Atlas Insider
Atlas Insider: Behind the Chifforobe
Here it is February, and the warehouse has just now caught up from the nonstop Niagara of end-of-the-year orders that began the moment Holiday Shop launched last fall. Ever since, we’ve been behind—due to our one-at-a-time-in-the-warehouse (thanks to COVID) policy. We’re healthy but we’re exhausted. And I’ll be honest: we’re pretty plum-sick of touching yarn. I kid! It’s way more than just pretty plum-sick!
One consequence of that is that I haven’t even thought about a personal knitting project since late September. At one point toward the end of the year, I even considered just putting up all of my stash and tools—yarn, needles, project bags, all of it—for sale on Ravelry and eBay and being done with knitting forever. I only resisted doing it because I thought I’d be driven insane by dye lot questions and nitpicky price dickering. If you’ve ever sold anything on eBay, you know that this is an Absolute Truth: people will spend fifty dollars of their time—and yours—arguing with you over fifty cents worth of goods.
So! I just shoved the stash cabinet drawers shut, dragged a chifforobe in front of them and decided to not think about any of it for a bit. Or ever again, really. La la la, knitting, what’s that?
But then early this week, the warehouse died down just a little. There’s always this brief pause before the launch of a new Field Guide and I like to take ONE MOMENT to gaslight my own self by thinking, “Oh look how calm everything is! Look how even-keeled I am! Look at all of those low low low blood pressure numbers!”
Which created the false illusion that I would have some free making time coming up. Ha ha ha, of course the bajillion subscriber copies of Field Guide No. 20 that we have to mail in what seems like one second mean that I do not have any free making time. but I started thinking about a project I had just barely started last spring anyway and how maaaaaybe it would be a good idea to take a look at it again and give myself something to do during all this profuse and bountiful downtime. I pushed aside the furniture blocking my yarn drawers and dug it out, like when whatsisface pried up the boards looking for the telltale heart.
The project in question is a nightmare, of course, because I am constitutionally incapable of starting a project that’s just a washcloth or a scarf or some other easy ten-rows of-garter-voila-finished kind of thing. No, I have to start some dumb knitted map of the United States. In ten thousand different shades of gray . . . even though there are only fifty states. Though by the time I finish this danged thing, there will probably be about sixty-two. Greetings, citizens of Texahoma and Northern Utahfornia!
Anyway. Here’s what it looked like when I dumped it out of the in-the-works bin.
Here’s what the whole blasted thing looks like chart-wise. Each one of those paper squares has about 3,300 stitches. And approximately one billion little bobbins of yarn. Working from the bottom, I’m up to the green tape line. Uh-huh. Pray for me.
Here’s what it looks like so far. If you’re using this thing as a map, you better have Miami as your destination.
I’ll never finish it, of course. But I’ll think about it a lot. You think I’m focusing on boxing up your order, but what I’ll really be doing for the next ninety months is wondering why the heck does New England have so many fiddly small states. WHY, Rhode Island!?
A Giveaway
We might as well give DG one more Field Guide No. 20 to pack up. The prize? A Field Guides Subscription 2022 to one lucky winner. (If you have already subscribed, thank you! You may give the prize as a gift.)
How to enter?
Two steps:
Step 1: Sign up for our weekly newsletter, Snippets, right here. If you’re already subscribed, you’re set.
Step 2: What’s your never-gonna-finish-it project? Or if you never say never, what’s the most ambitious knitting project you ever started? Tell us in the comments.
Deadline for entries: Sunday, February 13, 11:59 PM Central time. We’ll draw a random winner from the entries. Winner will be notified by email.
Always, fair isle sweaters! Smaller gauge, 3 colors per row, sure, I can hold 2 colors in my left hand! Oh, and install zippers and knitted facings, too! DG, love the Poe reference!
I traveled to Australia/New Zealand in 2000, my first of many knitting adventures. I took a class with Jo Sharp and was so excited about her new book, It had. beautiful cardigan with folk art animals on the cover. Intarsia-my first attempt-31 color changes in one row…I got about 10” of the back done and lost interest looking at all the ends to weave in. For some reason, I couldn’t bring myself to get rid of the project until the moths finally put the final nail in the coffin.
A blanket made with 11 1/2 X11 1/2 in squares- so it’s just a pile of squares now. Maybe I’ll finish it someday or maybe not!
A knee length sweater coat in Armenian knitting. I have ripped it out and started over multiple times because I just cannot get gauge.
A remake using a sweater I frogged. Can’t recommend frogging- I always go for the new shiny stuff. That will always get used first!
I started Magically Thinking before I knew much about knitting. It’s a hot mess that will get frogged before finishing.
A map of Canada might be easier! Thank you for a hearty laugh on a cold ice crusted day in Nova Scotia.
Foxthoughts cardigan (with a steel) by La Bien Aimee….
A shawl that is tricky for me. Have to really concentrate. That’s not happening so much these days so I’m knitting easier stuff.
A queen size blanket. It’s too warm to even work on in the winter.
That’s funny! But what would you do with all the leftover shades of gray…
I started an easy garter stitch shawl way back in 2020. I thought the color changes of the yarn would hold my interest, but I was wrong. I’m probably half way through, and could finish it. Bit, it’s so boring! I’ll probably frog it and use the yarn for a more exciting knitting project.
A cozy for my very-preemie, one-pounder, newborn.
Who is now in university….
I have a newborn sleep sack knit in cotton that’s all but done. It only needs the snap tape… my preemie is also in college, and his two cousins are 8 and 6. Apparently, it will stay in the bag with the snap tape ready to go until he throws it out after I’m gone.
Congratulations, Mom! I had a 29 week preemie who is 52 and HER oldest is set to graduate from university a year early. Don’t tell me I’m not a proud Mom and Nana!
Yes!
I love this one!!
A top down raglan marled fade sweater. I’ve frogged it twice. I’ll try again when I’m retired.
For sure, I had a large stash I promised myself I’d use up after I’d retired – … well, it’s been 13 years now… Fortunately my sister visited & dealt with anything that wasn’t exquisite or wool! Go figure!
I’m retired and here to warn you: it never gets any easier to manage my (or your?) time!
I started what I thought was a simple kitchen towel 4 years ago that I’m pretty sure will never be finished. It’s knit in linen stitch in fingering weight cotton, and while I love the look of it, every minute I spend working on it sucks a little bit more life out of my soul!
I have one of those too! Why is it so tedious?!?!
I just started a temperature blanket. We’ll see…
I have a sweater I finished all the parts but when I blocked it realized one side of the cardigan is one inch longer than the other! Have all the pieces. What to do?
I’ve seen patterns where that is done on purpose! Wear it with pride-tell people it’s your own design element!
I adore lace and am infatuated with an ivory lace-weight shawl I started 5-1/2 years ago. Problem is I unraveled almost as much as I knit, so it’s been sitting quite unfinished in my closet now for at least 4 years. I look at it and sigh…
(1) it’s not Rhode Island that will kill you – have you ever looked at Maryland? (2) so many afghans lying around begging me to sew the squares together. One dates back to 2008. The odds aren’t good. (3) why shades of gray?
Lol yeah, why shades of grey? And why 10,000 when you only need fifty…
Kafffe Fassett’s Jubilee Throw: 2/3 of the way through, but zzzzing at present.Will it ever get finished?
I haven’t met a knitting project that has intimidated me. It’s just sticks and string after all. Stash management however is completely different. I have told my kids who to invite over to shop my stash when I’m gone.
My never finish project is a Kaffe Fasset scarf. All those threads going at once drive me up the wall.
I had made the mistake of telling a friend who likes sheep about the 2 Princess Diana’s sheep sweaters that I had knit using a size 0 and 1 needles. She’s begging me to knit her one!!!
Norma, just smile, sigh and say no
They have reissued that sweater in more colors. My daughter picked it out as a Christmas present. They were having a sale, so buying it was probably cheaper than buying the yarn. She got it in a light blue. I crocheted her a sweater that I did at least twice because of all the pulling out. I’m a knitter not a crocheter.
I can’t think of anyone I would do that for.
Because I cant think of anyone I know who would appreciate just how much time, effort, and money went into it.
An Alice Starmore (St. Brigid). Love it, but zzzz.
A shawl for me. Which always gets pushed aside for some other project for someone else.
I have an Alice Starmore sweater languishing away somewhere too-not St B though. Mine has you twisting cables on BOTH sides of the work. Sigh. One day…
A baby sweater, begun for my newborn niece, who is now in college.
My Glenesk pullover is patiently waiting for me, maybe a quarter done. I have every intention of finishing it, someday someday someday! Just typing these words is giving me the Starmore itch!
I made myself a beautiful cozy comfy Wonderful Wallaby using 3 different yarns. Then I lost weight and I moved to a warmer state so that Wonderful Wallaby needed to be downsized. Which meant unraveling. I’ve unraveled about 2/3 of it, That was about 4 yrs ago… I have plans to reknit that Wallaby using 2 of the yarns…someday…
A cardigan that’s about 80% done that’s been sitting for several years. And for no good reason.
Likely to never be touched again is a big pink sweater. What was I thinking itchy bubblegum yarn??
Currently on needles- NG’s cabled counterpane with -it seems- ever increasing cables knit on the diagonal panels with many errata in the book pattern- and the same panel knit 6 times – and then the sewing of seams.
Why a map?
A counted cross-stitch of Thomas Hardy’s cottage and garden started in the 1980s when I could see the stitches. Groan . . .
Also an Alice Starmore Fair Isle! Never again!
One of my first learning to knit projects . . . A sampler Afghan in terrible yarn. It’s quite ugly and has been bundled up in a bag and moved from NC to RI to MA. I think this might be the year it gets donated to the local fabric and fiber sales at my local library. They love WIPS, even ugly ones.
Where do you live?
Cape Cod . . the sale is at the Woods Hole Public Library . . . usually held on Super Bowl Sunday but rescheduled to March 13 due to Covid . . . anyone in the area should definitely come by . . . It is a super fun fundraiser for the library. If you’re looking to go through your stash for a good cause, people from all over donate. Cheers!
I started a beaded wrap that has a Gothic feel to it. The pattern is “Lucy Westenra’s Wrap in the winter 2021 edition of Interview Knits. I want to finish this project, like I want to finish all my projects, and hopefully I will.
A sweater that is 90% complete but that’s it’s ever going to be
A sweater for my husband. I thought being already married to him for 5 years would save me from the curse. Instead, it was the project that was cursed. He wanted the world’s most plain gray fingering weight sweater. And he wanted “that pattern. But not quite can you please change this and this and that?” I dislike the feel of the yarn he chose. Then there was a moth situation a few years in to this boondoggle. It’s been 6 years and I recently resurrected it so I could pretend I would ever finish it for him.
The Fair aisle sweater I started for my hubby will likely never see completion. I tried to talk him into a vest after we moved south but his refusal has left all that J & S sitting in a bag with a favorite knitting needle in it. Not sure if I should rip out, buy another needle or question the stability of the marriage.
There’s always hope. I had a quilt that sat as a wip for over 30 years that go completed just after Covid hit. My knitting wip, while not so grand as a map of ugh country, is a Pi shawl. In the beginning it was so quick and gratifying. Now each row seems endless!
I am pretty good at finishing things, but I have one project started and it’s a small double sided lace scarf Every time I think of picking it up I get a shiver and change my mind. I haven’t frogged it yet because I keep thinking the day will come when it doesn’t intimidate me anymore.
A tunic length linen blend cardigan with a hood, all in lace! What was I thinking….
Oh my what a project I have going on. I haven’t worked on it for several years, but I was making a free form (think shape and color) scarf for my artsy daughter, about 11 finished sweaters and multiple small project later, the scarf still sits.
So fun. I bought the DVD on how to make an Orenburg shawl with thread so gossamer the whole thing will fit through my wedding ring. -Gorgeous. Never going to do it…
I have an afghan I started, oh maybe 15-20 years ago. Two strands of yarn, on ginormous needles. Pretty enough, but now it is so big and heavy and the the large needles hurt my hands and shoulders and wah wah wah. What to do, what to do. Donate as is- on the needles and with the directions showing where I left off??? Rip the whole thing out and wind? Set on fire in the driveway? Oooo I think I like that one-
My most ambitious project that I’ll never finish is an oversized afghan made of all different knitted squares and tassels all around the perimeter. Started it, then lost interest, re-started, (you get the idea) and then put it away in the back of my knitting closet and have concentrated on knitting sweaters ever since. It’s not that I don’t want to resume working on it; it’s just that it seems overwhelming!
So glad you asked. I just pulled out my Dogwood Knitpicks from a kit FairIsle cardigan, which I set down about ten years ago, because I’ve decided to make the sleeves raglan, instead of set in, and I need to do some figuring. Added level of difficulty, I lost the original pattern, went ahead and ordered a new one, but it’s in three different colorways, so I have to figure out which of my colors correspond to theirs.
My never-gonna-finish project was a hexipuff blankie from leftover yarn bits.
I schlepped that around for far too long and when I assembled my accumulated pieces on my table, anticipating I should surely be at least halfway to a decent sized throw, I found that it was the most underwhelming size. I’m generally willing to frog and recover any yarn (yes, even mohair). But I was so pissed off that I made the pieces I had into a cat blanket for my sister’s cat carrier. (To this day I get a whiff of irritation when I glimpse that cat blankie, but I’m grateful it found a lovely home!)
In a tote (somewhere) I’ve a dolman-sleeve Rowan cardigan in Hempathy yarn. The design has zig-zag bottom edges. Think clown and yes, that dolman from c1990. So cool!
I have a good completion rate except for two afghans.
One was knit in squares by friends and family of the betrothed 20 years ago and given to me to see together.
The couple divorced after a year and the beautiful “squares” were not uniform due to the variation in people’s tension. Why did no one suggest gauge?
The other also a wedding present was for a couple who moved from Oregon to Mexico.
Both are made of luxurious white (not my color choice) yarn lacking stitch definition, practicality or joy for the knitter.
The second couple now have three children and a dog….and are moving back to New England but have since admitted to having a wool allergy?!
A blanket I started in 1996. Eeek!
Afghan for my daughter’s dorm room her freshman year. She’s going to be thirty this year. I let her pick the yarn, the colors, and the pattern.
So a good lesson was learned, if you’re not crazy about any of those three DON”T promise it. I didn’t like any of them and so it languishes half way done. Can’t give up, can’t unravel. Stuck in never never yarnland…
I started a sweater in 2016 and completed all the pieces. All that’s left is to stitch it together. I don’t hate finishing up a piece, but for some reason can’t make myself finish this one.
I have a lace weight shawl in hibernation since 2010, it is 2/3 of the way and it haunts me every so often.
I cannot help but smile at the “ never going to finish” project. I have been working on a very large miter square afghan since 2014! I am proud to say I started working on it and the end date is unclear
I started a mitered square afghan kit from Knit Picks called Hue Shift because I loved the colors. I even bought a second kit of yarn because folks online warned that the kit was skimpy on enough yarn to finish. Found out on square 1 that the insane amount of ends to weave in was overwhelming. Put that bad boy away and haven’t touched it since. Can’t bring myself to re home it either. I just keep moving it from box to bin to closet. Probably should include it’s disposition in my will.
I made two of them! The yarn is so slippery that I was afraid weaving in the ends would unravel so for the 2nd one I used a little dot of fabric glue on each one. Now the otherwise soft afghan has little hard ‘picks’ It’s pretty, though.
I started a Hue Shift for my grandson before he was born in March 2017. I didn’t mind the ends, but I let the gauge get away from me and “finished” it when it was about a 1/4-sized corner of the whole…fortunately, just the right size for a baby blanket. All the other skeins went into my stash, and mostly remain there, since I rarely use un-natural fiber in my knitting.
I started mine just after my husband died 8 years ago and I still haven’t finished the first quarter. Every once in a while I pick it up and knit a few rows. At this speed it should be finished by the year 2099.
Sounds simple for most but a vintage Christmas stocking … never did socks before and the heel threw me …
A cardigan that has one sleeve that’s too tight. Can’t decide if I want to frog the sleeve and try again or frog the whole thing and forget about it!
Too many. There is nothing as endorphin producing as casting on a new project!
I knit an intarsia sweater replicating a Van Gogh painting of fishing boats pulled up on a beach. It think it had twenty seven colours, Although my memory is blocking some of that pain.
Omg I think you win the prize! The responses have been hilarious, and I especially enjoyed yours. I have a post card of one of the paintings in the same series – fishing boats in a village called something-St Marie. Wonderful paintings!
The one that will absolutely never be finished is a cabled fisherman’s sweater that I put down one spring without noting where I was on each of the cables (of course I’d remember!). Now it wouldn’t fit if I could figure it out. I haven’t even had the energy to unravel it! But I also have 2 sweaters on sleeve island and a Carbeth cardigan that needs one underarm sewn and buttons, but there is some hope that I might finish those!!
I’m knitting a Safe At Home blanket that I hope to finish by Christmas 22. Wish me luck.
Me too!
A scarf. For me. I love making hats and baby blankets and finished 15 hats for Christmas. For family and friends. I just can’t seem to finish a scarf for myself.
An Anticipation jacket. In theory, large needles, big yarn finish in a snap, right? Nope. The loopy cuffs took a minute to get the hang of and I axed the hood. And then ” it’s not me it’s you” and we broke up forever a half sleeve from completion and assembly. It’s in the frog pond awaiting reassignment as slippers….
A cardigan for my husband. He bought the yarn, all 2000g of it, about 4.4 pounds back in 2008. Did he like any patterns I showed him? No. One he didn’t like because of the colour. Dude you already bought the yarn! Simple he wanted. My design please but with set in sleeves. I got the body and sleeves done from the bottom up but the set in sleeves eluded me so it languished, stuck at the underarms. I eventually decided it was too sloppy looking anyway and frogged that sucker two years ago. He still wants the sweater.
A mitered square, modular blanket made with fingering weight remains of other projects – i thought this would be a good way to use up stash yarn I love.
A pair of socks. I have the first sock done, but can’t find the yarn to start the second. I’ve kept the first sock for years in my stash. I know the minute I toss the sock, I’ll find the yarn.
I finished one orange-blue-green sock only to find out my son only wears black socks! That sock will never get its mate!
I have single sock syndrome also! My second sock is not going to match the first one colorwise-just for fun!
You gotta try doing 2 at a time. It’s a game changer…
My most ambitious project is actually not knit, but crochet. It’s a thread full-size bedspread. At this point, it’s about 1/4 done but I’ve misplaced the pattern so it’s probably a lost cause. But you never know…
As a new knitter I started the Inara wrap and managed to lose a stitch about 2 inches in. I tried several times to find it but now it sits w/ all the rest of the yarn in my projects area. I always find other things t make or do, so I don’t know if I will ever finish it.
I have 2 cardigans vacationing on sleeve island for years. Will they ever be rescued? Perhaps.
Sleeve island?
I believe this is where all there is left is the sleeves and yet they seem to take so long to do you feel marooned!
You are my hero! I barely knit, 1completed hat so far, so of course I bought a kit for a full size sampler blanket!
I have two blankets that are currently in perpetual purgatory. One is a scandanavian themed granny square blanket. The other is a navajo themed lap blanket that requires a bit of stranding……… neither is quick…………. (sigh)
I had a mitered square fingering weight scrap blanket that sat for years. When Covid hit, and we all went sideways a pulled it out. I did finish it- amazing what hours of Netflix will do.
Blanket made from left over sock yarn, right now not even large enough for a baby, but will be an afghan, seeing as I have knitted dozens of socks, and lace shawls and scarves in my knitting life.
I have a sweater, started over 25 years ago still on the needles waiting patiently for me to get around to it.
I had a blanket that I started and pulled out several times over the years to work on. It was so hot, with all that bulk, that I could only work on it during the coldest days of winter. Then, it finally never got pulled out, until one year I gave up on it and frogged the whole thing. I still have the yarn though.
A baby blanket for my now middle aged sonl
Of you ask if I crochet, I’d say no, yet I have a crocheted afghan that I started over 20 years ago and every 5 years or so I drag it out and make a few more squares.
I knitted a cardigan but it’s too long and I need to frog it. Some day I’ll get around to fixing it.
A cabled afghan for the back of my couch. The yarn color goes with the couch so well. But by the time I finish it, I will probably have a new couch!
Two intarsia sweaters from the late 1990’s. Two young children and a full-time job left no bandwidth for focused knitting. One is a Rowan kit purchased at the Liberty store in London. I still recall that lovely adventure. I do want to finish them. I might buy a Knit From the Tangle poster for inspiration.
Likely the “sock yarn scraps” blanket started in 2014. Made about 4 narrow strips and bagged it. Still resides in the bookcase. Never say never…
A beautiful, complicated Christmas tree skirt that went in and out of hibernation for at least ten years – I finally finished it during the pandemic.
I know I will feel like I will never finish it, once I start it. (Maybe this week?) But, hey! No never-finish project ever got finished if it never got started. Right? 5 weeks late Temperature Blanket. I got this.
It took a pandemic. I knit 24 individual houses based on https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/copenhagen-building-blocks-2 which is 4’ x4’ and I now have a beautiful framed mural on my wall.
Socks on 0 needles . Good luck with the map!
Sigh. SO MANY UFOs. The Mood Cardigan is kicking my momentum butt. Love it, love the yarn, but….sigh. Maybe this is its year.
