometimes comforting. I have the best luck working on the things that make my heart beat, and fighting distraction to finish them, unless I can’t.
Yes! I used to really love precision projects made with tiny pieces. Those now drive me batty. Oy. There definitely is a shift. There is also a seasonal shift in which craft I do. Quilting seems to be a summer thing, for instance.
Beautiful!!
Oh wow, I really love the colors. It looks like a piece of modern art.
I love your blanket!! This post has me thinking too…
So when is the pattern coming out? Heh. I’m with you on the color stuff and the planning. Too much planning and only one color definitely makes the project a slog. I loves this blanket.
This blanket is beautiful. Thanks for sharing it and your thoughts. I am just learning these types of things about myself as a crafter as well. It’s great to see some patterns emerge in my habits.
I knew it was going to be spectacular when you said (on twitter?) it was the best blanket ever, or something along those lines. But really, it’s more than spectacular. I love how the blanket seems to have order, but is also wild and crazy. It’s amazing. I think you’re right, too, about finding a set of rules to craft by. I feel like I learn more about my crafting process every day, and it makes me enjoy it more.
beautiful!
crazy beautiful! Awesome work
C, it’s so glorious. Kudos on yet another breath-taking project.
And thank you for sharing what makes a project worth working on and finishing for you. I have a ton of WIPs (not as many as you, but probably in the high teens or low 20s), some going back a few years, and I should give some thought to what drives me to finish some and set other aside indefinitely. I try not to feel anxious about the ones I allow to languish, because I figure if it’s worth it to me I’ll get back to them someday, and there isn’t an expiration date on them or anything.
Anyway, you’ve got me thinking. Thanks!
Good lord C that is stunning!! With all of these blankets I can only imagine that your house is the most comfortable welcoming place.
Do you find that your work reaches a kind of tipping point when it goes from being chore like to the excitement of seeing the finish? Love how this looks. I haven’t knitted anything in a long while and feel inspired to think about it a bit now.
Oh, this one is great! I love how each strip keeps a “theme” of color range. I need to figure out if I could sustain a project like this – the end result is so wonderful.
We definitely have totally opposite criteria and deal-breakers for projects, but over the years I’ve developed a similar approach to deciding on things I’ll make and love and finish. That blanket is like a punch in the face of colour (in a good way) and very you.
F’n Gorgeous!!!
Dear god, this is stunning. You are my blanket idol!!
OMG. OMG. So amazing. Love seeing that red and white stripe punctuate.
Ahhhh! It’s gorgeous C! You have my wheels turning, this would look so cool in quilt form too! :)
would it be possible for you to explain your technique for weaving in ends as you go? i have too many finished projects that still have millions of yarn tails because i can’t bear to spend the time to weave them in. thanks!
If you’ve ever done any colorwork knitting, then you likely needed to tack down floats by twisting your yarns. This is the same idea, but you just tack down several times at once at the color change.
“Make what you love in the way you love to make.” Such great words to live by. Love the blanket!!
Oh. Ma. Gah.
Casting this on right now. You just described my criteria for finishing stuff, also.
So stinking BEAUTIFUL and so up my street. I am ON IT.
Which is not to say that you don’t scare me with those start and end dates.
I love having a list of criteria and deal-breakers. I guess, without really labeling as such, it’s something I’ve been thinking about lately, especially with knits. I haven’t quite gotten to that point with quilting, since I feel so inexperienced in that realm. I can’t wait to hear your list of deal breakers, though! And I agree that modularity is a very important factor in a project. Feeling like you’ve got mini milestones of completion is a very motivational force for me, much like these “scarves”.
And speaking of the scarves, I. love. this. blanket. Like I said on flickr, I always feel like I use the word favorite when it comes to your projects, but I love this even more than your last blanket adventure. This one is so whimsical, but will undoubtedly still be a classic for years to come. I love that you allow yourself freedom in crafting, and it always leads to such brilliant results!
Would have been stunning and wonderful without the i-cord; with, it’s sublime. I salute you!
AMEN! Love this blanket, it looks so cozy.
As a multi-project person, last count 26, I love your post. As always your work is absolutely stunning. Have a great week!
Make what you love in the way you love to make. It’s true. You have to take an objective look at how you like to do stuff and the way in which you are actually productive before deciding whether or not a certain project is creative to your style. Maybe that will keep me from ending up with too many WIPs in the future.
Beautiful!
Just… wow. I don’t know that I’d trust myself to work that way, though. Interesting…
I love it so much, I “Pinned it!!!”
(((Hugs)))
I pinned your amazing blanket. I adore the finished product and your bravery to be spontaneous.
Love, love, LOVE. Your work just sings. Always. And I’d love to hear the list of project deal breakers, too.
I love this post. And I love this blanket. It is phenomenal! C., you are such an inspiration.
