My plans for the Summer

I meant to post this on the official first day of Summer but then life got in the way and so I'm late. Anywhoooo, while it seems that everyone else will be having one of these, I will be having a SUMMER OF UFOs (please use your imagination and picture a snazzy, cutesy little button with an adorable alien or flying saucer, maybe with a ball of yarn or ooh, ooh, a flying saucer superimposed on a crossed pair of knitting needles - yeah that's the ticket) over here. I would make a button but I have yet to figure out how those are made so you all must use your imaginations, kay?

After a moment of realization where I was overwhelmed by the number of UFOs in my possession (oh, and just for the record, I had missed a couple of projects in that original count - yeah, really I did!), I've now decided that I must do all I can to complete these items. Therefore, I will work on these during this Summer of UFO's to get as many done as I can. I will then chronicle my successes (and failures?) and go over the reasons WHY I had set the projects aside. Thought it would be excellent to not only finish the project but to write the reasons that kept me from completing them in the first place.

SO, that being said, I've completed one so far!

I've completed a neck drape from Gelato by Fiesta Yarns
Now, this was a free pattern in a very old patternworks catalog. I altered it a bit to make it a bit bigger than what the pattern called for. Seemed like a waste of yarn as there would have been a good deal left over but not enough for another drape. OK, so, WHY did THIS project get cast aside? Despite it having a beautiful color (I used the Alaska colorway) and drape, the drape itself is what caused me to set this aside. First of all, I wound it into a centerpull ball on my yarn winder. I thought I was being smart by using the yarn from the outside b/c it was so slippery. Well, I'm here to tell you, that was NOT enough. This stuff is slipperier (huh? maybe I should say "more slippery"?) than a newborn baby in a bathtub full of baby oil. AUGH! It would not stay in any sort of a usable form. I finally put it into a plastic baggy but only after I already had a "throw up yarn" mess which I then tried to unknot as I knit! Also, it's a ribbon yarn. I'm an OCD, overlay anal, perfectionist who just COULD NOT STAND the thought of the yarn twisting on itself. So I would untwist the yarn on the needles as I knit, which would cause the yarn to twist onto itself in the mess that I now had in a plastic baggy and therefore become even knottier on that end as I then continued to try to unknot it while I knit it!

You all get the picture right?

Well, THAT's not the end of it.

Besides all THAT mess, this is the most "catchy" thing I have ever made. It catches on everything and the *&^***&%$#!%*&^$& slipperiness (I do believe that this actually is a word) of the yarn then contributes to it pulling it's stitches out of place. Because I am so OCD, overly anal and perfectionistic, I must then (truly I MUST) pull the thing back into an orderly and even fashion each and every time it catches. ACK!

OK, so I love the colorway and the feel/look of the yarn and drape. I will probably be extremely careful as to where and when I wear it though. OR, I might just have to put myself out of my misery and gift it to my mom who may not be quite as OCD, overly anal and perfectionistic and will love it as it deserves to be loved!

SO, that's one down and MANY MORE to go.

In the meantime, I continue to work on one of my most recent UFO's - the watermelon stripe socks! I finished sock number 1 (had I mentioned that already?). I would post a picture of it but Blogger is being stupid and is not letting me. I'll try on a separate post.