I did finish it, late but finished. A double knit Afghan knit in squares, every one different Star Wars, mandalorian, math and science themes. Reversible, including three letters. I knit one s three times, but it was reversible and correctly aligned. Tops a queen sized bed.
An Alice Starmore pullover from the mid 90’s , halted when I ran out of one of the greens. Still have all so maybe someday.
Thanks.
An unfinished and very complicated color project absolutely haunts me! It challenges me in several ways: what was I thinking choosing something so complicated? Why haven’t I been able to face it again? When will I fit it back in to my knitting routine? Why is it haunting me? (Breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth)
An intarsia baby blanket (the intended recipient baby is now 9) will never be finished. Turns out I don’t like knitting intarsia. I still have hopes for the sweater that’s been hibernating for 14 years.
I started a mitred square blanket before my daughter was born (she’s 10 now). But now I’m thinking maybe it would be a good idea to extend my deadline and make it as an “off to college” gift. If that doesn’t happen, I can always save it as a “first grandchild” project, right?
I started a patchwork blanket that’s basically 5 long scarves of 5 different blocks knit continuously. It’s been sitting in a bag for a lot of years now because the thought of those 4 very long sewn seams and then picking up a billion stiches around the outside edge to knit a garter stitch border is sooooo daunting!
I made one of those as a wedding gift for my daughter. The plan was to have it ready for the shower, but it was still in strips. I clipped them together with wonder clips and packed it in a Home Depot bucket that I labelled “under construction”. Finally sewed it together and it was done 2 weeks after the wedding, but I never did a border. Oh well….might ask for it back to do a border someday. I’m making a pillow with the remainder yarns anyway….
Well, I started a blanket, but other things keep calling me away from it. So I’ll finish it just in time for summer?
I took a sock class years ago because I wanted to learn and the theme yarn was Harry Potter. I knit one sock and never knit its mate. I don’t know why. I’ve knit many pairs of socks since then but just can’t get myself to knit the second one. If you see Dobby send him my way I’ll set him free!
Temperature scarf. Seemed like a good idea and easy to do (just a few rows each day? How easy is that, she said). It started to feel like a torment; along with the thought of all the ends to weave in came the realization that I didn’t know what would I do with it when it was finished, too long to wear and nowhere to hang it. So it sits, stuck in the eternal month of abandonment ….
A fisherman’s Aran weight sweater that no longer fits. Ack,
whole pile of blanket squares. wonderful silk garden. great colors. thanks for the reminder
I’ve made giant Afghans that will double as a bedspread, oversized fisherman sweaters and blankets, but my favorite project is a simple ball band washcloth or watchcap
A beautiful maple leaf shawl that has been in time-out for about 7 years.
My grandmother passed in 1978. I inherited a kit for a fisherman’s knit wool sweater with matching wool yardage for a shirt. It’s still in the original box. Almost 44 years ago…
I have a never-ending throw made of small squares knit together out of the leftovers of what looks like hundreds of pairs of socks and many shawls. It might make a good doll bed blanket at the size it is now, but I will persevere, in between all of my other projects!
Right now I have a sweater on sleeve island that I am really dreading picking up, so I have been procrastinating with making hats and ear warmers for a while now. It is really good at using up leftover half skeins of yarn though
A Vivian Hoxboro vest kit that I purchased at our GBKG auction at least five years ago! Love the colors and design !
I made that blanket! I had each color in a paper lunch bag labeled with the states it would be used for and everything was in a big Rubbermaid tub. It was tedious, but so worth it. I put a flannel lining on the back. It was an instant favorite of Daddy and Kitty.
My current everlasting project is a series of gstockinette rectangles that I will eventually felt, cut and sew into a Mola-inspired rug.
An exquisite Kaffe Fassett sweater I attempted as a somewhat novice knitter. He did a book signing at a long-departed LYS and I was mesmerized by his designs. I pulled it out recently – I will finish it!
I hate to say “never gonna finish” because you never know, but some projects are in the high probability category. Kaffe’s Chinese Rose Jacket that I started from a kit 9 billion years ago is the most likely candidate. I won’t include Kaffe’s Jubilee Throw because even if I don’t finish it the squares are pretty enough to be framed.
I started a stash-busting, wool (purchased in 1996), striped in-the-round sweater – the first I tried to do without a a pattern using EZ’s formula. Finished it about 8 years ago and never liked the fit. 2 years ago, I decided to do my first ever steek and make it a cardigan – what harm could it do? It was either that or make it a bag or pillow. Last week I finished off the hem and I just can’t bring myself to do a button band, so I may just get a clasp-type closure and call it done. Actually, I call it my Frankenstein’s monster sweater. I live in S. Florida, so you can imagine how much use this will get, but IT IS NO LONGER A WIP!
A purple mohair sweater that’s too big, with one sleeve half done. I just know I won’t wear it and I don’t think I can rip it out (thanks sticky mohair, and 2 yarns held together!) Maybe if I give it another year or two it will shrink?
This made me laugh so hard! Such knitter brain thinking!
Not a single project but too many large things at once; I currently have three very large (7 skeins + each) shawls in progress which really delays the FO gratification
A Kaffe Fassett cardigan. Not going to happen.
This Yara shawl…good lord.
My Kaffe stranded stripe throw from the field guide. The original is ambitious but I decided to make it wider and to add a bunch of other Kaffe patterns from one of his books. Some of the others have four colors in a row and I do not especially enjoy instarsia. I do it a bit at a time and will finish it eventually. That map project is fabulous and I love your decision to do it in grays. It looks like you are done with the boring bit at the beginning and now the fun begins!
A Baby Surprise sweater . . .got lost when baby grew faster than sweater!
I just frogged one from a baby who is now 8. Couldn’t figure out where i was in the pattern, tired of trying, freed the yarn!
A cotton counterpane in 2 shades of blue that I started in 1998. Pretty little squares with a leaf on each one. I think about it sometimes, then look at the cats, think about claws and hair, and say naah. Maybe someday I’ll finish it for my niece, she’s allergic to cats.
I’ve got lots of just started/almost-but-not-quite-done projects, but I’d really like to finish my color explosion throw (haven’t yet finished the first strip). Starting chemo next week, so hoping to work on it there.
Good luck with chemo, I hope knitting makes the time pass more easily. The color explosion moves really quickly if you commit to finishing one box pattern row in the morning and one in the evening, or even just one in a day. I’m on the last three boxes of the last strip, never knitted anything so fast in 40 years! Bon chance!
I have 2 beautiful ponchos started. One is a gorgeous baby blue, the same yarn and yarn color as the pattern called for in the magazine. I started it in 2013..I am sure it will be devoured by moths one day very soon. The other I started in 2018..a pattern and yarn that I just couldn’t wait to start. Apparently finishing isn’t going to happen…
Ugh, I just examined The Project yesterday after having moved the mental chifforobe out from in front of it. (And then I just stole its needles, ha.) The Project is a lovely t-shirt top with lace from shoulder to upper back and chest; its pattern is written for fingering, but I had to go make it of DK linen. And the neck stitches are Not Cooperating. So it’s been in permafrost for a couple of years.
A crochet wolf afghan with intricate borders. I don’t even crochet! REALLY what was I thinking!!
Okay. For me, socks. Socks! I need a buddy who will sit right next to me.
One sleeve left on a cardigan that turned out smaller than I planned.
I’ve made most of a sweater for myself, but it’s too small. I keep intending to rip out what I’ve done (although it’s got all the seaming in it, and pockets and everything) and start over with the yarn. But I can’t bear to face that yet, so I’ve stuffed it to the bottom of a bin, and there it remains…
My downfall was a knit swirl sweater. I was so excited to start it which was a good thing because I started it several times. The cast on had a billion stitches and I could never join without twisting. I then thought I was doing well until I had knit a few rows and could see the twist. A LOT of yarn was purchased and a LOT of knitting was done with no actual progress.
A temperature blanket – as a knitter, I made the mistake of crocheting squares. All the squares are done, now the arduous task of crocheting them together – and there they sit for three years. One day…..
I bought yarn for a temperature blanket a couple of years ago. Had the colors picked for the temps, everything ready. Never actually knitted a single row. This year, I’ve been watching everyone run around, starting temperature blankets and I have been pointing and laughing. More power to you! I have come to understand that I am a single skein only project completer. It is also best if that single skein is highly portable and not very big.
Intarsia Christmas Tree Blanket
Why is it always a baby sweater? I get to the sleeves and slow down….maybe the next baby can wear this!!
A blanket with colorwork sheep, alpacas and other fiber animals – doubtful it will ever get done but it is sooo pretty and cute and all that.
A raglan sleeve, cable front pullover sweater. I spent quite a bit of time making sure I was getting gauge, since this was going to be my first sweater, but when it was done enough to try on, it was clearly going to be too small. I bagged it up rather than ripping it out because I told myself that it is lovely knitting and would fit someone if I finished it. HA! Like I’ll ever be the knitter who knits a sweater for someone else!
Sadly, it may be my Moderne but I do hope to actually pick it back up again one day.
I have been working on a fingering weight stole/wrap for several years. There is lace along one border. Very nice, but so, so long, especially in the thin yarn. But I am 7/8 done. It will be lovely!
Alpaca Polka Dot Scarf from Churchmouse. Beautiful yarn but so fine, and slippery on the needles!
I’ve got a lovely blanket where all the yarn first needs to be treated to fix the colors. Lots of yarn, lots of drying and rewinding before the first stitch is knit. Someday!
My never gonna finish project is the”Aran American Afghan” that I started a a wedding present for my son and daughter-in-law in early 2004. Each block by a different designer in a different gauge……I actually got a s far as the continuous cable edge and put it in time out.
I haven’t over committed to a too large project: however, I can’t say that about my stash. Spending a good bit of time to organize storage of the stash, inventory it, and put it on an Excel file has given me a better sense of control,
Any pair of socks I started knitting pre-COVID because the stitch count is now too small and just about any sweater where I’ve gotten to the sleeves because Sleeve Island it a black hole for me.
I have a poncho in fingering weight yarn that’s about 1/3 done. It’s been sitting on my needles for about 5 years. I don’t even want to frog it because it’s a fuzzy yarn.
Don’t even ask….but I certainly don’t get the heebee geebees reading about anyone else’s. And Norm L: just go “suggest” that she knit her own blankety-blank. Or sweater. Life’s too short. (Unless you really wanna.)
Alas! Scarves are my downfall! I keep starting them, full of gusto, then summer happens and the spirit is no longer willing! I know I should continue on the old ones but new is always more appealing!
I started a Safe At Home blanker. I’m still on the first strip. Since I’m using hand me down leftover yarn (and not the colors suggested and plotted out by the designer) I get decision fatigue. What colors for this roof? What color for this door? What color for these windows? There’s nine little houses in a strip. I don’t know when I’ll pull it out again.
I found a beautiful sweater pattern that I love that has a tree line design along the bottom. I had in mind exactly how I wanted it to look (yarn wise). I was in a low spot during the early pandemic days and purchased yarn for the sweater but wasn’t able to get the colors I wanted. I bought the wrong colors. Totally wrong colors. Colors I wouldn’t wear if it was the last beautiful sweater out there in the world. So, I have all the materials to make a beautiful sweater that I hate. Needless to say, the yarn was quite expensive and my best option is to send it to my friend Barb who makes lap robes for the folks at the senior center. And start all over and buy the correct yarn. And then knit the sweater in the colors I originally wanted. But I am not there yet. Maybe I am getting closer, though!! At least I can talk about it now….
A certain, specific fair isle sweater that needs to have the saddle shoulders self-charted.
I know I will most likely never finish a cardigan I started back in the 90’s that was in Vogue Knitting magazine. It had tea cups on the front and a teapot on the back. All I have left to do is the left front and sleeves but the intarsia knitting just makes me tired thinking about it.
Right now I have part of a brioche vest on needles that I have ripped and started again so many times. I think this will be its state forever. Knit, frog, knit,,,,,,
5 skeins of fingering weight yarn that is supposed to turn into a shawl with a mystery knit a long at least 5 years ago…
Back in the old days (before knitting patterns and independent designers took over the internet) I spun yarn for a sweet little lacy cardigan with a peplum. I couldn’t find a pattern that was even close to the vision in my head so I decided to make it up myself. It actually went pretty well, but I had to pause it to figure out one part. That was about 2009, haven’t touched it since. No way it’s going to fit now and I probably wouldn’t like the style any more. Probably need to frog it!
I’ve yet to start a project and not finish it, but there’s a stunning purple tweed Celtic traveller’s blanket that’s been put assise then dragged back out for over a year now…
Persian Dreams Blanket. It has 24 hexagons, with six different patterns, at least six different colors in each hexagon, and is knitted on size 2 needles. In the past three years I have completed six hexagons. My dream is to eventually finish it.
I find fingering weight FairIsle adult size sweaters very challenging but I l love the look of them in that weight!
One, or two? sweaters waiting in their project bags in the closet.
A quilt that I never finished embroidering much less quilting.
Lots and lots of twelve inch squares that I was never going to sew together.
A sweater that I actually had completed knitting and did not sew one final seam!
I donated all to charity to take away some of my guilt.
Now do mostly simple socks enjoying my yarn, the colors and most of all the process and portability.
I hate saying this but my Sipsey’s Folly/Suzie Sweater. I started it in 2013. I knit the full yoke 3 times and am on my 4th try. My gauge was always way off no matter what needles I used. I loved that sweater the minute I saw it. Bought the Craftsy class and jumped in. How hard could it be? It’s a simple sweater. Well, that sweater destroyed my y confidence. If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again?? Yeah, that didn’t work for me. I still love the sweater but the thought of pulling it out and trying again makes me want to cry. So, I think that’s the one that sadly will never get finished.
I can’t remember a knitting project that took forever but I did an embroidery project of the map of the US surrounded by all the state flowers. I started it in 1969 and put it down after a few months. A few years later I picked it up and finished it ( in 1973). Last year, 2021, I finally framed it. As for complicated knitting projects, I finished an Alice Starmore Mary Tudor sweater last year and it was challenging because my row gauge was never right, causing adjusting that compicatedly precise pattern so that isn’t had the right fit. I’m happy with both projects.
I have started 3″ squares for a granny square blanket. Out of sock yarn. Because a much as I love knitting, I adore the look of perfect little granny squares
A lace baby dress for my niece who is now in her 40,’s. I started when I was a teen and new knitter- overly ambitious — lace knitting in the round ,etc the directions are Lon lost, I just counted how many times I must have moved this. Planned to finish it when she started having children but now her youngest is 4 and I fear that I’ve missed the boat. I think I should frog it and make a simple baby blanket for the next child in the extended family. All the stories let me know I am not alone, but I do think this must be one of the oldest works in process.
As always, thank you for the giggle.
We’ve been in this house for three months. The only parts as yet unpacked are my office & fiber studio (Yes!). The temptation to give it all away rather than face it is real.
My most ambitious project has been a queen size fingering weight log cabin blanket. It was my bed-knitting project with no set deadline. It took years, but I got it done.
I have long admired intricate fairisle sweaters but know that it would take the rest of my life and then some…so I resist. Maybe a hat or a cowl would be a better choice!
I have a rug made of cut up t shirts. It is on giant needles, so that’s no fun. Also I need more shirts I think. Am I remembering correctly that this is a MDK idea?
My never ending project…weekend home upgrades. Such problems have I.
The Alinda Wrap…it’s lace weight (need I say more?)
Goodness, probably a shawl for which I need to just do a citric acid soak. I have everything…I just would rather knit what I have.
“Free to Fly” as my first (& so far, only) color work project.
A double knitting scarf from a pattern that goes on for hundreds of rows. Sigh.
One of my early sweaters that I did not buy enough yarn for.
DG, you always brighten my morning with a laugh! Keep on writing and knitting!
My most ambitious project was a ski sweater for my then boyfriend (now husband) while in high school.
The Christmas Sweater. Kit purchased at least 30 years ago by my husband as a gift for me, this sweater has a log cabin with twirly smoke arising from the chimney, grazing reindeer, fir trees laden with new-fallen snow. It was beyond my capabilities at the time although I gave it a try (see weirdly-twisted, every other row of stockinette). It is now hopelessly out of style but it sits in a plastic bin where two years ago, I got it out and started over….only to abandon it again! Where’s Marie Kondo when you need her?!
The Kaffe Stranded Striped Throw from Field Guide 13 Master Class. High hopes for finishing this winter!
A Fox Paws shawl, all those color changes and increases and decreases. Urrgg! Last I worked on or was the beginning of the pandemic.
I can’t thank everyone enough who replied this morning for their comments. I have not laughed and smiled this much for such a long time! Not to mention commiserate too. I have a frightening number of WIPs but probably the oddest is a 1980s jacquard pattern from Elegance knitting. When I started it I was just learning to knit and no one had ever mentioned, let alone explained gauge to me. I did finish the front and the back is still on the needles with all its 27 bobbins of yarn. Maybe I can felt it for a dog coat?
A fair isle sweater – as a beginner knitter.
Anything fair isle!
My mother’s afghan – strips of royal blue basketweave and gold cables. I learned how to do cables on it. I remember her starting it when I was around 6 (I’m turning 71 in April). She finished it enough to use it and when she died I found the rest of the yarn. Never say never.
One summer, about 20 years ago, I bought a kit of fingering weight yarn to make a sleeveless top. Simple, right? It is still sitting in a bag with about two inches done and every so often I look at it and then put it back in the cupboard. Not even the pandemic made a difference, although I have done plenty of other knitting projects over the past two years. I don’t even feel guilty about it any more!
A log cabin blanket out of left over felted tweed yarn. A couple completed squares are waiting for more to be knit!! Maybe I need some new felted tweed for inspiration!
The Orenburg lace scarf I started in 2014. A fairly simple pattern, really—all garter, simple yo’s and k2tog with an occasional, exciting k3tog. Lace weight on size 1 needles. Sigh.
OMG.
I am looking through my enormous stash in the wild (not just on Ravelry). Found all the yarn for an All Colors Sweater (with extra black to fit my voluptuous body), which I purchased not too long ago (2016). Now thinking like you, maybe I should release this yarn to a new owner as I now realize this would not look great on me and it’s too much knitting to make it for someone else.
Dithering over the decision.
Surprisingly to me, a sequence knitted scarf that’s accompanied me to Holland, Portugal and Arizona. Those Zauberballs are so colorful and seem to go on forever! I just want to see what the next 2 colors will look like…
I made the Bergere “749 cardigan” with fox heads as the yoke design. Talk about bobbins! Intarsia, each fox head had several. Mine was the only finished project with the pattern as written in Ravelry.
So impressive!! And beautiful on your lovely model!!
Yes, it’s beautiful!!!
Oh my god I went and looked this up – I died when I saw the intarsia on the needle pic you posted.
W
O
W
I have learned some knitting lessons from my previous life as a cross-stitcher. My only ‘never-to-be finished’ projects are overambitious cross-stitch projects, since I can no longer even see the holes in the 32 count fabric. My knitting life only gets to include one current project, and one waiting in the wings(and maybe one more snuck in the middle). Anyone want cross-stitch fabric?
A temperature blanket that I ambitiously casted on like 350 stitches about 2 years ago. Only knitted the month of January which took longer than I thought it would. Ended up “unknitting” (as my kids use to say) and put the yarn in my stash. Maybe a temperature scarf some day would be a better project.
I’m really a sweater person. The more complicated the fair isle, or Aran pattern, the better. It relaxes me. But I’ve got two shawls that I wound the yarn for in anticipation of our big cross country move. We’ve been here a year now, and I haven’t seen them. One is supposed to look like bird foot prints in the snow, all the footprints going in different directions, requiring little tags telling you which direction that one goes in. One is a butterfly shawl. They sound pretty, don’t they?
A double knit shawl with an 80+ row chart repeat. I’ve knit one repeat only. Probably will never get back to it
I have a pi shawl on the needles with probably 4-5 weekends of knitting left. But the project I will probably never finish is a garter stitch scarf knit with two yarns held together throughout. Too boring.
How about a project that has never been started?
It is a sweater. The yarn is beautiful. It has been languishing for 3 years. I am going to do it!
I started the Covid patchwork blanket a year and a half ago. Stopped because I decided I didn’t really want a reminder of this time commemorated with something I love to do.
“Whatshisface” LOL. Most ambitious project is one I finally finished (Noctuidae sweater) but the linger-longer project is a seed-stitch blanket using fingering weight yarn. What in the world was I thinking?!
That Noctuidae sweater is gorgeous! With a name like that, I had to look it up.
Have you seen all that Felted Tweed in my stash? Do you know what it’s going to be? Let me know when you figure that out and I’ll get right on it!
I’m new to knitting Fair Isle. I just fell in love with the Kaffe Fassett Lydia scarf. So I am making a cowl and so far it’s not an accordion!
A fan design purse started almost 20 years ago
A cardigan in started last year bring knit in the most expensive yarn I’ve ever purchased make up if linen and silk.
I guess it might be the gradient sweater, the yarn is just sitting there looking beautiful!
A sweater I’ve started and frogged a couple hundred times, because my ADHD knitting brain is sidelined by another shiny sweater pattern when I’m about half-way through (and bored) with the current one.
