Finish or Frog Projects from the WIP pile.

Not every project is a winner. There. I’ve said it. I have a number of projects that I’ve started and abandoned in the hopes of SOME DAY. Some of these cast aside projects are over 10 years old. They take up physical space. Some of them emotional space and the nagging that I can’t launch into ALL THE NEW THINGS until I’ve cleared out the old.

I’ve been planning blog posts for the future. Some of the topics are obvious: teaching, patterns, what I’m working on, reviews of new techniques and tools and yarns. Other topics are less obvious: boredom, burn-out, FAILURE. My abandoned projects and designs fall into this second collection of topics.
I decided to take on the topic of my Failures in a blog series. The Lost Knits File. This will include knit, crochet, AND finished items.

This past week I pulled out some of my WIPs, snapped pictures and added some of the projects to Ravelry (to track my progress). Some of these cast-offs will be finished, others repurposed (a tank for a much thinner me reimagined into a summer dress for my daughter), and a few sweaters will be frogged (ripped out).

The first item I’m tackling is some cropped cardigan I started back in 2012 (or maybe earlier). I have no idea why I put this project down. Maybe the realization that I don’t wear white?
Details: It was a pattern written by someone else, but the designer and pattern name remain a mystery. The yarn feels like a cotton or cotton blend. I have no idea where the ball bands are from the yarn. Based on the amount of tails to weave in, the yarn was 50g balls.
Ideas: After trying on the mostly finished item, I decided to make the sweater into a pullover with an elongated “button band” that I’ve picked up on one side and will 3-needle bind-off on the other side. Since the sweater will be reimagined, it is uncertain if the project will be COMPLETE or if it will be mashed with another project.

The project I want to mash-up with the cropped sweater: A tank body from yarns purchased on a vacation to Myrtle Beach forever ago. I abandoned the project because I couldn’t decide what I wanted the top to look like. Wrap front, square neckline, I simply could not decide; after many years, I still haven’t made a decision.
Details: The yarns are non-wool blends: linen, cotton, “milk”. The gauge is similar, the colors complementary.
Ideas:I’m thinking of attaching the casing end to the base of the bodice piece. If the body isn’t long enough, I have enough yarn to lengthen it.

Time line to finish: 3-10 days depending on motivation.