Finishing some long awaited UFOs

I was kind of at loose ends last night. I was really happy that I finished quite a few hats over the weekend and even tried my hand at a tri-color beanie on Monday night, but last night I was kind of lost and frustrated. I didn't want to start a new project or work on the current projects I have going right now.  You see, I have what one of my fellow knitters calls Knitter ADD - I start projects that I find interesting and then quickly lose interest in them when the knitting gets too boring. So I was afraid if I started a new project I was going to get bored with it before I could finish it and would be consigned to the WIPs bag sitting in the corner, which is already overflowing with UFOs.

I know many of you also suffer from this terrible affliction and I'd like for you to join me in stopping this debilitating problem - repeat after me: I [state your name] will spend the remainder of this month as well as the month of October diving into that seemingly bottomless WIPs bag to finish all those long-awaited UFOs that I have put off for far too long!

Now doesn't that feel better?  You have committed yourself to getting those UFOs finished and who knows, that shawl you'd been meaning to finish may make a wonderful gift this holiday season for your mother-in-law or that one sock who still needs its match could be a nice gift for your husband who has been waiting patiently for you to finish for him!

I have many such projects myself and I made mention of two of them in a July post, Heat Wave?! Not So Much in the Puget Sound. In this post I had finished The Big Bag that had been sitting around for about six months waiting for the handles to be finished and sewn on as well as sew in the lining. I also mentioned Cecil the Sockless Monkey, who has been sitting around only half-done for over a year.  Last night I was feeling really sorry for poor Cecil because he'd been waiting for me to finish his head and arms for so long!  I pulled poor Cecil from the WIPs bag and I worked on him while watching Ringer [new show on the CW with Sarah Michelle Gellar].

The pattern is stockinette stitch all the way, which is probably why I got bored with him, but I have gotten as far as the decreasing for the head.  If you don't remember from that previous post, this is what he looked like before:

I have to stuff him some more before I start decreasing for the head and once I have, I will have another photo after his head is complete.

Another UFO that I will be finishing this month will be the Men's Crew Neck Pullover (Rav link) I started last year. It was going to be a Christmas gift, but because I ran out of time, I just stuffed it in my bag to finish at a later date.  Now, almost a whole year has gone by and the size is all wrong for the intended recipient and I'm not sure if I should frog it and start all over again in the right size, or finish it and just add it to my Etsy Shop for someone else to purchase for their little one!  This is how far I've gotten with it:

As you can see I'm just past the point of separating front and back for the armholes and almost to the shoulders and neck.  It would be a shame to frog it, but its too small for my four year old nephew - who will be turning five right before Christmas. Hmmm....decisions, decisions!  I may have to come back to this one because it is a lot of work completed to have to start all over again.

Then there is the Basketcase Jacket (Rav link) that hasn't gotten very far and could very well be frogged and the yarn used for something else:

Would love to hear from all of you who took the oath to finish up their UFOs this month and October!  Happy knitting!!!

Update: Finished body and head of Cecil:

Cecil is almost complete, he still needs his arms, face and tail!

Heat Wave?! Not So Much in the Puget Sound

While all over the midwest, southern areas, and eastcoast, there have been record highs and heatwaves; here in the Puget Sound we are experiencing what we would typically experience in the early spring or fall.  Yep, you heard right, we barely have been breaking 70 degrees here. I'm not complaining, as long as its not raining and the sun is out I'm pretty happy, because I have family who live in upstate New York, Texas, and Maryland who are scorching right now.

But I was pretty stoked today, it was finally a warm enough day to actually pull out the patio furniture and the grill, sit outdoors and enjoy the sunshine. I pulled out the furniture and gave them a quick wipe down, because they sit outdoors all year round collecting dust, dirt, and spiders.  I cleaned off the tabletop grill and got to cooking some hot dogs, hamburgers, chicken, and boneless riblets.

I went into my storage closet and pulled out the patio umbrella I got last year at the end of the summer.  I'm quite proud of this find because I only paid $11.00 for it! Yep, you read right, it was only eleven bucks! Ya see all last summer I searched and searched for a reasonably priced patio umbrella and just couldn't find one. Until I happened to be in Rite Aid picking up a prescription and saw that they were having an end-of-season sale on their patio paraphenalia. I saw an umbrella with a tag that read $49.99 with a sign - 20% off all patio furniture, so I figured what the heck, I'll buy it because it was the cheapest one I'd seen all summer.

Well you could have knocked me over with a feather when the cashier said $11.00. I of course was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly paid my eleven bucks and rushed out of there before they could stop me, saying there was a mistake on the price! I only got to use it for a short time last year before I had to store it away for the winter, but I'm happy to be able to pull it out again!

Here you can see my set-up:

I live in a 86-unit townhouse development, one the main features that drew me to buy in this particular development was the cute little water feature that is right outside my deck.  It was a perfect day to sit outside to enjoy the waterfall.

I often like to sit out here on the weekends, in the mornings with my first cup of coffee of the day and just relax.  Its funny when I first moved here, I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to sleep with the constant running water, but now if the waterfall is shut off for maintenance, I find that I have a hard time getting to sleep without the soothing sound of the running water...weird huh?

After getting the patio cleaned up, furniture set-up, and the food started, I decided to finish up one of the many UFO's I hadn't worked on in a while; the Big Bag from Lion Brand Yarn.

I added a darker brown lining for finishing - had to hand sew it in because I of course wasn't thinking ahead; I sewed the wooden dowels in before I added the lining! I learned my lesson, if I ever make this bag again, I will machine sew the lining before sewing the wooden dowels in.

Brown fabric lining for finishing. Used Lion Brand Wool-Ease
Thick & Quick in Wheat #402

18" w x 12" h x 6" d with 25" handles - It truly is a big bag!

Well that is one more UFO from the neverending WIPs bag that I can put on the finished list.  Still have a few more to go, I'm hoping that I get most of them done this summer.  One other such project is a sockless sock monkey I named Cecil, that I started almost two years ago and poor Cecil is still missing his body and head.

Sockless Sock Monkey Knitting Pattern (Rav link)
by Anita M. Wheeless (Rav link) from her blog: Mumble-Jumble2
Cecil is made using Cascade 220 Tweed and Cascade 220 Wool

 Doesn't he look so pathetic, that he's been hanging out for over a year and I only got this far and haven't finished him yet?  I think Cecil deserves to be finished and when I'm done, maybe he will find a home with my grandniece.

Well the sun has gone down and its starting to get a bit nippy on the patio, so I think its time to go inside.  It was so nice to be able to sit out here and cook on the grill, blog, knit, and just plain relax.

To all you heat wavers out there, try to stay cool and to the knitters, happy summer knitting!