Decided to crochet a giant, complicated blanket to sharpen up my crochet skills. Ripped it out many times but finally on the right track now thanks to a crochet buddy. Hope to have it finished by the next Ice Age.
A blue mohair lace weight sweater started in the 80’s..I kid you not….it just surfaced a few months ago still on the needles without the pattern of course. It actually still looks pretty and so I searched and searched and found the pattern in an old knitting magazine and I just may finish it!!!
I am more stubborn than yarn. I leave the intimidating ones around long enough and eventually I say “You don’t scare me” and have at it.
A lace shawl from a class I took ten years ago!
I haven’t been overly ambitious in my knitting career thus far, but I dream of making a double knit blanket from Lucy Neatby.
I will never have an unfinished project. I can’t handle the unfinished projects judging me silently for not finishing. After that have sat for enough time that I realize I don’t know why I even started it in the first place, they are frogged. And I magically have more yarn to add to my stash!
I started a sweater in mohair yarn around 2008. I knit most of the back. It’s a really basic drop-sleeve pattern that I don’t love anymore, and the needles fell out somewhere along the way so I don’t even know what size I was using. Normally I’d frog it and reuse the yarn for another project, but mohair. So I have a fuzzy red square forever in my stash.
a “boyfriend” aran sweater for a 300 lb now ex-husband
Sweaters. I have a few. In versions stages.
Am wondering why you decided to knit this map. And is it a blanket? A wall hanging?
My never-gonna-finish project is one I’ve never started. A blanket. A big one. Not a baby size blanket, but a large, snuggle into it when it’s -20 outside blanket. I have many ideas for this blanket in my head, but not a single stitch on my needles. What stops me? Fear of never finishing!
My first Fair Isle Sweater. I thought it would take forever, but after getting started, I was hooked. Now I have two under my belt.
Too many to mention. At the top, however has been destashing! And have a propensity for leaving one sleeve unfinished! Baah, I Lose interest
The third 8′ long strip of a blanket I’m weaving.
It was the second blanket and I was just sick of it all. It’s still on my loom, 2 years later, in a corner of my room.
My Dragonfly pullover (Norah Gaughan) has all of the hard part (the dragonfly) finished except the last 10 rows. Started and stopped in 2011. I will get to it eventually. Hope springs eternal.
Crocheting a tablecloth with knit crosheen. I started it in college sitting in the hall at my dorm chatting with friends. Stored it in a pillowcase. That pillowcase went everywhere. I completed a column of 10 blocks, then started on the second row of 10. That row never got past 1/3 finished. I kept pulling it out and putting it away. It was either a very long table runner or a …. When I hit 50, it became a “Never will I ever” project and I gifted it to Goodwill, with all the balls of knitcrosheen, the pattern booklet, hook, and the pillowcase. No regrets, ever.
I have 3/4’s of a tablecloth started in the 80’s, crocheted in DMC Cebelia size 30, done from a pattern book from the 30’s. A giant floral fillet crochet chart. Something no one is ever going to use again.
probably the pair of socks I keep talking about and even have several options of yarn for…..socks scare me.
Some day… I will finish the Little House Afghan a la Kaffe Fassett …which is resting in a large basket under the baby grand….
The looong taper on the Lustrous Shawl. Tapering by one stitch every other row is a tedious process, possibly heading for a boxed-up interval.
I’m generally fairly good about finishing a project as most are gifts. I do have 1 wip, a sweater, that just doesn’t look right that I may need to start over. Hmmmm, I also have a lace shawl that moths got to that needs mending.
Denise Bell’s spectacular Kailyard pi shawl (alpaca lace weight – 72 inches in diameter). I’ve made it to the border but it’s been on a long-term hold for other deadline knitting.
Alice Starmore sweater jacket from 1994 Vogue Knitting. So many colors & so many small tangles & I have only the corregated rib completed. Alas it is not out of date it’s a classic!
I read today’s Atlas Insider on a tiny screen so I thought for a brief moment that your map of the US project was another one of your clever, exaggerated-for-effect images. Imagine my delight after scrolling to see that your project is AN ACTUAL MAP OF THE US! I am hereby letting it be known that any ultra-ambitious knitting project I undertake now and in the future will be referred to as my “knitted map of the US” project should it ever be tossed aside to languish in the deep dark depths of my craft closet. Heck, I have a few non-knitted projects I can refer to that way right now. Thanks for the laugh! P.S. Any chance you’ll ever offer slip cases for the field guides? I just received my birthday splurge of all the guides I needed to complete my set and was thinking how lovely it would be to house them in their own cases.
Things to never finish: many years ago, before I discovered nice yarn, I started a top with a slubby acrylic yarn. The neckline was too small to fit over my head. It sat in a bag for about 25 years while I pondered what to do about it (i.e., forgot about it). I threw it away.
Hoping to win!
Hit the send button too soon.
It took me so long to collect the yarn for a temp quilt that the year was over before I started, then it was too daunting a task to knit 365 days of temps. Seemed like a good idea at the time to just record the temps and do big chunks at a time.
The Big Lebowski dude sweater …. Why am I so afraid?
I started a blanket of knitted squares 10+ years ago. Knitted about half of the squares, and then just lost the will to continue. I think the squares are still lurking in the bottom of a bin somewhere in our basement.
A blanket with numerous squares with intarsia designs. What was I thinking…I hate intarsia!
Oh DEAR !!! It could be my next project!!! I’m old—stuff happens. However if no stuff “happens” then I’ll never finish a steeked Norwegian pullover for both of my very large sons. They don’t seem to mind—big guys stay warmer than I do…
I have a lace cowl I started over 10 years ago. It’s warm where I live. I’m lucky I can wear a sweater but warm accessories aren’t needed. And lace frustrates me. I have to spend my time looking at charts.
Many years ago I started a shawl using a Herbert Niebling dolly pattern. I think I am about 100 rows in and now have no idea where the thing is
A Kaffe Fassett sweater of course! Love all those beautiful colors, hate knitting with bobbins, lots of tails hanging, etc. I gave up.
Gosh a few years ago I started a shawl…I started this particular yarn (colour of which I did not like, bought on the net, hoped for a different shade)… Just wanted to away with it. I design my own knitting… however after about a quarter of this 59g lace yarn I changed my ideas so many times and each time it meant frogging the 2nd quarter of the ball… So I am back to the drawing board…1st quarter will stay, the rest will have to be simpler, be ause somehow this yarn does not inspire me enough…
DO NOT READ ABOVE -read this corrected version instead:
Gosh, a few years ago I started a shawl… this particular yarn (colour of which I did not like, bought on the net, hoped for a different shade)… Just wanted to do away with it. I design my own knitting… however, after about a quarter of this 50g of lace yarn I changed my ideas so many times and each time it meant frogging the 2nd quarter of the ball… So I am back to the drawing board…1st quarter will stay, the rest will have to be simpler, because somehow this yarn does not inspire me enough… but I do hope to finish this…. eventually!
I started a beautiful green sweater four years ago, planning to make a simple Joji Boxy. Got as far as the shoulders and neck-it looked like I was wearing football pads. Started over with a different pattern in the leftover yarn, but then had to face frogging the Boxy. Not happening so far.
I have been daydreaming about the hexi beehive blanket for years and while I love the idea of it, stuffing all those little puffs and weaving in all those little ends and sewing it all together sucks the joy right out of me. I can see sad little piles of hexi puffs accumulating slowly and being abandoned in various corners of the house for years until I finally just offer them up in a weird and confounding post in my Buy Nothing group.
A sweater with a leaf motif across the shoulders was started. I measured throughout. When I finished I blocked it ….well the whole think stretched. This 5’2” woman would have to have grown to 6’. The sleeve length was perfect for a long-armed gorilla. BUT I was determined to finish it. I unraveled the whole thing and started again. I have finished the body, but I just can’t face doing the sleeves…and THERE IT SITS FOR YEARS.
Thought you were kidding
Want to see this if it ever gets finished
My biggest challenge was a combination of projects…I had started 3 different shawls over a 10 year span and abandoned each of them for various reasons. During the first year of the pandemic, I re-examined each one and figured out why I had paused in their progress…by consulting the designer of one, getting help from a friend who had knit the same pattern for another, and focusing on a friend who was terminally ill and had requested a shawl. I finished all of them within months and felt a huge sense of accomplishment and peace. The last shawl found its way through the mail to my dying friend and comforted both of us in her last months.
I have a shawl that’s been languishing. Whyyyy? I hit a roadblock, need to think about how to handle, put it away and there it sits. For years…. In fact now that I think about it, that’s how all my wips become ufos.
Never gonna finish it project? That one is easy. Even though I keep trying to make headway, it’s working my way through the stash. I started to make a dent last month with a favorite yarn, selected three projects and guess what I had to do to work on them? Buy more yarn, of course. Hello squishy mail.
I don’t have an unending project
At the moment it’s a vest for my husband which will require steering and a zipper, both new experiences for me. So as long as I don’t finish it, I can avoid both of those panics!
I started The Twigs sweater a few years ago. I can feel it glaring at me from it’s storage bin.
And I seriously thought you were joking at first about the map.
I have an Alice Starmore fair isle sweater kit that has the bottom ribbing done and is stalled. It is over 25 years old…….I will never finish it but can’t seem to part with it…..oh well
I usually finish all projects, but inherited a baby afghan that isn’t finished from my mother in law. Don’t know that I’ll ever get it finished.
a floor pouf, third time is a charm
My never finished project? A baby hat. Not difficult but a poorly written pattern means it’s sitting needed to be unravelled and started again. Sorry hat. I’ve moved on.
I bought yarn years ago for Elizabeth Zimmerman’s Green Sweater. I think the time for knitting it is past, but the yarn was specially spun, yada yada. I haven’t even started it. I once knit a Japanese pattern, Am Kamin, twice (there was an unfortunate f*lting accident).
I would say the second sock, but I never finished the first sock.
I began a cardigan in the 80s in Shetland wool, oatmeal and turquoise. It has an all-over pattern with a very, very long repeat, something like 30 stitches. The Otis flips in the middle, both vertically and horizontally, and perhaps for this reason, it’s Impossible for me to memorize. The back and fronts and done, checking the pattern every five or six stitches throughout. E pieces are sewn together. The double breasted button and buttonhole bands in tiny cables are done and attached and I think the neckband too. I started down one sleeve and then I stopped. I considered plain ss sleeves, but no. I see it on a shelf in ziploc and clear tote. There’s enough yarn to continue — but I don’t. I’ve pulled it out a few times, but that’s as far as I get.
I have Shetland yarn for several sweaters, but I’ve never gone there again.
I finally picked up a lace weight brioche scarf that has been languishing since 2019. This is the year!
A Kiki Mariko rug I started in the aughts. I’m 3/4 done, and I will not give up! It just might take a while. . .longer.
a seed stitch baby blanket in multicolored cotton yarn on size 7 needles. I know I’m never gonna finish it because A- I don’t particularly like knitting with cotton yarn B- I don’t like knitting a blanket in seed stitch on size 7 needles C- the kid was gonna be in college by the time I finished it! I discovered these things only after I started knitting it. It was hastily shoved into a plastic bag about a quarter of the way through, and gifted to a Goodwill. I hope it finds it’s way into the hands of someone who will be overjoyed in the making of a project like that!
Soooo, my mom left behind a partly-knit sweater the color of her light blue eyes. I asked my sister-in-law to knit it done, and she made a beautiful lacey sweater, but it’s too scratchy to wear. I want to unknit and reknit it…trying to decide how I can display the beautiful work without being miserable with it touching my skin. Ideas???
Have it professionally blocked and mounted in a shadow box. A lovely memory of your mother and sister-in-law that won’t make you itch.
I love Stephen West shawl patterns. But they are always in danger of not getting finished. The only reason they do (so far) is thanks to his patient tutorials, I think. There is also a blanket in my mind that I haven’t even started because I probably would never finish it!
I am so ashamed to say this, but socks for my mother.
The I Will Build a Farm cross-stitch that was to be framed for my young son’s room. He will be 54 this summer. It is so near done, I cannot toss it.
My goodness! I made one of those, from a Woman’s Day pattern. Mine is all stitched, but folded in a box somewhere, never framed. My kids will are 55 and 56.
My other “never gonna” is a granny square blanket from 3” grannies, begun about 20 years ago. It won’t be finished, because I threw all 100 or so squares in the trash about 5 years ago.
my never quite finished project is a green and pink butterfly afgan(ie) made in 1971 for my mother, what was I thinking she hates green only decorates with blue. finished the pattern with 40 bobbles in tunishan crochet, but only got half the ends woven in. Found it in my basement now and still fringy on the back side.
Oh dear I don’t have one. Last year I belonged to a knit it fit it frog it MAL and I got rid of all my unfinished projects. Felt great. And I have already frogged another sweater since. Don’t worry it is becoming a lovely Hirne by Kate Davis.
An alligator blanket with a TON of bobbles.
The sweater I’m currently trying to finish. No matter how many hours I spend on the second sleeve, I am always about three inches from the ribbing. I am sick of stockinette in the round!
I’m always putting my sweater projects in timeout to do a shawl or Cowl I finish them eventually.
I have two thoughts about your knitted map/blanket my first thought was WHY?!!!! My second one was that’s going g to be so beautiful when it’s done!
I’m very excited for my Field Guide subscription to hit my mail box it’s the first time I’ve ordered, if I’m lucky enough to win I’ll give it to my sister.
Completing a temperature blanket for everyone in my family using their birth year as the guide…. that’s 18 blankets! Yikes!!!!!!
A double knitted afghan that I never started. Luckily I made a double knitted pair of mittens first. The mittens are warm but we’re tedious to knit. Knitting should be fun not torturous.
I have a stitch sampler blanket made up of 256 4” squares, double sided. It was what got me started knitting, but it wasn’t long before other patterns caught my eye and my will power to finish one project before starting another was broken, probably forever!
LOLs a towel… a big, fuzzy, knit-in-cotton, towel. Why when you can buy them. Insanity does run in my family…
So many wips! I don’t know if I will ever finish the gloves started 20+ years ago, or the afghan started 15 years ago, or …..
There’s a beautiful, baby alpaca, full length “ bed jacket “ ( more like house coat) full of lace stitches and shaping that I spent sooo many hours on during my daughter’s teenage years. My ambition, as a rather new knitter, was more impressive than my skills. I may just frog the thing and make a simple sweater of it. My daughter is now 30:)
I like dragons and I saw a shawl pattern with a lovely huge dragon design. I thought it would look great as a wall hanging. I got the pattern, I got the yarn. After a while (maybe a few years!) I realized that I don’t like to knit lace. My dragon will never be.
mine was a top that i decided not to do a gauge swatch for. the fabric could be used for pot holders it was so thick and not flattering at all. i loved the colors though!
I have a humongous blanket going on, all grey, made in long (looooooooooong) strips in different pattern stitches. The strips get unweildy for car knitting or even sitting in a cozy chair knitting. I think I have fallen out of love with it and I’m going to need to rethink my made up idea of a blanket made in strips. But i’ll keep it in hibernation and think on it some more…..forever….and ever….
What isn’t finished? There is the east garter stripe blanket from beginning of Covid, that I don’t finish because it’s too boring. The scarf from a nifty set of yarns where you use every type of yarn in the line (I got sooo far! Then a section I didn’t like/understand and rather then go further…). The hat where I ran out of yarn right close to the end, subbed a couple of stripes of the wrong size and color yarn, and yeah. That hat is never getting finished or worn. Then there are three or four projects finished! But. Not all the ends are woven in or the real issue- not blocked. Whoops. There are a lot finished. But oh, the unfinished, that doesn’t call out to me, rather they clutter. Oh, the clutter. Maybe I will go organize them. Again.
Lord God. You are so past needing an intervention on this project. I never give up that being said this might be an opportunity. Sent with all the loving kindness I can muster.
Oh, THANK YOU for such a delightful post this morning! It’s good to laugh – the truth hits so close to home. All my projects are unfinished. Kites blanket? Blanket for my dad who died in 2008? Poncho started last Winter Olympics? Top 3 without even starting to think about the question seriously.
Yikes – this reminded me of socks I started for the winter Olympics two times back! They were a kit in red white and blue, I’d only made socks once before, and the pattern was cabled. I did a gauge swatch which matched in st st, but the first sock with cables was way too small. I never made it from the top down to the heel… but maybe I can redo it for the next Olympics (not this year).
So many…. It is satisfying to repurpose and find the one true destiny for the yarn…
Or for some face reality & donate the yarn….
The worst was probably a jacket out of a thick yarn, 35 yd/ ball, Not something a gal who is not exactly thin should wear! Not sure this yarn will make it as a blanket either….
My most challenging WIP is a stranded Jane Thornley vest in Handmaiden silk. Adapted to knit in the round, I’m up to the armholes and stuck. I have to do the math and decide where to place the next set of motifs but my tension looks bad. I should just steam it to see if it will block out ok, then if yes, get on with it. The yarn is so gorgeous! The pattern is so hard!
A vest. Because it had no sleeves. When I was a noob knitter. For a friend. Who has finally finally learned not to ask when it will be done. I am thinking of ritual immolation for the project. I am not joking.
A red cashmere shawl. Beautiful pattern, beautiful yarn, No motivation!
My ‘never going to finish’ project is a hooded baby sweater called Sweet Pea Cardigan. I started this before the baby was born, and now she is nine years old. Yikes! The pattern is from the book 60 Quick Baby Knits. Apparently, I’m not quick enough.
A Dale of Norway Nagano Olympics sweater.
I just had to make a shawl for myself. Well, I did complete the shawl but never wore it so finally after sitting in my closet for years unraveled it and have been using the yarn for socks. Many pairs of socks with yarn to spare.
For some reason I have been able to finish the blankets that I’ve started and I am on square 16 of the last strip of color explosion. However, I have four, yes 4 beautiful lace sweaters in silks, cottons and beaded Artyarns each knit to the armholes or above. Then I realize that as I relax into lace knitting my gauge changes and the sweaters are too big, the arm holes are too long and I can’t figure out how to change the measurements or I have lost the pattern… not kidding! I have been able to knit beautiful shawls and scarves out of the same kinds of yarn and finished them. But the sweaters? One of them I think is 6 or 7 years old…
We all have such things behind something….you are in good company!
Beaded half gloves!
I have some unfinished KAL projects crying out for completion.
An embroidered and quilted street map of New Orleans, begun in 2018 (?) in a flush of enthusiasm over the city’s 300th anniversary. It mocks me from it’s bin in the corner….
A peach and white mohair intarsia cardigan knit flat in pieces. I started it back in the 80s. Only has one sleeve left. Will never finish. Peach is no longer a color in my wardrobe repertoire. And the style is beyond dated. But also never frogged because – mohair. I still look at it once in awhile and consider repurposing the yarn and yet there it stays. Likely in perpetuity.
Fall, 1992 Vogue Knitting magazine DKNY Enchanted Aryan Forest sweater. Could never get gauge. I unpack and worship it from time to time.
The comments here are amazing.
I find I don’t have the strength today to think about all the things that will never be finished.
During pandemic I have finished a blanket that took 17 years. And a sweater – my first! – that took 9 years. I have used them both a LOT since finishing.
At the moment, it’s a simple seed stitch blanket in dk… it’s never ending
I e gone on an anthology hat kick and it’s a delightful fast little project that uses up lots of little left over yarn. Just the exact opposite of a grey scale map of the US in yarn.
A single bed sized ripple stitch blanket for my daughter. Worked in one piece.
After I first learned to knit, I started a blanket for my son, which was bigger than a baby blanket because he was six. It wasn’t very pretty because I was new to knitting. Now he is 30. Blanket still in progress…
I started a beautiful basket weave patterned baby blanket in rosy pink for my son’s girlfriend’s niece. The baby was over 9 lbs and my blanket was too small, so I sent for more yarn to make it bigger. Son and girlfriend broke up before that blanket was done, so I kept it to give another baby. The next 5 babies born in my circle of friends were all boys, so I still have the blanket. And it’s still not done….lol
Any fair isle project that I have started I have never finished. Love the look just can’t stay the course.
Pearman. A Jean Moss t-shirt in cotton glacé. Lots of colors and textures at the same time!
A younger and more ambitious me started a Mitered Square Blanket. I still keep my leftover yarn and add it to the gigantic pile. It’s never gonna happen ♀️
A sweater begun in the one year I lived in a snowy climate – 30 years ago.
I’ve had a rose window shawl in progress in the bottom of my WIP box for oh, five years? Handspun gradient yarn. It’ll be spectacular if I ever dig it out again. Sigh.
You’ll finish your project! Good luck.
A baby blanket that nearly killed me but was gorgeous! Another WIP here I come …..
I am closing in on finishing a pair of blankets based on a painting by my son-in-law’s late father – a merging of the creativity of the two families. 10 colors, hundreds of color changes and ends, massive tangles – it has been an intense project made do-able by staying at home during covid. What has helped recently is consistently doing just 5 rows a day – the end is in sight!!!
There’s this cardigan. It’s in a ziploc gallon size baggy. I got to the pockets and there I stopped. It’s a small cardigan meant for a two year old granddaughter. She’s away at university.
