When do you 'give up' on a project? When do you call time on a Work in Progress (WiP) or an Unfinished Object (UFO)?
'Give up' sounds very defeatist and not at all positive. A hand knit or crocheted fabric is not in a permanent fixed state. You can unpick, unravel and re-ball the yarn and reuse, recycle and repurpose it for something else.
So I think 'giving up' should be read with a happy and hopefully tone.
Obviously you may need time to mourn.
Spending money and time on a project to then realise is never going to fit you. Or casting on 500 stitches for a complex cable and lace pattern to then admit you don't have the concentration or patience to knit it. Or realising the yarn/pattern and your skills/headspace are not in synch at this time.
These are all frustrating scenarios.
That's why you need lots of project bags and a box or cupboard of doom. Or like me a pouffe. Stash it away until you're ready to see past the disappointment and embrace all the new possibilities.
And sometimes unpicking, unravelling and re-balling can be tricky and depending on how many balls/colours you've used in the project you may end up with lengths of yarn rather than balls, but still... it can turn an unhappy project into something more useful.
I admit I don't have any rules on when to give up on a languishing project. It's usually more of a feeling.
Sometimes a project can sit on my coffee table as a WiP. Something I'm actively working on, albeit sporadically.
Other times it's in the Pouffe of Doom as a WiP that I intend to finish (at some point) or a UFO whose fate I haven't decided.
These classifications are obviously subject to change!
Sometimes I can hang on to a project for years before deciding it's best to rip it back, re-ball the yarn and tidy away the needles and project bag.
Other times I'll know within the week that I'm never going to finish it. That may be because I'm not enjoying the stitch pattern, it's coming out the 'wrong' size, or I've read ahead and realised the pattern is not my vibe.
Recently I've revaluated three projects that I had stashed in my Pouffe of Doom.
This is the Dots Cowl by Hilary Smith Callis. It's one of three designs included in her Double Knits Three pattern, available to buy on Ravelry.
I started it in Feb/Mar last year and this is as far as I got. Reading back on my blog post about this cowl I think it is fairly obvious that I was not going to finish this project. Many of you probably thought the same.😆
Double Knitting is a technique where you effectively make two fabrics at the same time on one set of needles. Both fabrics face right side out so it's completely reversible. They can be joined at the sides, top and/or bottom. It's popular for scarves and blankets and shawls as there's no 'wrong' side.
You achieve this double sided fabric by working a K1, P1 rib, with your knit stitches in one colour and the purl stitches in another colour.
I relied on the basic instructions given in the pattern and a few YouTube searches to help me but I was not happy with my results. The yarn management in Double Knitting does not work well with my loose throwing style as I was dropping and adjusting the strands too much. Some of my stitches looked twisted too as I swapped between the two colours. There are different ways to work Double Knitting but I didn't feel compelled to try any of them.
Thus this cowl has effectively been 'binned'. The yarn re-balled for another, hopefully more enjoyable, project.
The second cowl to be abandoned was Gather by Tin Can Knits.
I started this late last year using My Mama Knits Patsy DK in Bladder Wrack.
Gather uses an interesting technique that makes clusters of wrapped stitches like smocking. It's simple to work and very squishy in Patsy's superwash merino.
However, I did not check my gauge (cowls are small, like a large gauge swatch, so why bother?) and the cowl was coming up very small.
Normally I could gift it to a friend but this is a shop sample. We try and knit the samples as close as possible to the pattern so you can see what you will get without mods. Having too small a cowl could put people off it or mislead them re its petite size.
So, I'm not going to continue with it. I need to restart on larger needles.
BEFORE I rip it out I checked the gauge so if I reknit this cowl I'll have a better idea which needle size I should use. Unfinished projects whether an active WiP or stashed UFO are excellent gauge swatches. Try and learn as much as you can from them before ripping it out. That way you can get a head start on the yarn's next project and also what you like and dislike.
For Gather I used a 3.75mm needle. My gauge is 31 stitches v's the 27 stitches in the pattern which left my cowl 3" to narrow. Even washing the cowl only gave me an extra inch. So I think I need to use a 4mm or even a 4.5mm needle if I reknit the cowl.
And yes, this is still an 'if I reknit' project. I love the yarn and pattern combo but I just can't face starting it again.
And finally, and perhaps the most shocking, I ripped out the Riptide Slipover.
Last photo of Riptide in all it's stitch marker glory
Riptide Slipover by Jennifer Shiels Toland is available to buy on Ravelry, It was an impulse shop sample cast on in February last year. I decided to use our (then) new summer yarn Rico Luxury Organic Cotton Silk. A blend of 77% organic cotton and 23% silk.
In the 2024 February blog post I am full of enthusiasm and praise for both the pattern and yarn. Indeed, I raced through the upper body. It was set aside for a couple of months and then after resurrecting it in May I was half way through the main body.
But in that blog post there were signs that things may not continue to go well. The things I loved were:
- The yarn - so much nice than 100% cotton.
- The armhole shaping and integrated finishing - a lovely squishy rib and slip stitch combo.
- The very very detailed instructions - the stitch markers are even numbered in the pattern.
So whilst I loved the detailed pattern and how the armholes were constructed and finished I only had the love of the yarn to sustain me through XXX of body.
It was not enough.
Especially as I kept thinking how great the yarn would be in a simple stocking stitch. Rico Organic Cotton Silk has a subtle nubbly texture. You can see the lace stitches on the Riptide Slipover but they didn't pop. Had I chosen the wrong pattern and yarn combo?
Although it was more finished than not, it was not nearly finished. I still had lots of rounds on the body and all the edges to finish. And that seed of doubt was festering. I was not feeling it AT ALL. So I took it off the needles, ripped it back and promptly cast on a Tolsta Tee.
Which I knitted in 5 days over the festive holidays.
5 days!
I find a regular cull of sad UFOs not only gives me more physical space (and my knitting needles back) but it also makes me feel productive. I'm actually doing something about them and not just ignoring them. In deciding to end the project, and perhaps finding a new use for the yarn, I'm being proactive.
Obviously I'm not just a knitter with too many WiPs and UFOs I'm also a yarn shop owner who needs shop samples. This perhaps makes me a bit more proactive/aggressive when dealing with my sad UFOs (e.g. the Riptide Slipover to Tolsta Tee pivot) and it also makes me cast on ALL the projects too. Which inevitably leads to more UFOs.😆
How many sad UFOs do you have? How do you normally deal with them?