At last! Someone who understands and has put into words the way I knit and feel about knitting. For me it always starts with the colors in knitting, quilting or anything else I make. Thanks for your insight.
Absolutely gorgeous. I love color too – no matter how I try to restrain myself, everything ends up a huge riot of unmatching colors. Oh well. :)
Stunning. And a great way to find out what makes you love a project.
That’s a very useful analysis of what interests you enough that you finish it (it’s also a gorgeous blanket!). I think I’ll look over my WIPs and finished projects and see if I can discern patterns in what I finish and what I don’t. More particularly, I’d like to identify when and why I start to stumble on a project – do I get bored? Hit a difficult spot? Get sucked into a deadline somewhere else (babies, weddings, birthdays, Christmas)? Have my skills grown faster than I can complete a project? Would older sweater WIPs even still fit?
You’ve articulated so well my need to go off course, to change things up. My balance comes from going off balance. I love that quilt. It’s magnificent!
wow do I love this one. That red & white strip is so wonderful in there. The whole thing is wonderful.
LOVE. That’s all I can think to say. Other than WHAT? And then it’s all gibberish… in a good way.
; )
You’re killing me…..I love love this. Thanks for sharing, I so relate, you just express it so much better than I do. You just made me realize that when I do QAYG projects It’s like the modular knitting thing. Thanks againn for sharing your process…it means a lot to me.
Gawgeous!!!
“Make what you love in the way you love to make.”
That’s not a cliche, it’s one of the best things I’ve read in a long time. I want this embroidered on a sampler prominently displayed in my work space. You just boiled down years of angst and frustration into such simple words of wisdom.
DAAAAAAMN. I love that blanket! One of these days I really need to learn to knit and/or crochet. I NEED a blanket like this! (and a granny square one. I love granny squares. Like, a lot.)
Okay, you don’t me need me to say, wow this is fantastic. But I wrote it anyway.
I love your scrappy knits! You have such a rainbow of yarn, it’s glorious. Your yarn always seems to look the same…maybe it’s just from the photos. But do you have a fave brand you keep on hand? Or do you just get the same gauge all the time? wool? cotton? acrylic?
Yep, I just always stay stocked up with worsted weight yarns (KP WotA, Cascade 220, and Valley Yarns Northampton). I kind of want to move to my sock yarn collection for a change of colors soon.
love the blanket! So colorful. How did you sew the squares together without the seams getting all loosey-goosey?
Well, each column (top to bottom) is knit continuously like a scarf. So there are only the long seams (top to bottom). Those I seam using crocheted slip stitches. Google to get some tutorials.
Everytime I sit down at a computer I pop over to get another eyeful. It’s fantastic. I’ve been trying to think over my whys and hows of starts and finishes and eternally-languishes to get better at crafting to make myself happy. Your self-analysis is great. I need to keep better lists.
Like the previous poster, I would love to see your seams – I get obsessive over how I think I will want the seams, and the control freakiness happens before I’m even in the mix.
Another most beautiful creation! :)
I really need to learn to knit!!! I just started crocheting, but would love to make a blanket like that for my son, Scooter, when he gets old enough for a big boy bed.
I just want to say I love ur scrap quilts. Im a new quilter wanting to do a scrap quilt. I hve bought a couple bags of scraps since I dnt really hve a stash yet. Do u sort ur scraps by color or do u leave them in one big bin. The blanket is hot too:)
now THAT would look lovely on my bed!!!
beautiful as always!
donna
What a true concept – project deal breakers. I had never thought of it that way. I wonder what mine are?
What more can be said, that hasn’t already been said? WOW!
I love your explanation of how your like to create. :)
You are so inspiring. The blanket kills me. Really,
I am trying to finish up some of my WIPs. I am finding that if they sit too long I really lose interest in them. I like a project that has enough momentum to carry it through to the end. I am getting better at finding those.
Knit sweaters are my downfall. I have several started, I would love to wear them, but I have fear of fit and also am not interested in the not so interesting knitting involved in finishing them.
I keep sock projects on hand for portable handwork but I have been hearing the call of embroidery or other hand sewing lately. I haven’t started any yet because I feel burdened by the unfinished. I think I’ll be starting some stuff before too long when some really old UFOs are finished.
I hadn’t thought through in such a clear way what makes a good project good. Hmmm. I’ll have to do that before plowing too far ahead and adding to the WIP pile yet again.
Seriously beautiful blanket! You are a fast knitter! I have a crocheted afghan that I started 5 years ago. I work on it in bits, but still not close to finishing. You inspire me!
This reminds me of my childhood kaleidoscope. And sunshine streaming down into water. And patches of farmland. I love it.
That’s my kind of knitting, if I could be motivated to knit at all.
Love this. You continue to inspire me!
I WANT IT.