My first tshirt that I mostly frogged about 4 times after the whole body was done, once when I’d finished a sleeve, and then just chucked the whole thing and now I have a 2lb ball of misti alpaca tonos silk wound into a gigantic ball stuffed at the bottom of a project bag under half of a weighted blanket I started in 2020 (and also haven’t finished)
Rainbow Jacket by Vivian Høxbro. It’s not even an official WIP because I never got a kit or collected the yarn, but it’s an intentional WIP.
Another fantastic post DG, I’m amazed that you’re doing this and I wish you all the best!
A double-knitted scarf. Gorgeous, but very time intensive and attention demanding. If I ever do finish, it will be quite an accomplishment!
The final table runner out of 5 on a warp. I knew I shouldn’t have taken the first 4 off! And i also see why I knit… much more portable!!
Marie Wallin cardigan. Of course I HAD to convert a knitted-flat fair isle cardigan to knitted in the round with steeks. All good, until the sleeves. What about the sleeves???
Not knitting but cross stitch, bought when we took our daughter to check out colleges, I finally finished it and she was 40.!
When I read knitted map of United States I thought it was just a far out example of the actual type of project you had selected. Nope! The bane of my knitting world has been a gansey that has had the shoulder strap/ sleeves ripped apart … well, stopped counting at … six times.
A mitered square blanket of leftover sock yarn, but with the colours artistically grouped, not just random. I was gifted a bankers box of leftovers. It takes me1.5 hours per square
Dissent is my stalled project. =(
I think we should all pass our projects around, I would knit the second socks and do a sleeve or two!
Endless Noro garter stitch blanket started in 2020.
I had a never-gonna-finish-it project…but then covid struck and I got way more knitting time, and strangely enough, I finished it! It was a stripped couch-size blanket, and became super boring the more I knit it. It was a wip for close to 10 years! So I figure, if I can finish that, then I can finish most anything!
I will never finish the Crazed Scandinavian Cowl. I can’t get past the provisional cast on, in the round with fingering yarn, although I have tried multiple times. I’m now trying to decide who to leave it to in my will.
Oh no! I just started my Crazed Scandinavian Cowl this week. I got the pattern and the yarn last year but never started because I had too much going on at the time. I thought I should try again this winter. The provisional cast on is ok to do but the stockinette curling is bugging me. A lot of pattern knitting and all I get to see is the backside that is curled up. I think I am getting to the point where it will stop curling and I can enjoy seeing the pattern. I am looking forward to knitting the patterns but no way will I need to knit the long version.
I did a melanie berg scarf named Whiteout that had a lot of lace work. It took me a 2 years to finish but I finally did!
I might have an Alice Starmore cardigan I started in 2009. But the real mother of all unfinished knitting projects is as yet UNSTARTED: Kaffe’s Kilim Jacket in original yarns. Collected in the late 1990s and sitting in a box since. I just need to decide how to adapt it to fit my 5′ 1″ self then it will only take 10 years to actually knit.
The heart blanket from Noro and the Dreambird Shawl. But who knows, never say never
The 64 crayons blanket I started 9 years ago. Wasn’t paying attention to length of strips and they are all different lengths. Might as well give them away as scarves at this point!
A 2000 yd center out lace shawl in a hand dyed gradient lace yarn in a salmon color that’s way too bright….
I have been working on Knit Beginner Blanket and I’m also learning how to use a swift, ugh! The reason the blanket may never get finished is because I keep getting my yarn messed up trying to use the swift and ball winder. I end up with a tangled mess which I have to discard and reorder another skein. I’m hopeless…
DG Strong you are such an inspiration and I love your letters that always make me smile and giggle.
My never ever project is a Coco Knit sweater that I started to use up stash during the pandemic. Unfortunately the overflowing box of yarn wasn’t enough to finish said sweater and of course the dye lot of yarn is no longer around. I spent money on more yarn but it may not work so I stopped working on the sweater just in case. Now I just carry the huge project bag around to remind me I may have created an albatross. Thank You for reminding me about the big orange bag.
I will never finish a quilt-like afghan I started several years ago. I made each of the pieces, but just don’t like them well-enough to knit them together. I’m thinking of it as a learning project. I learned several new knitting stitches and I learned that I didn’t like the yarn.
A 10 stitch blanket for every grandkid!! Everytime I think I might get there I am gifted with another grandchild!!
My most challenging project was duplicating a sweater seen on IG of a pastural scene complete with sheep for my daughter. I knitted the design freehand from the top down and in the round. Knitting The intarsia portion in the top part upside down was a bit mind boggling. I ended by stopping at the sleeve separation and knitting bottom up and then grafting everything together. In the end it was actually very satisfying. If you like You can see it on my grid on IG, @gail_force_1
It’s stunning!
My never gonna finish is probably the lace shawl I started in a class, which has since been munched on by carpet beetles, so now has holes. Sad.
A fingering weight sweater… I finally finished knitting but am uninspired to weave in the ends, find buttons, etc
Haven’t actually started it, but have been constantly thinking about the Safe at Home blanket ever since I saw it on Ravelry. I’m telling myself I’m in the scraps gathering stage, but I’m not sure I’ll ever gather enough to start
I knitted a map of the world sweater from a Vogue Knitting magazine! My daughter’s Social Studies teacher loved it, of course. It was like a cross between knitting and counted cross stitch.
A knitted Sudoku puzzle blanket where each number was represented by an eight inch square of different textural patterns. And there were multiple sudoku puzzles that made up the blanket and lots of different colors. One of those plans that sounds like fun on paper, but once you start it becomes a nightmare if one has a short attention span 😀
Lime green mohair coat. Knit 3/4 and realized I am allergic to mohair. Looking back, the lime green was likely also a mistake.
I have, squirreled away, the full length (as in to the floor) Kaffe Courthouse Steps sweater. It is huge and beautiful except for weaving in in roughly 10 million ends and figuring out how to sew on the collar, which is itself already knitted. Every so often I pull it out of its huge storage bin and admire it and think about how it’s almost done but then I remember I still don’t understand how to get the collar on.
It’s been languishing for over 20 years.
My queen size sock yarn blanket. When I started I ambitiously figured it would take me 5 years. It’s already way more than 5 years, so now I’m planning on finishing it by the time my granddaughter gets married. She’s 11 so that gives me some time……
My maybe never gonna finish project would be the Ashby Shawl – https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/ashby – which i fell in love with at a yarn store as more of a beginner knitter. I bought yarn for it and cast on and then became a little hung up by the charts and the complex stitches. Or so they seemed to me at that time. Maybe this is the year I pull it back out and cast on again?
I think I bought the yarn and pattern probably in 2007. . .
I have a project from a Knitters magazine from the 1980s that is mostly black. Now in my 60’s, there isn’t enough light shining for me to be able to see my way through knitting a black sweater.
Tree of Life Afghan.
What in the world were you smoking when you decided that was a good idea?
I once decided I was skilled enough to rewrite a Rowan cabled vest pattern so I could knit it in the round and steek it, because that sounded easier. I ended up with a sweater that would fit a small dog. Still now sure how I didn’t figure out it was too small until I was about twelve inches along.
Last weekend I took a good hard look at my WIPs pile and dismissed my “never gonna finish it” projects from service. Honestly? It was freeing! Included in the dug-out-of-oblivion pile was a pair of socks that just need to be kitchener’d (why oh why did I stop so short of the finish line there??) and a shawl that only needs a lovely lace edge added to it. Those stayed… the rest went right out the door without any guilt about the yarn or the time invested. I learned from all those projects and that’s good enough for me.
Chifforobe—haven’t heard that word since the 50s! Oh, my! My big, but very gratifying project, has been the. Googly Eyed Gator blanket. Pattern is in the 60 Quick Baby Blankets book. Fun intarsia project, but certainly not Quick.
I have so many sweater UFOs that need just a sleeve or a collar or a hem. What is wrong with me? Test knitting has been good for me, because- deadlines! Never had so many FOs as during this @#$& pandemic when I really got into test knitting.
I’d love to test or sample knit something for MDK.
The Daytripper. I usually go to bed with the chickens, but was up till past midnight last night working on the yoke. I can’t wait to see it finished.
I’m not holding out a lot of hope for my Bang-out-a-Daytripper. It’s already the 6th and I finally picked my colours and finished swatching last night. If I don’t finish it in February, I’m hoping for the end of March. Just in time for the weather to be too warm to wear it.
Give me some sympathy. This Friday I’m having thumb joint surgery (probably from knitting too much) and can’t knit for three months. You heard me. Three months! Considering learning to crochet. “She leaves behind a partially completed Shift Cowl”.
My first attempt at knitting after not knitting for many years was a pair of socks. Thankfully, I had a patient teacher! I had learned as a child to ‘throw’, but it was awkward for me, so the weekend before my class I taught myself to continental knit. Much easier for me!
The christening gown for my first born. I bought merino/silk roving to spin the yarn, to knit the robe.
That baby is having a baby of his own in May. Fiber in stash – still unspun.
A 6ft square lace canopy for my son’s wedding. I finished it, but he is now divorced.
oh my goodness gracious & stars and garters, D.G. I thought you were joking when you wrote “knitted map of the USA”. My forever project was (is) an apricot cabled cardigan in Caitlin Cotton (remember that yarn?) I think I started it in 1992 when I was 40 lbs lighter and was in an orange phase. And I dislike knitting with cotton . . .
most ambitious project: a tunic out of 3 shades of linen fingering yarn, with yoke and body in 2 different lace patterns. came out great but have only worn it once. need to show it off!
I have 2 sweaters one is a test knit that I did as a group class and one is a one piece sweater vest type thing. I’m not a fast knitter and although I can easily sequence knit and follow directions things for both these sweater vests went on and on and on. I seemed to never complete any piece. I finally had to stop and tackle something I could finish quickly for the satisfaction of completion. You know you’re in trouble when you buy yarn and your husband begins to ask; “What have you finished? You’re constantly knitting. You must have finished something.” All I could do is show partial backs and a side. I’m a larger person so things just take longer. On the plus side (no pun intended), I have finished a hat and learned a new technique (Magic Loop). Now, I can revisit those sweaters.
I keep thinking about the Kites Throw and remain stalled there. Trouble is, all I’ve done so far is think about it. Maybe when life normalizes a little more . . .
I am usually pretty good about finishing gifts for family and friends but I have a baby sweater for my niece who is turning 3 this year and I started knitting it for during the baby shower but the seaming is never right and it’s been in time out more then once!!!
So many wonderful comments and so many UFOS. I have a scarf that is frogged at the moment, because I lost interest when each section had a different pattern and some patterns were “better” than others.
It took five years, but I finished it-My sister’s Alice Starmore Inishmaan sweater in Cotton Fleece. I had to make up another size. And the seaming together was totally stymying!
I’m working on it! A stranded colorwork tee in fingering yarn from my stash. Knitted from the top down, yoked and I’m now worried about running out of some of my colors. I’ve loved every minute of it, and I hope the “experts” are right that most of the bumpiness blocks out!
That second sock . . .
Just a few (???) unfinished projects…a shawl where I didn’t really like the yarn color when it arrived…half done…and a 2-way vest for my stepmom where it’s taking way more time to knit than I thought…3/4 done.
Before I learned to knit, I started a crocheted temperature blanket. Using squares. 2 color squares. Plus another mumble-hundred solid squares for spacing, because of how I wanted to arrange said squares.
Yeah, that’s never getting finished. In part because I don’t remember what year it was for!
I have about 35 squares knitted in as many different patterns with relative ignorance of the importance of gauge and effect of texture on the final product. Not at all sure if and how they can be seamed together to make a blanket. Yet I refuse to start over. Perhaps it will remain undone or I will lay caution to the wind and just seam them together and see what comes of it!
I have a sweater that I started for my husband that must be 20 yrs hidden away! It makes my head hurt to just think about figuring out where I am in it and picking it back up. So…off I go to other projects! 🙂
Two years ago I started a blanket made up of puffy hexagons to use up scraps of yarn. I now have 7 out of the 384 I will need.
One of Kay’s Scowls, which was meant to be a gift (Christmas 2011) for my stepdaughter. Finally got buttons for it the following July, but it still was just All Wrong. Frogged, and had another go, but no joy. Found the bag the other day. She’s still waiting…
A complex lace shawl that I started in 2019 to wear at my son’s 2020 wedding. Even after the big event was postponed in favor of a small backyard covid-appropriate ceremony, I kept working on it until I realized there was no way I could finish it in time, at which point I stopped. In the middle of a row, I think.
I haven’t started it yet. I have plenty of books with ideas. Just making up my mind is the problem. I really need another book to help me decide.
I have (had) ambitions to finish what I hoped would be a beautiful lace scarf, with beads sprinkled in for an extra oomph! The combo of uber thin yarn and the patience required to see the thing through have destined this WIP to a small forgotten corner of my yarn closet. Sigh.
I have enjoyed reading these comments. My project is a monthly yarn club blanket. I’m about 14 months behind, and counting. I must say it has lots of company.
Almost every project I start has the potential to never be finished – I hate weaving in ends and blocking. But I’m fantasizing about Star-Eyed Julep Throw – it combines my love of log-cabin quilts and warm, snuggly afghans. For now I’m purchasing a used copy of the book and dreaming about possible color combinations for my blue/burgundy decorating scheme.
I started a blanket that had tiny wedges, and those led into more wedges, and wedges. Those were in strips that you then had to seam. So many ends. Still sleeping in a baggie that I look at once a year.
“Knitivity” by Fiona Goble. I have the book, carefully selected the yarn, and so far (in five years) three naked figures and part of a dress for Mary. When I come across it I sigh and then pretend I didn’t see it.
Full-length curtains. Lace-weight.
I have a little bag of pieces made for the Beekeepers Quilt. Who knows if it will ever be finished.
I may never finish a particular pair of socks… unless I find someone with long, thin feet, as this pair is too large for me.
Sweater is started for my 20 year college reunion. Maybe I’ll finish for my 30- year reunion in a couple of years?
I have a granny square baby blanket started for my son’s third grade teacher when she announced she was pregnant. So far it’s been 13 years since I’ve added a stitch, but it’s too pretty to frog.
A teale pull over. Love, love the color and pattern! But I started it 30 years and 4 sizes ago…….
These days when I knit for myself, I stick to socks! 🙂
My most ambitious project so far in this lifetime was a Bearpaw intarsia baby blanket (not exactly small). Ten thousand loose ends to deal with on the so-called “wrong side”. Fiddley little points to pick up along and knit around, etc. Beautiful when done, however. (I burned the pattern to prevent delusional attempts to make another one.)
My stockinette poncho because I get bored & distracted by other more interesting knits….
Somewhere in a closet I have a Kaffe Fassett sweater kit…I think it’s called The Four Seasons. It’s a cardigan, four figures of women, done in intarsia. What was I thinking?! And it might even be in cotton!
Something using 4 colors of cotton yarn. I love the colors… but keep ripping out what I start. Currently making a swifter cover… but I don’t own a swifter and will likely rip it out too. I should just ballband dishcloth it and be done with it
The teeny tiny hats and scarfs for the felted snowmen I made for my sister ‘some’ years ago
For me it was a first-garment kind of project, a “simple” vest. I got stuck, didn’t understand the directions, and couldn’t show it to anyone because we were in the pandemic. After reading the project notes of others for clues, and watching YouTube how tos, I was still stuck, and not enjoying it at all. I finally put the stitches on waste yarn and buried the thing in my stash…probably should frog it one of these days.
I’ve made many other things since then that I love, but I can relate to sometimes feeling like “la la la, knitting – what’s that?”
I took a friend up on a dare once. Make him a King Size afghan, on a deadline. At the time I thought I was crazy, but looking back totally manageable. And he loved it!
Carol Feller’s Twining Wrap from Field Guide 14! I was going along and then March 2020 happened. Needed smaller projects.
Will get back to it one day!
Soon after I started knitting (almost 40 years ago!) I bought cheap yarn for an in-between-projects project – an afghan done in strips. I have 5 of 7 strips done…
I have a King-sized blanket started that is knit from my handspun. There are no variegated yarns in it, only solids or semi solids and it’s beautiful, but it sits in its own basket waiting. it needs about two more feet to be usable and to be honest, I just don’t know when I will be able to spin more solids….
A heathered greyish blue alpaca vest. I just don’t like it. Don’t like the color or pattern I chose. Actually, writing this down had made me one step closer to frogging the whole thing! Thank you, MDK!
Fair Isle, of course! Knit Picks Dogwood Sweater. Started it SO long ago, I’m sure I wear a bigger size now. Have tried to convince myself that I can make a vest instead. Oh – and I bought the kit in BOTH colorways, so there is a whole ‘nother sweaterI haven’t even started.
I hope someday to finish my Bohus Blue Shimmer cardigan. The yoke is done but I’ve restarted the sleeves twice because they are too big. I last remember knitting a sleeve in 2004 while at the New Zealand Congress on Coloured Sheep. My knitting gauge seems to be tighter these days, so there is hope.
I thought you were joking about the knitted map!
Dewdrop pillow- beaded lace chevrons. Size 3 needles. Frogged its cousin, Patchwork Hearts (beaded intarsia) years ago.
Briza tank top. Almost finished it 10 pounds ago. Catastrophic loss of confidence at the end. But enough yarn to do the next size up.
I did not think I would ever be able to finish a grown-up sized blanket, but I did this past December! Wild surprise.
placemats for Vickie
Haha…I thought you were kidding when you said you were knitting a map of the US! I’m sure you’ll be able to finish that up before the field guide needs to be mailed out:)
I, too, have the pieces for a baby blanket started for my son. From many of Barbara Walker’s mosaic patterns, including the letters of his name. He is now 56.
The Persion Dreams hexagon blanket is my never going to be finished project. So far I have completed 11 hexagons. I’m maybe about half way there. Started it over a year ago. Love doing them, but…..I love doing so many other things too.
Probably my biggest “never gonna finish it” project is a large, mistake rib stole out of heavenly cashmere that I am working on as we “speak”. It is sooooo boring, smallish needles, 130-ish stitches wide. And I even joined the Finish It February group on Ravelry, but I keep getting distracted, such as to read blogs like this and to listen to podcasts.
I am so afraid Ill never finish a gorgeous soft grey vest I started for myself years ago. I put it aside to make some gifts and forgot where I was exactly on it, and now, my knitting is soooo much better! I can’t decide whether to keep at it and Hope it will come out okay or to rip it out and start again.
I never thought I’d finish a sweater I started 6 years ago. I took numerous classes on ways to keep track of the 3 cable charts & took it all over the country thinking I’d work on it there. At the first MDK Shakerag retreat, I brought it because it had a miscrossed cable. The fabulous Julia Farwell-Clay fixed my mistake. I can’t even find the fix! Last winter I finally finished it! It’s super warm & cozy which has come in handy this winter season!
A gansey sweater for my EX husband.
A felted messenger bag. Got the pattern when I first started knitting and didn’t realize how much knitting it entailed. I eventually donated the pattern.
When I was a kid my Mom taught me to knit. When I was maybe about 10, I started a bright, bright sweater in many colors. This was the late 60’s so you can imagine how bright. Well, my skills weren’t up to all that. Some time much later I realized the project had just disappeared. Mom must have decided to save me from it.
There’s the Kaffe Fassett sweater I started enthusiastically in the 1980’s….my then-boyfriend, later husband, who subsequently moved on to Eternal Life 10-years ago—he was very excited about watching my progress. The other contender is the baby sweater I started for my first niece, who is now over 40……I picked it up again while pregnant with my first daughter, now over 30.
My first pair of socks—of course I only knitted one. Also a bright pink sweater is still on sleeve island 2 years after starting it
An elegant black lace shawl that I’ve ripped out and re-started and lost my way on countless times. It languishes in the depths of the basement cupboard. I don’t know why I can’t give it away…
I think my never gonna finish it project is a sweater for myself. Maybe even socks. Every year socks go on my to do list and then they don’t happen. Too many projects to make for others. Oh well, I am having fun.
A mitered square blanket, made entirely of leftover bits of yarn, which allows me to lie to myself that the reason it’ll never(ish) get done is because OBVIOUSLY I have to wait for there to be leftover scraps from this current project or that one.
Whattaya mean you saw all the bobbins and tiny balls of yarn in the leftover drawer? You’re imagining things.
Never gonna finish that Cowichan style cardigan for husband. Sigh.
Tunisian 10 stitch using scraps of fingering weight yarn. It’s about 24 inches square. I’ve been working on it for about 5 years!
An intarsia cotton shopping bag.
I keep having ideas about combing knitting and handweaving, but I never seem to figure that out.
I had a project like that not so long ago. It was an intarsia afghan of the New York City skyline and I was relatively new to the technique. I never thought I was going to finish it but then my aunt, who used to take me to New York for visits as a kid, passed away and I was determined to finish it as a tribute to her. I’m happy to say that I achieved that goal.
An Alice Starmore St. Brigid that’s been on the needles since 2002. You’d think after 20 years I would know for a fact that I will never finish it, but apparently not.
I make it a point never to start ambitious projects: I still have a partial afghan started by my grandmother and my mother on teeny tiny needles.
A counter pane in 40 skeins of cream colored acrylic. I recently admitted to myself, “This is never happening.”
4 Christmas stockings between August and Christmas. I did it, but UGH.
A sweater with yarn I don’t love. Therefore it just sits in the project bag. Sometimes trying to save money by not buying the recommended speedy yarn and using stash isn’t the best idea. I’ll never finish it.
A baby blanket I started for my son…I got 3/4 of the way through and became convinced I didn’t have enough yarn to finish. Couldn’t manifest the energy to go get more. He’s now a freshman in college, and that particular yarn company closed down 4 years ago.
My Swedish Bohus sweater. The yarn is fabulous but I think I am using size 2 needles. It’s been in my stash at least 15 years.
I am so sad. I cannot subscribe to the field guides just because I live in Scotland…..home of all sorts of yarny goodness. I love the field guides. I have bought every one of them via the email wonders of tranference from your computer to mine. Why no electronic subscription? please tell me why Oh holders or the sacred rings of magic loopiness! Love, Alison x
A lace weight shawl in the exact same color as my knitting needles. Before I really new how to read my knitting so it had tons of mistakes in the 5 inches that I got done in 2 years! Frogged it years ago and the yarn is still waiting for what it wants to be.
Kaffe Fassett Jaunty Weave pillow cushion. I just couldn’t get the tension right from the stripe squares vs the solid squares! Thinking I might do a weather piece with all that Rowan Felted Tweed.
Oh my gosh…I started a sweater in the Bush administration. It’s a pretty thing- simple, but I decided to make it in black sock yarn. I still have a sleeve to go before I can wear it. That is my never finished project.
I have a sweater that only needs half of a sleeve and a button band to be finished, but as I was working on it I realized that I don’t like the color of the yarn…….
I do not remember why I have some beautifully knitted pieces probably for a sweater that someone gave up on. Beautiful and intricate cables in a firm gauge knitted with a very nice wooly yarn that was coal black. No needles and no pattern but a heck of a lot of knitting. Maybe I thought I could rescue the lovely knitting. I could not bear to frog it but I don’t think I want to knit with coal black yarn at this stage of my life. I probably have had it for close to 45 years. It sits in the bottom of my hope chest. Remember hope chests? I guess hope springs eternal as long as it live there.
mine is a temperature blanket – with one row for high and one for low, and king-sized. lol
A sweater I started 50 pounds ago in a yarn that has been discontinued
I started my first sweater (for myself). Since then my granddaughter asked for a throw for her birthday, then other granddaughter (her sister) wanted one for her birthday, then my daughter-in-law asked for a neutral cowl to keep warm at work. Then my oldest grandson asked for another quilt for his bed…naturally my sweater took a backseat to those sweet requests. Now, I’m thinking my youngest grandson needs a soft knitted bear for his first birthday!
A double knit scarf. So tedious but I love it.
A lovely fair isle sweater in autumn colors-many many autumn colors.
My ‘biggie’ is a 42×57″ blanket in fingering weight cotton called Embossed Triangles Blanket from Purl Soho. It will be using the entirety (nearly) of a cone of 2789 yards on US 2.5 needles. At least there are no ends to weave in!
I have a Sand Waves poncho that will take forever to finish. I get it out every few months and work a few inches.
My first steeked colorwork sweater, a Dale pattern. I knit and steeked the whole thing and just did not like the sweater. I held onto it for decades and one day a friend wanted to commission some knitted taxidermy from Sweaty Taxidermy, “I have the colorful sweater you need!” She got a deer head and a turtle out of that sweater.
A Deschain pullover for a friend. Got the body done, but seaming the shoulders proved too much for me. Turns out that holding a sewing needle plays havoc with my arthritic hands these days. I told myself I’d just do a couple stitches a day. Never happened. Then my friend lost a ton of weight. She looks fabulous and now I’m glad I procrastinated. xD
A tale as old as time, got engaged, started beautiful knitted scarf in his team’s colors. Broke up, Never going to finish that scarf unless it’s for someone else. I’m not feeling like that either!
Hi DG, I love your columns.They make me laugh! Good luck with your blanket? Wall art? Will be wonderful!
My most ambitious project was started back in the 1990’s when I was still a relatively new knitter. I believe it was from a Knitter’s Magazine. A Celtic motif intarsia knitted sweater. I gathered all the yarn; many small balls of merino in umpteen colors. I think I did start it. It is in a bag somewhere behind the chiffarobe! Back then I could have happily worn it. Now just the thought of a crew neck wool sweater makes me too warm , even sitting here with the remains of storm Landon piled up outside.
The mohair sweater, unbegun, and the yarn is still waiting after 20 d..n years. It will be my old folks home project.
A mitered square jacket, what a dream that was! Still using up all tge one skein hurs of green.
I shut myself down before I even get started sometimes. I read about the temperature blanket this week and the “all those little squares” option that you then sew together. It sounded amazing! Then I looked at my quilt wall where I am in the middle of sewing 220 2.5” squares together that do this amazing fade. But it is sooooo boring! I knew I would never sew all those little knitted squares together, so I cast on a cowl that I am whipping through.
I have been trying to replicate my beloved, tattered fisherman/Aran/cabled sweater from J Crew for years. I’ve Frankensteined many different patterns together, and tried and tried and tried. Right now I have a sweater done (has been done for two years) but the sleeves are too long, and the sweater just isn’t exactly what I envisioned. Do I have it in me to try a sixth time? We’ll see.
I started a scrap afghan about 20 years ago. The color scheme went out of style long ago. The pattern calls for changing needle size and using different weights of yarn every time the color changes. Very annoying. At one point, I promised myself that I would knit one color a night. Obviously it didn’t work because it is still staring at me every time I go into my closet. I still plan on finishing it when the color scheme comes back in style!
My UFO is a knee length Kimono knit in fingering wt on size 11 needles. I had fantasies about wearing it to the opera over a black slinky long dress. Never happened but I still am holding on to the yarn just in case
A mitered square blanket. Still love the yarn and the colors but the muse is gone…
A linen shawl I started at least 5 years ago
After reading about half of the posts here I felt inspired. About 15-18 years ago I bought a Hanne Falkenberg kit for a vest. The yarn was so rough it was like knitting with steel wool. There is no self respecting sheep that would have produced that. My fingers were just short of needing massive first aid. I endured until I finished one side of the front. It went into a bag and was put away until I started reading these posts this evening. I went deep into the closet to find it. Sure enough, the yarn had not changed texture in all these years. In addition to the project I found my cigar tube of crochet hooks that I hadn’t seen in all of these years also so finding the project turned into a positive thing. I pulled the needles out of side two of the vest and threw all of that yarn in the trash. How cathartic!
I tend to finish. My most challenging knitting project was a Traditional Irish design. One of those with cables and bobbles and stitch texture everywhere. I was only about 23 & could still see and keep track. I’m 63 now & have done a lot of knitting techniques but nothing as taxing as that. I love the Field Guides and would use them all.
A sweater I made for my husband out of a magazine five years ago was my biggest nightmare. The gauge or the yarn was all wrong, and when I blocked the pieces, they got enormous. I had to steek the bottom of front and back. I had no idea what to do with the sides. I couldn’t bring myself to finish it, it was all wrong. And so much work! My daughter finally insisted that I finish it and give it to my husband for Christmas. I ended up folding a big piece under on both sides. It is wearable. But the whole process broke my spirit. I hadn’t dared try another sweater until this winter.
I’m knitting one of those garter stitch blankets where you use up all your leftovers and stash. I don’t know why, but I cast on 300 stitches. That’s like 7 feet a row! I have knit about 18 inches of it. I haven’t worked on it in about a year.
My “Never-to-be-Finished” project is a Stephen West shawl. I love his work, but I can never remember where I’m at when I pick it up. It will be a perpetual project!
If I’m honest.. a cotton fingering weight mitre squares blanket from the fiesr MDK book. There are many squares. Some 4 squares sewn together. But not very much yarn, and it’s discontinued. Plus I’m not a big fan of seaming….. and yet I pretend one day….
I call it “assisted living” knitting, as in “by the time I finish that I’ll be in assisted living.”
My Paintbox blanket squares knit with Noro Kureyon has been waiting since 2014 to be pieced together and receive a border. Maybe this year!
I have a gorgeous shawl designed by Inese Sang called Bloom Your Heart Out. I’ve put it away because I got frustrated. I’m even using La Bien Aimee yarn! Hope I get the mojo to pull it out soon.
Started a Fantoosh shawl by Kate Davies something like 4 years ago. It’s on hold. But did (last year) finish a hooded cardigan than had been on hold for about 10 years. Oh, and the year before that, finished a cardigan for my husband that had been in progress for many years and been visited by moths while still in project bags, and needed re-knitting in several places. So there is hope yet.
Hmm… I have definitely jumped headfirst into some pretty ambitions projects. Though I have completed two double knits scarves (one in lace and one in fingering weight), deciding to make a double knit potholder with two different sides was a pretty crazy leap.
A “Rambling Rows” Afghan made using leftovers and orphan balls of sock yarn that will fit a queen sized bed — from box spring, up the side of the mattress, across the top of the mattress, down the other side of the mattress, to the box spring. I have completed the pattern once and am, if I remember correctly, about a little over half way through the pattern again. (Has to be worked twice because of the size of the yarn.) It has been sitting in a combination of 3 paper bags for over 5 years because there always seems to be something else that has to be completed by a deadline that needs to be done first.
It is quite honestly the ugliest, gaudiest, most eye-crossing, where the h@## are the sunglasses thing I have ever seen or made and my daughter absolutely loves it! I think I’ll try to get it finished this year and gift it to her and her husband for their 5 year anniversary present, which fortunately is at the end of October.
My most ambitious project was a pullover sweater knit from lace weight yarn. I was afraid I wouldn’t finish something that large on fine needles, but I actually found it enjoyable.
It took me 34 years to finish the raglan sleeve fair isle pullover I started when my daughter was 8! Of course, she could not even put her pinkie finger in the sleeves now – but nevertheless she was mad at me for donating it to our local kids closet. She says I owe her a sweater, so that will be started soon. I’m much better at finishing things now:}
Oh my…. I did some knitting back in the 1980s when I was single and lived in a little cabin in the forest. My knitting was boxed up and moved cross country with me to D.C. in 1987, I got married in 1988 and we stayed in DC for 20 years. Dear hubby was going to sell my unopened boxes of projects in the yard sale before we moved back home to Calif, but I said ‘I’m retiring – I will start knitting again!’ Around 2010 I finally opened up those boxes and found a half-finished all-over cable sweater I had made (who knew I could cable??) – and with some searching, found the pattern too! They are still waiting for me… and I know the sweater will be too small if I finish it. It’s a lovely brown tweed with white speckles. Maybe solid brown gussets up the sides and sleeve seams could make it bigger? Maybe someday I will try to find out…
I may yet make a handspun 25th anniversary Spin-Off Sweater. It has cables and two-color knitting with top-whorl and bottom-whorl spindles. I forget if it is intarsia or not, maybe knitter’s choice. I keep stalling at the spinning phase…
A sweater that I now hate.
Can an Aussie win this? (Not sure given we can’t subscribe yet). For what it’s worth – scrappy rug using left over sock yarn – never get around to using all those beautiful scraps,
basically everything is not getting finished lately! One that haunts me is a pair of wrist warmers I feverishly worked on to distract me during my child’s surgery over four years ago.
A cable stitch blanket started by a relative who passed away. I want to honor her but it just feels daunting.
A poncho with a lace pattern. I tried it 3 times and even bought different yarn before I bagged it.
A cardigan I started in 2009 but I may run out of the now discontinued yarn. I had enough initially but sadly some balls became Molly yarn.
I have an ever growing pile of socks to mend (my adult girls are particularly hard on their socks). I used to tell them to just throw the holey pairs out, but now my arthritis means they only get one pair a year from me. I have good intentions, but my KALs with deadlines or self-imposed deadlines always take precedence. The logic is that mending one sock will take a lot less time than knitting a new pair, but my knitting is not logical, it is impulsive and that’s the way I like it. I gifted the guides to my daughter in law and would love a copy for myself.
I started a bubbly curtain from MDK’s 1st book, I think? 8 years ago? Sigh
A sampler afghan. I started 5 years ago and only finished a few squares. It may never be finished.
Wow, a knitted map…that is amazing! If you ar like me it’s done in your head until right before you cast in on. I have a three-way tie for “never-going-to-happen”.
1. A super bulky blanket (it was supposed to go so fast).
2. A doll started for my youngest before she was born. She just turned 5. (It will be so special!)
3. A turtleneck vest started with yarn from the first sweater I started, and then frogged (I’m being so responsible and it’s so cute.)
I’m not holding my breath.
A simple scarf, but in lace weight mohair. The yarn is so beautiful I want to take a bite out of it, but I don’t want to knit with it. But it’s just a scarf; I’ll finish this because it’s so easy. Ugh, it’s lace weight mohair, but it’s beautiful, it’s just a scarf…. ugh.
Kaffe Fassett’s “Afghan” sweater. The front, 3/4 done, as well as the entire remainder of the original kit, has been sitting in a basket for nigh on 30 years. Ain’t gonna happen.
It’s The Central Park Hoodie, in a rust color. I was way too much of a novice and I actually got pretty far. Meanwhile it’s moved with me 3 times in the same carefully wrapped bag it’s been in. Now planning my next move!!!
I’m not saying “never”, but my WIP that seems least likely to be finished is probably a Peony – Pfingstrose Shawl that has been languishing part down in my stash for a…very long time now. It’s beaded lacework with unique, nonmemorizable rows; and it’s not so much “I don’t like making this what was I thinking” as “I have no idea where I’m up to what was I thinking”. The inertia barrier is high on that one. Well — that or one of the seemingly infinite blanket projects that I enthusiastically start making squares for, then starting a new blanket the next year without finishing the first.
A silver lining of Covid is that I now don’t have any unfinished projects! At least not any that had already been started. What I do have is a lot of yarn in separate storage places all over the house that was purchased, usually on a vacation, to make some ambitious project, mostly sweaters and blankets. To me it’s the most annoying kind of stash because I can’t really take out one ball of the yarn for something else without admitting that I won’t ever make the item, but it’s taking up valuable space. Surely not the worst problem to have – too much yarn!!
What am I not going to finish? Oh, the list goes on and on. I have 2 baskets full that need to be frogged. I think by casting on, and then get a sense of the fabric that is being created. Swatch? Really? Just not me!
Wow, that knitted map is quite an epic project! I haven’t started any epic projects but I’m thinking about a big ol’ blanket to knit over the next few years, maybe one that’s not too complicated.
I think my most ambitious project was the color work Ixchel sweater. There were plenty of times it sat for ages before I came back to it.
On the needles: a cowl with a Kitchener stitch join of 120 stitches! Kitchener stitch challenges me at 16 stitches!
I have SEVERAL never gonna finish projects! I’ve been trying to clean up my fiber/yarn room and found maybe FIVE bags of unfinished knitted SWEATERS! Of course, they are from the past, when I didn’t have enough sense to put the PATTERN in the bag. So I’ve no idea how to finish them, or what they are supposed to look like. (BIG SIGH)
I just finished a black and white baby blanket that I started for my first grandson. He is now twelve and his new baby brother will be the one to enjoy it.
I have a log cabin squares blanket with all the squares completed, but know in my soul that knitting the edgings, etc. is VERY unlikely to happen.
It’s a baby blanket, crochet squares with lots of different motives, I was pregnant, first child, still have the squares that I made…five children later added 5 grandchildren, that first baby is 45, her oldest is 20. With luck should that one ever have a child my, great grand child, I’ll think about finishing it.
Vellichor. I got up to the split for sleeves, and tried to mod it to make the sleeves longer, but it wasn’t turning out, so I stopped. It’s been about a year. I think it was one of those designs that when I saw it I wanted to wear it, but not necessarily knit it.
“Laura’s Blanket” by mustaavillaa. It’s beautiful but gonna take me forever.
I have a pair of socks toe up that I am knitting for my feet. I will never finish them because of all the adjustments I have to make to make them fit “me” . It is infinitely easier to knit something for someone else. (I guess I just don’t like my own feet!)
a blanket ki purchased in 2000. don’t think I’ll ever finish it~
and apparently, I can’t spell ‘kit’. sigh.
I started knitting in high school and life got too busy after I married to keep it at it. About 12 years ago I picked up my needles again and found several UFOs. A black and hot pink mohair cardigan that I started in the late 1980s will NEVER be finished–Ha!
UFO’s?! How I love thee(se) – summer top from last year – but it’s almost summer again, mohair lace top from 3 years ago – was making some mods but didn’t write them down so..?, vest from ~10 years ago – it’s in mohair and I don’t like it, will be a nightmare to frog. I’m starting to see a mohair connection here. I should have a tub just for UFOs, I think.
My only UFOs are several sweaters that haven’t been touched in over 20 years ago, some pretty complicated & all lovely, that only need to be seamed. This was before I realized that I really need to stick to seamless sweaters – I know how to sew perfect seams but there *always* will be something else I’d rather do! At this point they probably wouldn’t fit even if I sewed them up …
My never-finished project is a Swing Coat from probably 10 years ago. It’s in a storage box in my garage.
My never-gonna-finish project is a felted flower tote that you knit the separate pieces and then crochet together. I finished and felted the tote as a new knitter but I haven’t been able to learn to crochet.
I have a Bressay Dress on the needles for almost four years! I’m in the middle of the body and it’s so boring to knit around and around that I may never finish it.
I fear that I’ll never get around to finishing my Blue Shimmer Cuffs, which i started in a Bohus Stickning class with Susanna Hansson. They’re lovely and all, but the needles are size zero and size one, and that’s not my usual jam at all…
I’m never gonna finish that seemingly laceweight color work sweater knit from the bottom up… nope nope nope.
I’ve never worked up the guts to do a Really Big Project but probably the shawl I made with the constellations of the Northern hemisphere. At the end of a circle every row feels like several years, and it wasn’t a repeating pattern by any means, so I couldn’t zone out.
I really hope to someday pick up and finish a blanket my mom started in the 1950s… then 4 kids and seven grandkids and many other beautiful finished blankets “happened”
I started a baby afghan with a giraffe eating leaves from the top of a tree I have the giraffe’s feet done
I started a lace project as a new knitter- 16 years ago- that I abandoned in confusion after about a day. I could do it now with no problem, but my taste in yarn and projects has changed quite a bit since then. So it sits.
Long ago…a beautiful mohair crochet blanket, red and white octagon shapes. The red bled all over the white, and there were too many pieces to sew together. It went to the Goodwill, after several years of crocheting, admiring, and stressing – chalk it up to experience.
My “learn to knit afghan” has been languishing in the closet for about 20 years. I think I got about half way through the squares. As I became a better knitter, I also became more particular about the yarn I use. If I’m going to all that work, it should be with something I really enjoy knitting with.
I plan on working on the beekeeper quilt until I’m 90
I started a Featherweight Sweater years ago (so long ago I’m not sure how long it’s been, definitely well over 10 years), I’m about halfway through the pattern and unlikely to finish it. I am contemplating frogging it.
Ha, ha. I have to laugh as I have a gorgeous multi color sweater that has been in a bag for over 10 years because I got way too large for it to ever fit me. Since losing 50 lbs, I may need to drag it out and see if there is a possibility it will ever fit so I feel the need to finish it.
I knit a color work sweater that was going to be my first steeked cardigan only to find I had made it way too small. I frogged it and tucked the yarn and pattern into to a clear zippered package that a set of sheets came in. I look at it once in a while and sigh
Ugh – I’ve been working on a sweater for three years now, and despite multiple attempts, my gauge seems to keep changing and I just cannot get the fit right. Probably time to frog it, but I’ve been too stubborn so far!
A blanket started in 2001… I have knit on it in the last 2 years. For one day…..
Argh! A cotton/linen top down sweater for my husband. The yarn makes me shudder. Started…13 years ago. Now one sleeve is done, but wonky. Tear it out?! Noooooo!!! Can you make a raglan sleeve sweater into a vest?…could I start a new one- armed style?…maybe….
One-armed *must* be on a runway somewhere!
My most ambitious project to date – a round lace table cloth. Knit from a pattern in a 70’s or early 80’s women’s magazine. No graphs – just line by line instructions. This was back when I had better eyesight and it turned out great. I have materials for a couple of fair isle sweaters that I don’t know if I will ever get to. Hope does stay with me, though. Never say never.
I selected the Clerestory Shawl for my first lace project. It is also my first project that requires reading a chart. I made it through the first half but I kept confusing the stitches in the second half. I set it aside last January and need to pick it back up.
Stephen West’s Painting Bricks Shawl
Yes, thank you for the sarcastic, eye-rolling, I-can’t-believe-what-I’ve done-to-myself account of your US map blanket. We can all understand! Probably I will never finish Design One, a cardigan by Jenny Watson. It’s been sitting since 2014. It’s only in need of sleeves, which are knit flat and then sewn and fitted in. I just don’t want to…
Crete sweater. Lovely sweater, clever design but I went off pattern early on thinking it wasn’t turning out big enough and now it’s done and I could fit 2 of me in it. Ripping back a sweater midstream is doable; so far ripping back a completed sweater, not so much.
a “learn to knit” knit blanket that is two years old and I still have two 9×9″ squares to finish. Then I have to block the squares and stitch them together. Oy!
I bought tons of Plötulopi cakes in “natural” shades to do a Kaffe blanket. How long has it been since that field guide came out? What was I thinking? He’s all about color, and I love all the brightest colors
A garter stitch blanket. Can’t stand working on it.
Some 1980s baby-blue, thick-thin, cotton yarn (plant fibres now make my hands hurt); part of the front of a top still on needles (I hate seaming); it’s doomed.
What will I never finish? I think that would be every sweater pattern WITH yarn that I always told myself would be super easy to knit up and finish. That may be so, but you have to start something in order to finish it! Big Sigh! Oh, well.
A scrappy blanket with 4×4″ squares. The remnant yarn (worsted weight) seems to never end. UGH!
The three headed dog from Tanis Gray’s Harry Potter Knitting Magic will likely never be completed. Sad to say to my grandson’s request!
Unfortunately, my white whale is a sweater for my husband. It’s been in the works for 5? years. Changed patterns, then husband expanded a bit, then not enough yarn, then yarn no longer available. I will say that he has plenty of hats and gaiters….
“Never gonna finish it”Project: Mutant fingerless glove / oven mitts. I began with too-thick yarn and too tight gauge. Does not bend so it looks like an oven bit…but the fingerless nature makes it a burnin hazard. Also it is too lumpy to use as a coaster. Also it is too misshapen and loose to use as a drink warmer. Also is so loose that when wearing and holding on bike handlebars, wind whistles straight up my arm like a wind funnel.
I’ve had a pair of socks waiting for the toes to be finished since (wait for it) 2010! Occasionally, I bring them out with the best of intentions, but after a few days I scoop them into a drawer where they mock me for another year.
Well it took me about four years to knit a brioche scarf in black yarn & I never thought I would finish. But last January (2021) I mailed that pretty squishy thing off to my dear niece in NYC. It was probably the roughest four years of my life but I did finish the scarf! You can do it, DG! Sending love & strength & wow that’s some project. Try a scarf?
Similar to others, a baby jumper for my son who is now 43.
I am very, very slowly working on a black cabled Curdach cardigan. Because it’s black, I can only work on it during daylight or in a brightly lighted room.
Hi there,
The object I will never finish is a long, variegated sweater vest. I purchased the yarn and pattern at The NYS Sheep and Wool way back sometime in the 1990’s when it still had a gem show attached to it and bouncy houses for the kids and a much different vibe than it currently emits. There were no “Rhinebeck sweaters” and such. So I bought a beautiful large skein and knit about half way up the vest and it was tossed aside and there it remains.
I started a Must Have Cardigan in 2008. All pieces knit and never seamed together. I sometimes don’t understand my procrastination. It’s a must have cardigan!!
I need to frog and remake a sweater that just wasn’t making me happy. For now it’s languishing in its unhappy state…
I have two sweaters, both started some years ago, both 3/4 done. I have, unfortunately (cough, cough) gained a few pounds in the intervening years. I’m afraid to pull out the UFO’s and see just how tiny I used to be and admit that I’m never going to be that size again. 🙂 🙁
Sometime in the ‘80’s, I started a color-blocked coat/sweater using five shades of Lopi. I have two sleeves done, two fronts, and part of the back. Or it is two sleeves, one front…..oh, I have’t looked at it for awhile and I’ve forgotten! But I drag it out of its box every so often because I think I should repurpose the yarn and then I see how far along it is, and think, no I should finish this sweater, all the while lovingly tucking it back into its box.
I wanted to make a throw pillow for our new house but it’s looking weird on the needles. I can’t decide if I should keep going in the hope it will look better when finished, or frog and try again. So it’ll probably sit for an eternity. Or until I need those needles for another project.
Won’t make anything that has to be seen together.
My Beekeepers Quilt may never be finished.
I love reading your comments, because they make me feel so ‘at home.’ No one outside our circle can possibly understand our love for yarn, our hesitancy in finishing certain projects and our desire to have others appreciate knitting as much as we do! Thanks for your fellow/girlship!
I have a heavily cabled and bobbled Michael Kors sweater (old Vogue Knitting) that I’ve actually knit the back of twice to change the size but has sat for the last, oh, maybe five or six years or more. I’m not sure that will make it out of the WIP pile.
I started a beautiful Irish fisherman style cabled cardigan about 20 years ago. I made a tiny change to the stitch pattern. It got packed away when we moved (18 years ago). Fronts and backs are complete but the sleeves are not. I have gotten it out to finish a couple of times but darned if I can figure out what I did to “tweak” the pattern. Note to self: WRITE THINGS DOWN
A pair of socks with adorable hand-dyed yarn. I hate knitting socks. I checked the other day when I added a row… started in 2014. I am on the ribbing (toe up) of first sock. I have frogged every other stubborn project. And yet the socks remain.
It was a sweater I started years ago. It was a map of the world. The front was North and South America. The back was Europe, Africa and Asia. Australia was on one sleeve. I got the back and half of the front done. After the years it spent in the back of the closet, I sold the partially completed sweater and all its many colors of yarn on eBay. It was very liberating. I hope the buyer finished it.
I almost finished a cotton sweater at least 12 years ago, it didn’t fit, modified it, still didn’t fit and was going to frog it, it’s still an unfinished sweater
“IT” immediately came to mind when I read about the US map project. “IT” is an afghan made up of numerous squares of different cable patterns. “IT “is stuffed in a bag in the back of my closet. I see “IT” every time I’m looking in my stash to start a new project! I was just thinking about getting “IT” out and finishing “IT” the other day! LOL! Well, we’ll see how that goes when I’m back home after our winter sojourn in Florida!
There is a hand quilted quilt in a drawer in the basement that has moved twice with me and will never be finished. There are many many knitting projects waiting for me to be inspired to finish, but hopefully not NEVER.
I had finished about 75% of Kiefer, the Forest Dragon, a pattern by Marie Overton, when the deadline (because of covid) went away. Her name is Morag, and a new deadline may be on the horizon, so with knitting group help, she MAY get finished this year.
I had a self-designed stranded sweater in fingering-weight wool, two colours per row throughout… neck-down. Got the body about 2/3 done, then it sat for some years… got the body finished, just the sleeves to do, and then it languished for more years… last year I finally made myself finish it, though the sleeves took 3 tries. Also, by now of course it did not fit me but it fits my daughter-in- law AND looks great on her, so I gave it to her. Took me, in all, over ~13 years. Now it is a Kaffe Fasset wrap featured on the cover of Vogue Knitting mag a few years ago. It is almost half-done… I deal with the Intarsia and stranded rows by knitting backwards instead of turning and purling, so I never have to tangle the colours by turning the work. But it is hibernating, again, at present. Maybe 3 years so far, on the needles.
My never finished objects tend to be in fingering or sock yarn. I have several solo socks, a lacy top in fingering, and the start of a fingering fade sweater. All are waiting for me to finish my other fiddly projects including a ribbed sweater in light sport and a brioche sweater in worsted.
My most ambitious project is Sidsel Hoivik’s Morning Mist Jacket. I bought the kit in June 2020 and just finished knitting the body. I still need to knit the sleeves, prepare and cut the steeks, knit the neckband and button bands, sew in the sleeves and facings, do the crochet border and embroidery and add the beads and sequins. Whew! Thank you for offering this giveaway!
My most ambitious project: I decided to knit a cerical stole for my brother, the pastor. Nevermind that I am more buddhist than Christian, he’s my adored brother, and I wanted to make something that symbolized my love & support of who he is. Of course, I involved him in the planning, since there are many considerations, both liturgical and personal, in choosing a stole. He decided on a solid green one, with a Jerusalem cross about 10″ from the bottom on each side, embroidered in the same color as the stole because he wants it to be subtle. I knit some stitch swatches for him, and of course he liked linen stitch the best. And there aren’t any great stole knitted patterns that I could find, so I had to design the thing. And I had to figure out how to stabilize it so that gravity won’t drag the ends down to his feet. And I had to learn how to embroider onto a knitted fabric.
I am a fast knitter. I knit several hundred projects per year, from dishcloths to hats to lace shawls. But it’s been 2 years now. The stole is finally knitted, and has its first layer of stabilizing fabric. The first Jerusalem cross (which is actually 5 crosses) is about half embroidered.
I sure hope he doesn’t retire before this thing is done, but I’m hopeful that I’m in the home stretch. Maybe 3 more months…
An all over Fair Isle cardigan. One day, maybe…
I started a fair isle vest for my husband when our sons were babies. There are a few more years before highschool but pandemic and homeschool has taken away my newly rediscovered ability to count or focus.
Wow. What an undertaking you have on your needles. I bow to your greatness in even attempting it. My forever unfinished project will most likely be a sweater that has been hibernating/marinating/collecting dust if it weren’t in a bag stuck in my closet. Got the body done. Knit the sleeves according to custom fit pattern, WAY to big. UGG. Of course, color work on sleeves and bottom of sweater body. Ripped out sleeve, tried again, nope- too big. And yes, I met gauge on the body, one would think sleeves would be on target as well. Oh well, many times, I’ve thought about just making it a vest, but that idea is still stewing.
I recently ditched my two oldest projects completely (one had been attacked by moths and the other was just… stupid) So now my oldest is a cardigan that was started about 4 years ago and really doesn’t need much but I just can’t get myself interested in finishing it!
Back in the day it was popular to make a mitered square blanket using fingering weight yarn scraps and size three needles. I was so inspired I started one. Currently it’s about the size of a scarf (It’s intended to be twin bed size). It’s still a wip, not sure when it will be done.
I was going to say the Lithia Shawl. It was a stretch beyond my knitting ability (and I really only finished it bc it was a MKAL and there was a dense forum on Ravelry for it). As my husband said when I gave it back to its owner (they bought the yarn, I knitted), there are a lot of curse words in that shawl…. But reading the comments reminded me there’s a three color tea cozy hiding out somewhere. It looked so pretty and fun years ago but I didn’t really know what I was doing and I never did make it to adding the third color in. I should find the scant 3 or 4 rows that I did and frog it to be something else.
Every once and a while I go back to my mitered square crazy blanket to be made of my way too many ends of sock yarn. Since I continue to knit socks, I will always has a few more squares to make up and add to the piece.
I actually made a pattern for a blanket that I’ve started and hope to finish this year. One of my dear friends is a huge Vanilla Ice fan. He asked for a custom blanket because he’s tall and most blankets don’t cover his feet when they’re snuggled up to his chin. So I’m making a blanket that looks like the Florida highway sign for A1A (Beachfront Avenue!) At least I only have two colors to worry about.
I have all the yarn and pattern for that first Rowan blanket knit along…but haven’t started it. Why? I don’t know but it’s there if we ever get snowed in for 3 months in a row . Fingers crossed. NJ
The most ambitious project I ever knitted was the time I, on a lark, applied for a grant from Building Stronger Neighborhoods to Knit A Bridge over a four lane highway that bisects my neighborhood. I was awarded like three thousand dollars to spend on yarn and needles and I gave myself three months to teach as many people as I could (and then have them teach as many people as they could) to knit eight foot “scarves” to wrap around the railings of the bridge. I recruited a fun crew and we would just meet and hunker in at coffee shops or the farmers market or in parks with really big bowls and baskets of yarn and sit and knit. When people would ask what the heck we were doing we would invite them to take free needles and yarn and get them started. In the end, we knit the bridge (and guard rails and phone poles etc) and made a whole lot of connections with out neighbors of all ages. Here are some pictures of the process and outcome. Good Times. https://www.facebook.com/ktblindleypark
My so-far-never-unfinished WIP is Bridget Rorem’s gorgeous lace weight Near Solstice Shawl from Schoolhouse Press that I started in October 2009. It’s all garter stitch with these sweet little eyelet bird footprints all over it and a Haiku poem in eyelet text across the top edge: “At Winter’s Dawning Birds are Dancing on My Snow to Silent Music”. I’m about 20% done. I appreciate this post because it has reminded me that I really have no excuses for not finishing this beauty. I think it has percolated long enough dontcha think? Thanks for the kick in the butt! 😉
Really truly using up my stash of fingering yarn.
A pair of 3 color mittens on US0 needles started 8 years ago…
My never ending project was a stained glass window afghan – is beautiful and weight a TON
My self-patterned colorwork scarf featuring a portrait of Lou Reed is truly endless. And it follows on the heels of my pattern design prototype scarf called Rebel Rebel (guess who) which I did finish and managed to launch on Ravelry. It’s a 3-pattern series… yeah, right! But I’m holding onto a shred of hope. All of this said your map project kinda makes Lou feel possible, so thanks! There’s a WIP photo of Lou on Instagram @socharmedtribe. I hope you reach Orlando soon.
Champion of rip it back and start something new.
In 35 years of knitting there have only been a few projects I tossed due to frustration. I don’t even remember them. But I do stay away from things that would make me crazy like lace with lace weight yarn. Not a huge fan of Intarsia either. Tried brioche once and its still on my list to master!
For brioche, check out the recently released Hello Brioche book by PDXKnitterati – Michele Bernstein. I had never knit brioche before and she let me test knit and it honestly was so much easier than I thought. The patterns are on Ravelry and I made notes on my test knits, if you care to check them out. The book has really good photos and links to videos – and I promise the videos are incredible.
Since you asked..I have several UFOs in my stash and they nag at me. I pulled one out, an almost finished black turtleneck with the face of a cat in duplicate stitch on the front. I hate duplicate stitch which is why this is a UFO but the sweater would be perfect for my grand-daughter who is going to school in Minnesota. She loves the sweater, but unfortunately the moths got into the yarn. I’m trying to finish the duplicate stitch cat and cursing the whole way. I should have put this project in the Goodwill bag instead of showing it to its intended recipient. The other UFOs await.
A Lucy Hague shawl (Lindisfarne) that in addition to the little twisty cables, requires a steek when it is all done. It has been sitting in my closet waiting for the final I-cord edge and then the steek. I haven’t mustered up the courage yet to finish it off.
I have a brioche shawl (Andrea Mowry pattern) that I just can’t seem to finish. I decided to redesign the border and am still tinkering with the stitches…not to mention it’s >400 stitches across and I always seem to have time for other projects while that one languishes in its project bag.
A lace “skirt” that I started as a new knitter about 20 years ago. I keep thinking that it probably won’t feel so hard now, but never manage to pull it out to work on. Maybe this is the year?
I wish I hadn’t looked at your essay. Now I want to knit a map of Canada, but I am sure that a chart doesn’t exist, so I have the irrational thought that I could ‘just’ draw up a chart, calculate the yarn required and ‘presto’ knit the afghan. Then I remember the Canada 150 blanket pattern that I purchased in (1867 + 150=), can it really be 2017? Along with all the yarn. Which I haven’t started, unless you count the gift pillow I made with one of the squares. And there is the Martin Storey afghan that was begun in the time before time. At least I knit all the squares. Just have to finish sewing together and knit the trim. Maybe a year, or two….
My first cabled sweater was made of red angora yarn from a 80s Vogue Knitting mag. It fell about ½ way down the thigh and worked with skirts, jean or good pants. A while ago I couldn’t find it. I looked in every sweater drawer with no luck. Recently, when cleaning the closet I found the cat curled up, fast asleep behind the big laundry basket on my beloved sweater. Needless to say, after the application of kitty talons it is no longer a viable piece of wearable art. Worse yet, I can’t find the pattern so I could remake it. ARGH.
An afghan with cute dog faces for some squares. Started about 20 yrs ago. Stopped knitting for some reason. Found the pattern one day but couldn’t find the yarn. Got rid of the pattern. Started knitting again about 3 yrs ago. Sold house and found yarn in garage. So, have yarn with a few finished squares. But futile search online for the pattern.
Probably never going to finish a Lily Chin shawl that I loved loved loved when I first saw it. Then I started making it and realized I don’t love it as much as I thought I did, and the color’s wrong…And the lace weight yarn is super sticky, so frogging it may not even be an option. An early knitting project that taught me a lot.
I will never, ever finish a scarf I started shortly after I first learned to knit. It’s made of Malabrigo worsted (so soft!) but for some reason, I chose to do it in seed stitch. For me, a thrower, seed stitch is an aerobic activity…back and forth with the yarn, back and forth…and as boring as all get out. The memories are so bad I can’t even bring myself to repurpose the yarn, so there it sits. Still on the needles.
A tumbling block afghan that I knit two of the same strip. The blocks didn’t tumble.
I’m a never say never! Hardest was a large intricate lace shawl in zephyr yarn. Puppy trashed the ball of yarn half way through, but knitting survived by some miracle. Ordered more yarn and dye lot was close enough I finished it after about 3 years.
I may never finish a temperature blanket I started 4 or 5 years ago. I think I’ve gotten through June. Once I fell behind it started snowballing into this massive project. I pick it up every once in a while.
Yoga “socks” with no heel or toe—how do you do that?!
My bury-me-with-it-because-I’ll-never-finish-it project is a lace shawl knit with a single-ply silk/angora blend. In BLACK. I can’t see the darn stitches, the yarn is splitting and fuzzy and I can’t COUNT the darn stitches. I frogged the cast on twice and had to cut off the overfuzzed yarn, then found an error 60 some rows in and had to frog 30rows, and it’s been sitting in a drawer for over a year. No more black yarn. To paraphrase Taylor Swift: “like….EVER”.
A Kaffe Fassett colorwork scarf, so gorgeous, but really…..
Dunfallandy! an absolutely gorgeous super cabley baby blanket from Knitty. I may revisit it when I have time to translate the mile and a half of written directions into a chart but for now I occasionally run across the swatch I made of the cable pattern and just pat it.
A temperature blanket I started in 2020!!
Cool project – way too ambitious for me though… My most ambitious is a sweater kit from Christel Seyfarth. It’s way more complex than anything I’ve ever done, and maybe some day I’ll pick it up again and see if I can figure out where I am to get beond the bottom facing LOL…I believe the pattern is called flower garden – first time using the norwegian wool too… Lots of learning curve for me.
The yarn I bought when I was a new knitter and appalled at the cost of yarn. Recycled cotton waste. Beige, which is not a colour I wear. Tried several different projects, all sitting at the bottom of the bin. Maybe I can make a baby blanket…
I have several projects in bins in my office. Mostly large blankets that require yarn juggling or massive amounts of icord edging to finish. And one sweater that is now way to big, with massive amounts of beautiful cables (Nora Gaughan). I picture a scene from Harry Potter with the objects all screaming at me like the opened book in the restricted library section were I ever so momentarily insane as to open said bins.
Lindisfairne by Lucy Hague. Not ready to say “never” out loud but there’s this little voice inside….
Seems like a cable cardigan that I started 4 years ago is destine to never be finished. No particular reason why, love the pattern. Guess I just keep getting distracted by shiny new projects.
I am about 9/10 completed with a striped baby blanket – in a bargello type pattern. The knitting is done, but all the color changes mean there are endless amount of ends to weave in. That baby is now 5, so I’m looking ahead to when my godson (he’s 28) has a child sometime in the future. That ‘should’ allow sufficient time to finish it!
My never-to-be-finished project is probably a pair of socks I started, oh, maybe 10 (12?) years ago. Somehow the stitch count after I turn the heel is never correct and I can’t get past it!
As much as I’d like to do it, I think my never-to-be-completed project is the Echo Rio Wrap. It looks as though it should be utterly mindless, so easy to do when doing anything else I want, but I’m bored with it practically before having started it. And that makes me a little bit sad.
A pair of fair isle mittens. Made the first one…
I will never finish the summer tank dress that I was making for my daughter when she was 7. She is now 13 and 5’8”. If I were to finish it, it would probably end up as a cropped tank top when she put it on!
A color work cardigan that I am picking the color work motifs as I knit along. Love working on it but haven’t dared think of a finish date.
Most ambitious…a cotton top from 3 summers ago, all the knitting is done, just not the seaming.
I started and made a knitted ‘quilt’ blanket for an auction. It was one of the first things I ever knit and it turned out beautifully, so I decided to make another as a baby blanket for my nephew…the one who leaves for college in a year or two 🙂
Never going to finish feels like the sweater I’m urgently working on. It’s not even complicated, just on the smallest needles I ever work and with 10 inches of positive ease—it’s huge compared to all my snug fit cardigans!
My most ambitious project was a colorwork crochet sweater for my mother. I learned how to do intarsia on the way. Plus I used a hairy yarn so frogging was impossible. Plus it was a surprise so I couldn’t measure it on her. It did come out fantastic though.
Omg. A large lace shawl from “A Gathering of Lace” that I ambitiously (and mistakenly) thought would be done in a year or so. Turns out that the pattern only provides half a chart and you have to read it backwards for the other half. 15 years later…..
Yes, fair isle sweater – I love the look of the 2 or 3 color patterns, but I am SO slow knitting with more than 1 yarn in a round! I have 2 started but not finished now.
I started a knitted felted tote bag about 5 years ago. Two moves later and I’m still thinking about finishing it! Love the colors, love the idea, but have gotten way off the track by exploring other knitting techniques, taking on several sweater projects that take loads of time, needing to get back to spinning! Not enough hours in the day as always, but for sure I’m never going to be bored!
Recently to unravel and put away a couple of things I started but didn’t love. That feels better!
Just one? Ok, how about the modular blanket I started maybe 10 years ago . . . I may have pilfered some of the yearn for other projects in the meantime . . .
First cardigan started and never finished: wrong size, yarn color I don’t love anymore and front side panels that don’t seem to match for some reason. I need to get frogging but something keeps holding me back. Maybe moths will just eat it up for me and save me the trouble…lol.
I started a vintn intricateAran cable jacket a year and a half ago. Christmases and birthdays have come and gone, which means cowls, scarves and other gifts got in the way of finishing that jacket. Oh yes, I decided I needed to learn brioche, which also took a lot of time and experimenting. Anyway! I am finally coming to an end in sight – have only 1.5 sleeves and a button band to go!! Yippee! i hope it will be ready for spring.
The 3rd thing I ever knit. I knit a washcloth around age 7. Jump forward to age 25, I decided to knit a baby blanket. That went so fabulously, I decided to knit an aran sweater. This was before the internet was instant access, chat rooms were only accessible on dial-up, and the knitting world was still a decade or two away from digitizing.
I spent weeks trying to find someone who could tell me what “knit stitches as they appear” meant. The local craft/yarn store owner and workers couldn’t tell me. Plus, I figured out on my own that there was a typo in the legend. The dot in the square said that it was a purl stitch on the right side and a knit stitch on the wrong side. It turns out that bit of instruction was completely backward.
The first time I frogged it was after the puppy chewed holes in the right sleeve and the back (which was complete) but left the front alone (which was only 25% complete.) I started again after figuring out how to unkink the yarn and got halfway up the back when I “discovered” that I DIDN’T have to seam up things and could put a faux seam on the sides, so to the frog pond again. It is now languishing in my unfinished projects bin and due for another trip to the frog pond since I’ve discovered Asa Tricosa’s Ziggurat method and am keen to try it on a pattern not written that way. Every time I learn something new, this poor sweater bears the brunt of it. I started it 25 years ago, and luckily, the design was a classic then and is still one now.
A Tin Can Knits Pop Blanket with 96 squares that need to be sewn together. Ugh! What was I thinking??
A hexa-puff blanket or will it be a scarf or a washcloth? LOL
My first sweater which is almost right if I just….oh, and my second where I have to finish the sleeves and add a cowl…
Bought a book on knitting Gansey sweaters; thought (still think??) I’ll design – and of course knit! – one for our 36 year old son, but that’s Probably Never Going to Happen!!
The garter stripe shawl ! It’s not that it is difficult ~there is just so much of it. I have a box full of the yarn, needles, and the book. Well I guess as soon as I finish the sweater, three pairs of socks and three hats I’ll begin it.
Somewhere in my knitting black hole is a doll I started for someone who is now grown up and if I ever finish the doll it will be for her grandchildren.
I started a brioche scarf then got the crazy idea to make four of them sewn into a four gore skirt then decided it could be a jumper with a back zip then decided it should have sleeves… I’m not sure it’ll still fit me…
A pair of light fingering weight colorwork socks, started in 1999 (which I know as the date is knitted in, just below the cuff on one sock, while initials are at the top of the other. These socks have 12 colors, stranded knitting, mosaic, intarsia in the round a la Priscilla Gibson-Roberts, and a pattern I charted out when obviously oxygen deprived or on heavy post-surgical medication. There’s even a slip stitch pattern I designed for the heel flap. It lives in a muslin bag in the stash, gets taken out every year or two, then tucked carefully back under slightly less improbable projects. Maybe someday…
I’ve never tackled a blanket, but I have started and not finished a fabulous jacket, a Weekender sweater, and at least 2-3 pair of socks which have been languishing for much of the past two years due to brain fog and inability to remember how to do a cast on, even when I’ve got an illustrated step by step in front of me. Recently started getting itchy to knit again, so hope is on the way! I also have patterns and yarn for several multi-skein wearables. I enjoy knitting so much and have realized that I need to get going again! I actually have a large Granny Square blanket that my Granny crocheted for me when I was very young. I was tasked with sewing the squares together. I still have the blanket and use it every winter. So stop my typing and start knitting again!
Never gonna finish it project? Hahahaha! Which one? Seriously, though, it’s some random yarn blanket I started for my husband about 12 years ago? It’ll never get done, even if I manage to find it. I know it’s out there, but I cannot remember where I put it. It just randomly haunts my dreams. Plus? All khaki brown. Blech.
Lace shawls, I have enough yarn for at least 2 dozen, and I’m still on my first. But the yarn is so pretty and the lace is so feminine.
My dear mother-in-law taught me to knit. When she passed I cleaned out her knitting stash and found two darling white baby cardigans with cabled owls across the yokes. All that’s left to finish them are the button plackets. I take them out and admire them every once in awhile and then I put them away. I know when I finally find out I’m having a grand baby of my own I’ll pull them out and have to find some more experienced knitter to help me finish them.
A giant granny square afghan. I picked it up as a project to practice my crochet skills, which, ironically are still pretty much non-existent. I’ve used the Cascade 220 yarn that was leftover in many wonderful knitting projects instead!
I thought I’d knit a blanket. Yarn purchased. That is it.
A 3×5 cross stitch of a pheasant flying out of tall grass. I thought I liked cross stitch, er, thought I would like it. It’s in a bin somewhere maybe halfway done started over a decade ago untouched for.at least 5.
I took a sweater-knitting class in which we learned to create a sweater using our own measurements and guaranteed to fit our unique bodies. I’ll never know if it worked. The sweater remains in its separate pieces. I’m afraid to take it out of the bag.
There was a vest that took at least 2 years to finish but I don’t think I ever wore it. Will have to go find it…
Started a crochet blanket I got through 3/4 of before Covid. Then I learned to knit. Oops! Haven’t Crocheted a wink since, except for a brief foray into Tunisian (key word-knitting!).
A 2-color brioche scarf in a leafy pattern. I’ve had to rip back so much I’m sure I’ve knit each row at least three times.
The Shift cowl by Andrea Mowry, knit in 3 colors of Schoppel-Wolle Edition 3. The only reason I doubt I’ll ever finish project this is that husband misplaced entire project bag while “reorganizing” home office to facilitate work from home. GRRR! I’ve been looking for it for weeks as he can’t remember where he moved it, not even which room. May have to buy yarn and start again.
Silly I know, but I knitted a cowl that changed colors to document scoring for my favorite football team’s season for the year that they made the playoffs after a 17 year drought. Turns out I don’t like it at all so I haven’t grafted the long tube into a cowl, but I can’t bring myself to frog it out of superstition
I’m intimidated by seaming…but I will finish my Coal Cardigan by Veronik Avery started at the beginning of 2021. The finished pieces are beautiful and I WILL get over my intimidation…
A gray cardigan with pink stripes. I’m stuck on set in sleeves so it just keeps going to the bottom of the rotation.
A lace weight sweater in at least half mohair yarn is still in the closet. It’s been so long since it has been seen that I only remember it has cables.
I have a massive Joji Locatelli scarf that I have started and not finished twice. I really want the FO, but #1 all those cables make it slow going and #2 I moved from NYC to Texas where a huge cabled scarf Is a lot less practical.
Newbie knitter. Knitted a headband on 10mm needles instead of US size 10. Won’t even fit a newborn. What was I thinking? Will redo. Someday.
A christening shawl in 1ply. I was pregnant at the time, she just turned 24 and still the shawl is on the needles 🙂
tried numerous times to knit any toys. never finished a doll for my niece who was born in 2006 finally frogged the limbs only part i had completed
Matching socks for me, my husband, and 2 sons. I can make socks, but just thinking about making 4 pairs of the same thing…
Maybe not considered super ambitious for some, but for me it was a brioche sweater. I keep picking it up starting, frogging, starting again and….repeat!!
A fox paws scarf in shades of purple, grey and blue. Lovely yarn, beautiful pattern but the thing terrifies me. Check out the pattern to see what I mean
Too new to knitting to say I have a never gonna finish project, but the most ambitious and the one that has been pushed to the bottom of the pile for when I am more confident, is the Patty Lyons Brioche kal.
My 2021 colorwork Advent cowl. It’s a beautiful pattern, but I don’t like the length of it.
I started a blanket, knitted a good feet’s length and abandoned. I turned it into a bag !
A sweater. I started sweater for my husband. Love the pattern and have two sleeves done. Have cast on body but haven’t gotten past the ribbing. Christmas knitting kicked in then other projects called. Perhaps I’ll get back to it. But no hurry as he won’t need it till next winter, right??
I have a pair of socks for my daughter I started when she was in middle school. I put down after finishing the first one. She is now well into her 20s. The pattern gave me a headache and even if I finished it I am not sure they would fit my daughter’s now adult sized feet. Though my daughter, bless her, insists she would wear them if I ever finish them as they’re still cool.
Oh my goodness, it’s a circular lace shawl pattern I found for free and it’s SO HARD. It’s so beautiful but there are like 96 different symbols in one row and like 8 repeats of each row and I mess up at least once a row so it’s not even lined up properly! If I have to undo any more mistakes I might just restart
I’m such a slow knitter that I don’t know if I will ever finish an adult sweater, though I long to do so.
Westknits knit along 2021. Of course I couldn’t leave it at the small version so I will be at the large border until at least knit along 2024…
A pair of stranded mittens on size 1 dpns. The design: a mother and daughter snowmen or snowomen. They have been sitting in a bag at the back of my closet since before the pandemic and I can’t even remember how long ago that was!
Maybe I should pull them out and finish them after all?
I have a baby blanket that is made of little centre out lace flowers. I have 3. Blanket needs 48.
I started a shrug quite a few years ago from the book Wrapped in Color. I don’t like it or the yarn color I chose now but I will finish ….some day.
I finished my first adult sweater years ago using intarsia before I even knew what that meant. The sleeves don’t match, in stereotypical style.
I have a colorwork cowl on tiny needles that is a beautiful kit that I might put in my will to go to any of my descendants that want to work on it and will it to their descendants to finish
Ugh. So many cotton sweaters started and abandoned in a trunk. Why did it take so long to admit I don’t like cotton sweaters or knitting cotton?
A sweater I started years ago, put down, shoved in a project bag. Came across it while looking for something else. Realized that I didn’t put the pattern in with it. Don’t know the name of the pattern. Probably will end up frogging. It looks wonky. Sigh…
I can’t think of one single project but knitting through or putting a dent in my stash seems impossible. Especially if I keep buying yarn and adding new craft hobbies.
A knitted Euroflax skirt.
A lace scarf project that I kept through two moves, but I didn’t store it properly and the yarn became hopelessly tangled.
Almost every project I start! . I’m good at finding something that I think I want to make, and then purchasing the yarn needed, but not so good at finishing. I have a fair isle sweater that has just needed to be sewn together for about 30 years now…
I will never finish an adorable colorwork jumper started when my youngest was a baby. She’s a teen now!
Only one? I just gave up on a lace cardigan (who writes a pattern that has lace on BOTH SIDES) that has been languishing since 2016. I frogged and soaked the yarn and started a Weekender.
Never gonna finish, you say? Why, that would be the Forever Blanket, so named because I’ve been working on it Forever and *will* be working on it Forever and Ever. Amen. Log Cabin in random patterns, and varied colors, in 9” squares. It’s very Zen.. Nice to knit. But even if I actually finish doing all the knitting, I’d rather pull out all my fingernails than even think about the seaming necessary to FINISH it. So I’ll just keep knitting…
I think I’ll still finish everything, even the ones hibernating for years!
I have a zigzag scarf that I leave in my husband’s car for “emergencies” so actually never knit on it since I usually have other knitting with me.
I started an Antelope Island scarf with such good intentions…and promptly misread the chart. Since his is one of those where you knit each end separately and graft the middle, that means I needed to mess up the chart on purpose for the second end. That didn’t sound like fun, and somehow he whole project fell into the frog pond. Sometimes I think about trying again, but something else always distracts me.
It’s not pretty but it is going on 5? 8? years as a WIP: a brown viajante. It’s not the pattern’s fault. But 9,000 yds of wool-silk laceweight in a subtly dyed but truly just brown colorway? Meant to be my mindless, pick-it-up-between-other-WIPs, think-on-something, project. At this rate, I’ll be discovering that – wouldn’t you know it – a drapey, brown poncho with a dramatic point at the bottom doesn’t really “pop” for a really, really old woman driving walker or wheelchair.
My never-gonna-finish-it project? Apparently all of them, because I’m covidding 200 miles from home where I’m taking care of my mother in her home, and almost all my yarn is, well, 200 miles away. No worries, though. I whittled down a couple small branches into knitting needles and am knitting old tangles of fishing line that wash up on the shore of Lake Huron. (Not really. But it might come to that yet!) 😉
I have a fingering weight, colorwork sweater for my XL self sitting halfway finished in a bag. I also started a temperature blanket for my son’s first year – he’s in preschool now.
An afghan with many squares. Maybe one day!
A lace shawl. Turns out I am not a lacy person.
Does having yarn you are afraid to knit (for fear of ruining it) count? If yes, then my WIP involves quiviut.
A tunic style sweater vest with cables and a key neck hole in the back. It is probably 2/3 done but has been sitting in a bag for a few years. I knitting cables but I am just not inspired to finish it. Maybe it is the shade of green I did it in, maybe not.
to date, the covid coat i made (temperature based during mostly my lockdown and other “highlights” of 2020 and creeping into 2021 leading up to my vaccination). also have this idea germinating for a long scarf/cowl inspired by the works of christo & jeanne-claude… i have already made several pieces before/after visiting their installations in situ, but this would be a cumulative piece. check back in 10 years??
I have a mohair lace wrap that’s I’ll probably never finish but I always think “in the summer when I have more time I’ll get back to it.” And then something else always catches my eye instead…
Well it’s the ubiquitous blanket. Doesn’t matter the pattern. Makers keep making them and I think “yes, that’s a good idea”. I have 3 on the needles (ok one is crochet). This will be my year! I am determined to finish all three. And also this year no more Christmas knitting. (Yeah, I know I am lying to myself. )
A Hanna Faulkenberg sweater kit that I bought in Copenhagen. Fingering weight cardigan with a sort of pleat detail peplum…what was I thinking?
Adorable syncopated brioche hat. Don’t have the focus to learn the brioche decrease. Tragic!
Intarsia sweater, always
My never-gonna-finish-it project is a sweater, of course. I started it years ago with high hopes and great yarn and even instruction from a knit shop in Austin. What happened? Where is it? Why won’t I dig it out and finish it? Hmmmm. I’ll think about that tomorrow.
A few km’s of cobweb weight merino wool in my stash that I just can’t get started, so I’ll never finish.
Beautiful baptismal blanket for my god-child baby who is now 21.
As a beginning knitter my most ambitious project so far is the placemat that I made as the project for my beginner knitting class. I finished it but required some serious dedicated time to get it done.
I purchased a book that contains patterns for a variety of animal toys and their clothing. The patterns are pretty complicated and the clothing is fiddly but I’m learning so much. There are thirteen animals. I was determined to knit every one. I finished four rather quickly but now that I’m working on the fifth one, my enthusiasm has waned.
For me its not a knitting project but repairing knitted projects. I’ve taken a class on visible mending, I’ know how to darn — and I have beautiful cashmere sweaters that need those nasty moth holes fixed. Have I done it yet???? NO! and February is warming up, so will they get repaired????
I love fair isle sweaters but I knit so slow that I think it would take forever for me to knit one.
A white lace sweater. The pattern is complicated and the idea of sewing the thing together and wearing it seems impossible. I am closer to tossing the thing but not quite.
My never gonna finish project is actually a small one, but it involves two pieces – above the elbow fingerless gloves I designed (and of course, did not write down details accurately) for a friend who had (no longer has it) a coat with 3/4 length sleeves. The gloves are a bit complicated and the one that is half done is lovely. Sigh. Because I was designing as I knitted, I didn’t do both at once, only making notes that I cannot now decipher. Lesson learned the hard way.
I started a sweater …oh … maybe 17 years ago? Along the way I lost the pattern, changed sizes, moved four times, got divorced, rented a storage unit, earned a masters and completed all the course work for a Ph.D. That unfinished sweater came along.
I finished three other sweaters.
I thought, “I’ll use the yarn for something else. I’ll just keep it until I have time.” And I’d put it back into the bag, back into the box, back into storage.
Then, the basement flooded. The box got wet. The needles rusted and the yarn molded. So I threw the whole thing out.
And I finished four more sweaters, including one I designed.
I started knitting an afghan to keep in my first car—a car that was notorious for breaking down and whose heater never worked, despite several trips to a mechanic. The afghan was supposed to keep me warm—a necessity in Saskatchewan, where we have winter for what seems like 8 months of the year. Fast forward 32 years—my lovely little car is a very distant memory and the afghan was still on my needles, barely begun. Then, my young adult stepson, who had taken up knitting, challenged me to finish it. And I did. My wonderful navy afghan is in use most nights as an extra layer to keep me warm. Some projects are definitely worth returning to an finishing.
The fair isle sweater- very complicated.
I designed my first blanket, an otter and some salmon for a friend who just had a baby. I was waaaaaay too ambitious, because it’s intarsia and has 6 or 7 different bobbins across throughout the blanket. I tried to use the big balls of yarn themselves as I knit, but that was sort of a disaster. I will finish it one day, but the kid may be 5 or 6 by that point… but I’m proud of the pattern and I have hope!!
I have a sweater still waiting for sleeves. It seems that just when I’m ready to finish, a new yarn and/pattern pops up and back into the closet goes the sweater.
An afghan for my beach house!
A sweater for the daughter. I knit that thing three times.
The neverending sock yarn blanket!
Oh my gosh. In 1978 I knitted up the back to a gorgeous rust colored Candide Aran fisherman knit sweater that took about a half hour per row. For my then boyfriend. 43 years and 2 husband’s later (and the bf now deceased) I still look at it, intending to finish it. Do I simply do a v neck front and have it as a baggy vest for myself? Do I finish it for my husband- whose arms are libger- and find out that I don’t have enough yarn for the sleeve length ? Should I frog ut and make a blanket!
I’ve been working on a patchwork illusions blanket for a former student since she’s graduated…she’s now 30…I’ve never knit a queen size blanket (nor any sized blanket before) and promised I’d finish this one before she buys a house. 🙂
I started a lace rectangular wrap once. I love lace, but this one I kept having to go back and reknit. I probably had a foot or so done after years when I finally said I wanted those stitch markers and that needle back and pulled it all out.
Spiral heel sock. Still on the needles from at least 12 years ago. Every now and then I stumble across it in my stash and then keep moving. Not only is the sock unfinished, I would still have to make the second one if I ever finished the first one. I think I will just go and frog the whole thing. Maybe.
A copy of a vintage 1945 Christmas Stocking, minus original pattern. I did finish it, but gnashed my teeth the whole way. Fiddly color changes, begone!
A lace weight huge lace shawl about two seconds after I learned to knit. The yarn is the same diameter as spider silk. With two knitted on borders. I made it to the borders, but I know I will never knit them
A temperature blanket I started in 2019!
I started a “first sweater” 2 years ago with a Tin Can Knits pattern. Absolutely love the Malabrigo I chose- a denim blue with faint purple throughout. Made it down half the body and half a sleeve. Maybe I could just bind off and wear it like that- haha.
I have a blanket in an acrylic boucle that is knit in the school colors of either my brother or my son (who now lives in Florida). Knitting with this yarn makes my hands hurt; neither potential recipient is interested. And yet, I feel a compulsion to finish it…some day. I have two more skeins to go.
I have a bag of crocheted squares waiting to be assembled into a baby blanket. One would think that a baby sized blanket should be easy, but it’s been nine years in the UFO queue.
I HAD several but have forced myself to frog or finish. It’s quite freeing.
I seem to never finish a pair of socks, even two at a time!
“Never gonna finish projects” is not one but several projects gone by the wayside of diligent planning, buying yarn, searching for needles I am sure are in my possession, and of course hours of discussions with myself about said project. Disappointments in the yarn and other projects has led to a growth in my stash at an alarming rate. The latest was a scarf pattern I fell in love with the minute I saw the pattern. I was able to duplicate the sample shown in yarn and colors. But actually beginning said project left me devastatingly disappointed in the fabric I created. So off to the same cycle as before to find that exciting next project.
I have a great pile of squares that are supposed to one day be a throw for snugging on the couch. They’re in a variety of coordinating colors, so the fact that I mis-calculated the amount of yarn I needed really shouldn’t be a problem…I can order more coordinating yarn at any time. But, alas! The squares are sitting quietly in a lovely basket in my craft room waiting that far off day when I stop casting on other more promising projects and come back to make just a few more squares. And seam them, which is a whole different kettle of fish!
I may one of those few who does not have UFOS! Though I may fall out of love with the project, I continue to love the journey. When I finish, I give it to a friend or donate.
Main Squeeze Sweater
I have a Persian Dreams blanket started. It haunts me.
I have yet to give up on a project, but I’ve come close. I recently learned how to knit color work, and my first color work project was the Sparks socks. I have a method where I knit both socks at the same time, but on two different sets of needles. I was halfway down the foot, and was going to frog them. They had served their teaching/practice purpose, and I wasn’t “feeling it” anymore. A friend convinced me to finish them because firsts are important. She said even if I only wore them as house socks, they were still so incredibly special being my first color work project. So I finished them. I’m pretty happy I listened to my friend slogged through. Are they my favorite socks? Not even close, but I’m really proud of them all the same.
Oddly enough, it’s a scrappy blanket. I started it years ago and it, along with lots of scraps, have been sitting in a bin untouched.
Doesn’t seem that ambitious now, but banging out a sweater in a month sounded like craziness in January. A sweater? In 28 DAYS? I still may not make it, but it will be close. Now, back to my needles!
I have several scarves started in various bags around the house. Every time I find a gorgeous yarn that I have to have a skein of I start one, finding a stitch pattern that will show it off. Then when I find the bag again I cannot figure out the stitch and it sits.
My most consciously ingnored project is the Joji shawl, Ashes, that I was going to make for my daughter to wear at her December wedding. I was holding mohair with an exquisite pale gray lace weight yarn. I couldn’t stop making mistakes and got tangled up every time I had to tink back. When my daughter chose a dress that was more cream than white I put it down- with a guilt free sigh of relief. I had started over so many times that I had lost count.
At this point I don’t know if I will ever finish. I have about 10 lovely inches of shawl and all that lovely yarn…
Oh, and it turned out that that she wouldn’t have worn it anyway. The weather that night here in Austin was like a perfect spring evening.
Hilarious (as always), because Ive had a quilted map of my state idea in my head forever. I had many, many sketches, measurements, etc worked out. At one point I threw it all out since I never actually worked on it, but recently the idea has come back to haunt me and I wish I’d kept all the blown up copies of maps and pattern pieces.
A beautiful Elsbeth Lavold sweater (Tulipa if you want to see it) in beautiful orange Silky Soft yarn. Back when I thought I could tell I was “right on gauge” just by looking at my knitting! All 4 pieces of the sweater are finished and I realized it would fit me and another person at the same time! I keep thinking I should rip it out and try again! It’s at least 10 years old, still in a plastic bag in my knitting closet, reminding me of my knitting naïveté!!
A beaded pi shawl. The center with it’s interesting lace pattern went fast but the next million rounds of simple k2tog, yo with random beads bores me to tears. If I finish a round a month I feel successful. I’ve made 4 lace tank tops, several pairs of mittens, a couple of baby blankets, and innumerable hats since I started that shawl. Maybe some day I’ll finish.
My most ambitious project was a Starsky & Hutch sweater for a man who is a foot taller then the actor and it had to be exactly identical!
I used stock photos (he was an avid fan) and I made the pattern from counting stitches from the photo. I measured him and in 5 months I finished my first ever sweater!
Mine never gonna finish is a Kaffe Fair Isle sweater with 3 strands of yarn held together and random color changes every 4 rows. Pretty, but crazy.
Never finish? Perhaps the Persian rug sweater done in intarsia from an old vogue magazine in the early ‘90’s.
I keep telling myself, “just do one row a day” and I may finish it by the next century.
Or felt it into a cat bed…..
My goal is to finish a sweater that fits me.
The project that’s always in the works and never finished (started?) is my sweater. It’s derailed by socks, washcloths, more socks, rolling balls of yarn and sorting, and then starting another pair of socks … because who doesn’t love socks?
A lace scarf called Whitman done in beautiful green fingering Alisha Goes Around Richness of Martens (Downhill/green). I’ve run out of the yarn with 20 rows to finish the end and cannot find any more or anything close to match.
Working on a poncho project that requires steeking. Has sat in my bag for two years now. One day….maybe…. I’ll find the courage.
an multi-cable aran sweater where the second sleeve (partly finished) was clearly a different width than the first. So I’ve ripped it way back to try to redo it to match the first one, but haven’t had the guts to try again.
Unfinished project? An intricate Kaffe Fassett sweater for a beau who became unworthy – they were both CAST AWAY (is that a new knitting term — cast on, cast off, and CAST AWAY?)
I have about four sweaters that need to be sewn together. The oldest is one I finished knitting in 2012! I’m not sure it will still fit! I am knitting the Dissent sweater for my daughter. That one I will finish. Mainly because it’s for her and second it’s top down.
I’m working on a blanket done one square at a time, the Kerry Kyle, by Kate Davies. I thought it would be a doddle, but with a pinhole cast on and double pointed needles, I have now frogged the FIRST part of the FIRST square exactly THIRTY-SEVEN TIMES. at this rate, they will cremate me with needles and yarn!
Oh, Lord, I despair of ever finishing an Afghan in bulky yarn for my tall friends, Joe and Paul. I can manage a row before I’m a) bored beyond description and b) have aching body parts. It’s hopeless!
Thé Butterfly or Papillon shawl. I started it and just put it away somewhere. I work two jobs and can’t even look at it when I settle down to knit. I need mindless, television knitting!
It’s a cabled blanket, worsted held with mohair, that I started at least a hundred projects ago.
A very boring stockinette sweater. Unless something has lace and thousands of beads, I get bored!
My most ambitious knitting project was quite likely my first, tho it was more ignorance than ambition. A raglan Irish Fishermans Sweater, covered in cables, self-designed cuz following a pattern would have been too easy. Still have it almost 30 years later.
A blanket.
For me it was “The Shift”. Most of my knitting friends have made this pattern and they all look beautiful. No matter what I did I was always a stitch or two off. Eventually frogged mine and made the Isa cowl. Beautiful
I started a slip stitch blanket that folds into a pillow in several colours of blue and white and got over half way done, put it away, forgot to mark where I was in the pattern and now no one will ever know. The end.
I started a pink cabled sweater last winter, 2 inches done when summer came. Haven’t picked it up yet this winter because I am distracted by mitten knitting. Maybe next winter?
I started a color shifting blanket for my nephews wedding about ten years ago. I look at it from time to time. Maybe I’ll get it done by the time the kids start college.
It’s any sweater that needs sewing together. The pieces always stay in my knitting bag laughing at me. I’ve stopped even thinking about knitting them.
I have been thinking about a blanket for my king sized bed. But this project remains a dream in my many projects to knit. I don’t know if I will ever cast on, let alone finish such a project. For now, it remains a work in progress in my knitting dreams.
My most challenging project to finish was the very first knitting project I attempted when my grandmother taught me how to knit back in high school. It was a pattern for a cardigan that I found in a knitting magazine. I found several skeins of yarn in a lovely steel blue merino and mohair blend. I must admit t took me more than two years to finish and during that time was often set aside. The feeling of not finishing it in a timely manner really bothered me. So more often than not, I’ve tried to finish one project before starting another. However, my kitting buddies are trying to rehabilitate me and for the past year I have more a few WIPs going at any one time.
Now that I know I can reuse yarn, I’m pretty honest with my WIPs. I’ve frogged entire completed sweaters and countless WIPs. If it no longer brings me joy, then Thank You, Next!
I have a sweater started when my 41 year old daughter was in grade two (so she was 6/7). It has even been sewed together and is missing only its collar (knitted but not attached) and its buttons. It is a ghastly pepto bismol pink and each time I have considered finishing it, the only family child has either already been too big or has looked at the style/colour and backed away terrified. It is an extremely eighties thing being bulky and covered in cables. One of these days, when there is nothing on my needles (insert hysterical laughter) I shall finish it, in case the eighties return and with them a little child in my family who would be willing to sacrifice themselves.
I started and completed several squares for a quarantine project, but they haven’t made it to be anything yet. Need to make more, at least for a cushion. But I’m back at work, and wow, there’s so little free time!
I started, on paper, a daily temperature scarf, that became on afghan plan, and grew into a plan for a blanket, possibly king-sized. Each row was going to include the daily high and low temp, divided into night and day. I think I was somehow going to include moon phases, and who knows, maybe the signs of the zodiac?
Right now, I am hand sewing a queen-sized hexagon quilt (English paper pieced). It requires thousands of hexagons…it will be machine quilted, but my plan for that is a bit complicated.
Obviously, I am more about the process, not high output.
I have yet to finish a single blanket I’ve started. At least I finally gave up on starting more, lol
I never say never, but once I got past the yoke on the Sipila (Caitlin Hunter) I’ve been knitting for year (or more), everything ground to a snail’s pace. It’s the fingering weight yarn, and I know it’s all in my head, so I’ll have to have a conversation with myself at some point.
I started (uh oh, you know already where this is going) a vneck sweater for me (another ominous clue) using some yarn I’d,bought on a whim (more bad signs) and mixing it with stash (shudder) and modifying a pattern (fool!). Keep in mind,that I am an intermediate skilled knitter, most comfortable with small items that need not fit full-figured women.
It’s been in Time Out for qulte some time now.
A sport weight pullover with travelling cables. Took months to settle on correct yarn for gauge. After a year, I’m about 1.5 inches in to it!
I started the Butterfly aka Papillon by MarinJaKnits several years ago (don’t ask me when I don’t remember) and then got sidetracked knitting for grandchildren and then more grandchildren. I am first going to finish the sweater that I started 3 years ago and then get back to the shawl (who and I kidding).
My never finish project is a daily temperature blanket. A crochet motif for each week. I made it to May…three years ago!
My never to be finished project is a shawl that has a beaded applied border. I’m half-way through the applied border and will never go one stitch further. Sooooo tedious and I’m just over it!!
Funny, I JUST unearthed an unfinished pair of gloves. I managed to knit the cuffs at some point ages ago. I’m thinking Fingerless Mitts?
I started a mohair shawl thing some years ago. Sure, it had 450 stitches per row, no problem because it was easy peasy stockinette with a border of easy peasy mesh lace. Oh how I’ve learned to hate mesh lace! Of course, I messed it up. (yarnover, smarnover) And, even worse, I tried to fix it. I’m not sure I will ever be able to finish the tangled mess now. boo. It is such a pretty color, too.
….also a blanket. Going on 10+ years now.
I have a few stalled projects: years-old sweaters that either require only seaming (I hate seaming) or are now too small for me, a larger version of the Lizard Ridge throw (same issue, seaming), a fantastic half-finished octopus (1 leg down, 7 to go). I SAY I’m going to finish these this year, but AM I???
My grandson is three and he has never received the baby blanket I started! Not that big of a project but it just doesn’t interest me.
Six feet long, three to four feet wide “throw” still knitting on…with 3 big skeins left!
I started knitting the bodice of a dress for my daughter when she was 4. She’s now 7. I have restarted this project multiple times to account for her growth. And have yet to even come close to finishing it.
Will it be the garter t-shirt yarn kitchen rug that was a color match for the wall paper that’s been gone for three years, that could now work in the bathroom except for being too thick to close the door? Or the poorly named project (with “happy” in it) that does not make me happy, not even the yarn?
This is a beautiful project! My unfinished works are small because my ambition is low. It’s all about the ratio. But I do have a very small mitten with no mate in my drawer. The child I was knitting for grew too much in the time it took me to make the project. Another ratio we have to consider- rate of change in size of person vs. rate of knitting.
My first garment that was a cardigan seamed together with a small ruffled edge in place of the button band. Never gonna finish it, but I sure learned a lot of new skills!
I began a beautiful shawl in dark green back in 2014 when I first moved into my new property. Unfortunately my darling dog objected to the move and was poorly all over the 10cm depth that I had knit! It’s been dried out and kept carefully (health and safety paramount!). I need to completely undo and wash the wool before restarting. There are soooo many items on my to-create list… maybe, now I’ve told you, I can begin again this summer! The design is Sonning by Jen Amall-Culford and it is beautiful and a lot of fun.
A blanket, a really large one, in I-lost-count shades of natural, super-soft alpaca, held double so that it marled. It was a-l-m-o-s-t done when I notice an error and ripped back unrelentingly to the halfway point. I made it back to about 70% when I realized that a knit blanket is impractical in our lap-cat intensive home… and put the WIP in a footlocker where it has been marinating for about ten years.
I would love to win a field guide subscription. My most ambitious project ever was a sweater with cables for my husband( he is 6ft 6”’) knitted with natural self hand spun and twined sheep yarn. When we moved to Florida he gave the sweater to my sister in law who lives in the Netherlands and had more use for it
I have so many UFOs it’s ridiculous. But now suddenly, I feel the need to have a map of the US as my next unfinished object. Lol That thing is amazing.
A beautiful deep purple blanket filled with cables started in 2006 when my 17 year old son was a mere 2. I refuse to frog it with the hope that one day I’ll get beyond the 1/4 way point.
A very tedious crocheted scarf involving many small hexagons. Beautiful, but waaay too many ends to weave in. I’ll probably frog it.
The Charlotte’s Dream Blanket. I decided to make it for my mom’s bed. It’s beautiful in a vintagie sort of way & made of 12 or more large squares. Just 12 squares & I’m done – this should be a breeze. I completed the first square in 2018. Then another square… but I didn’t note the year. And then in 2020 I attempted the third square…multiple times. Apparently your gauge changes over time! I cannot seem to get subsequent squares to come close to the original one. So far, that’s an avg of 2 squares every 4 years, assuming I get my gauge back. At this rate my mom will be over 100 by the time I finish her blanket! Due to this subsequent ‘knitter shame’ I may be forced to try again…or just hide the large project basket in the back of the closet & knit her a nice warm cowl or shawl. Surely I could finish that in a timely manner!!
Talk about bobbins, Vogue Knitting’s The World sweater. For a split second I contemplated The World blanket when that pattern came out. Maybe I need to rethink that?!
I purchased a hank of 100% wool lace weight ORANGE yarn a few years ago. I love the color orange, and the price was right. Then I decided I didn’t really want an orange shawl, so what to do. With all the marled projects out there, why not create a sweater. So, 2 lace and 1 fingering makes dk and I have a pattern I really like–now to find compatible yarns. I recently purchased a cone of this beautiful burgundy/black silk/wool blend lace weight. The problem now is finding the perfect fingering yarn! It must be some type of variegated, not too bright (I don’t want the fire department to think I’m on fire) or too much white (I want the burgundy/black to blend not stand out) or too much black (I want that burgundy/black to be seen). Then there is the price point and are there enough skeins available…dye my own? SIGH…will this sweater ever be on the needles?
A queen size blanket made of 4-inch squares-I have about half done and I’ve lost interest….
I started knitting a blanket when I was in graduate school, about 40 years ago. It was going to be in panels. Luckily I only bought the yarn for 1/2 of the blanket. I realized fairly quickly that I would never finish the blanket. Instead, the toddler of all of my grad school friends received purple baby sweaters over the next years using the yarn purchased for the blanket. In fact, two of the children were playing together in a park each wearing a purple sweater, and the mothers were asked if the children were siblings. One of my friends replied that no, they just had the same friend who knits purple baby sweaters. I have knit a purple baby sweater for the child on one of those children.
There are a few projects languishing in a forgotten bag, or cupboard. But the 2 I feel guilty about are both blankets.
I really want to finish them.
One is a huge log cabin, and i believe i am on the last color block, and the other blanket is the great-araran-afghan.
I’m afraid it will be the Safe at Home blanket. I love the finished ones in photos, it would be a GREAT stash buster, but sadly, i do not love fiddly intarsia. I have one row donor, with mistakes, so i already need to go backwards. Maybe i can make a pillow instead?
An Oleana-esque sweater. The yarn was purchased in Bergen in 1999 with a pattern in Norwegian……..
Never will finish the 10 stitch blanket so made it into a lap blanket
Ahhh…I can still picture the 6.5 inches of a Kaffe Fassett sweater (different colors of circles across the entire sweater) I actually managed to knit. I was working with stash yarn a gazillion years ago, fantasizing about making the sweater for one of my kids. Ha! Maybe if I had had. kAL to inspire me?
A green sweater with cables, for my husband. I got sidetracked when it came to doing the V-neck. He died in 2006………..sweater is still wadded up somewhere.
I’m still holding out hope for a finished blanket/throw/quilt of 5” squares with an intarsia heart at center——in fingering weight yarn:)
Socks. I have all kinds of patterns, yarn and everything I need, but I have trouble doing them by myself.
I recently had to frog a completed Fair isle yoked sweater because I miscalculated the ease in my floats. Turned out that was a good thing because I should have made it at least one size smaller. Looking forward to knitting it again… at some point.
I’ve had a sock yarn blanket on the needles for over a decade… I will finish it- someday! Last year I finished a pair of colorwork mittens that I started in 2009 or so… so eventually I will finish the blanket!
I’ve a sock yarn, top down sweater that just needs the arm holes sewn and ends woven in. Been that way for about 15yrs
Actually several very boring shawls. Should have known better at the boring beginnings.
A wedding afghan for my brother and sister-in-law. Queen bed sized, all cream, non-superwash yarn, charted and cabled. They’ll celebrate their 13th wedding anniversary this summer, and their toddler and four-month old would probably love to spill juice in it.
I never say never, but Joji Locatelli’s Starting Point is a huge challenge. And even if I do finish the knitting I think there will be a week’s worth of weaving in ends to do. Yikes, but one step at a time…)
My first ever brioche stitch hat from 2020. I think I had just started the decreases, put it down then discovered I lost my stitch marker. I can’t figure out where I left off. Solution: shove it in a drawer.
A lace shawl…probably started it 7 years ago.
Never gonna finish: two baby layette sets I made 40+ years ago, right down to the cute duck buttons not yet attached. Beautiful knitting I’d say, scratchy wool yarns, completely passé now. Just a memory of my first knitting efforts in a bag.
The Twigs. I want it to happen, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen. But never say…you, know.
I found an old Kaffe Fassett sweater kit someone else had started and noped out on almost immediately. They had begun a border of many colors to be worked in intarsia that somehow also looked like entrelac? But the yarn! It’s old Rowan tweeds and silks! I couldn’t pass it up. But I don’t think I’m ever knitting *that* sweater.
I bought all the special linen yarn and found the perfect pattern for a fancy table runner to knit as a wedding gift for a friend…who turned out to not be the person I had thought she was so that table runner never even got cast on!
I have probably mentally blocked out most of my abandoned WIPs. I do really want to finish my Sideways Spencer by Annie Modesitt but it’s been a couple of years since I started and every time I pull it out I feel anxious and overwhelmed.
A patchwork blanket with granny hexagons that i can’t seem to sit down and stitch together.
I decided to make intarsia socks. They have cows and clouds on them. Very cute. Spent a fortune on all the colors of yarn I would need. Have almost finished one sock, but can’t bring myself to finish the pair. Not sure why. Could be all the ends to weave in later! This project has been languishing for YEARS.
Knitting socks has been my redemption and my downfall. I have a pink and white indy dyed yarn on the needles, a plain basketweave sock pattern that has interesting pooling that I can’t seem to pick up again. Maybe next month…
A basket of 6 colors of beautiful wool I bought 10 years ago without a pattern or a plan. I’ve started 5 sweaters, nothing ever clicks. It is basically now a bunch of balls of crinkly yarn.
Thanks for asking! A lace weight shawl that I knit on and knit on and knit on and could never really see any progress on. Perhaps I’ll frog it and start on something new, holding two strands together. 🙂
The first (and ONLY) pair of socks I ever attempted are still on the needles more than a decade later. WHY?!! There’s nothing fancy about them–simple ribbed cuff, lovely yarn. I just canNOT bring myself to finish that razzum-frazzum second sock.
Socks – I finish one, then never get to the second.
A mitered garter stitch blanket for my son that just needs ends woven in. It’s been folded up since 2019. He’s going to be really surprised when I finally finish!
My never-gonna-finish-it project is the Fiber Trends CH44e Ribbons Baby Blanket, using one solid color of Cascade 220. SO monotonous. Should have chosen multiple colors.
A coat of many colors. I have had the pattern for years and look at it occasionally, i have never got around to making it! Maybe one of these days?
My Stephen West Curvette Shawl I think!
Beekeepers quilt
My daisy afghan, started in 1970. It was going to be a gift for my parents’ 20th anniversary. But I’d just started college and things got busy and complicated. I made about 60 of several hundred daisies and managed to attach a bunch. I was always going to finish it, and every now and then, I’d do another couple of daisies. It was in my closet until about two months ago. I took a reality pill and faced the fact that it would remain forever unfinished.
Started the Hollywell Hoodie in 2017. Did some mods to the bottom to be more roomy and then got up to the neckline and found that the sleeves (and across the shoulders) were too tight. Ripped it back to where the sleeves attached to the upper body and there it sits, patiently waiting for me to experiment whether I can get it to work..
In 1984 I decided to make the Perry Ellis intarsia sweater that was on the cover of Vogue (Fall or Winter?) I bought my colors and cast on my black ribbing. Suffice to say that I learned a lot about counting stitches, reading a chart, twisting the yarns at color joins and all of the minutiae that goes with large expanses of intarsia. And I learned to enjoy my knitting. I finally finished the sweater and gloried in the compliments I received from a professional knitting designer friend. And I am still wearing that sweater today.:)
It doesn’t sound like an ambitious project, but the one I never finished is a pair of mittens! They have a colorwork pattern showing a camper at a campsite–super cute–but I only made one mitten. That was three years ago and I’m still uninspired in casting on the second mitten. It’ll forever be half of a pair.
Oh, and I’ve been receiving the weekly snippets email for a while now. It’s part of my Saturday routine!
Heh, my never-finished project is the sweater I started for my husband in 2011. I also finished all the pieces in 2011. I just have to seam it all together… I even took a seaming class from Patty at a festival a number of years ago but STILL haven’t finished it!
A cyclamen coloured mohair fishermans rib jumper/sweater. Not my colour at all. I wanted to knit the garment and that was the only colour of yarn available at my LYS.
Gainsey sweater, all marvelously authentic and beautiful in pattern, all regionally sourced yarn as true to the originals as possible. My history loving knitty heart dreams of this. My free time and my budget will likely never combine for me – STILL WE DREAM!
my never gonna finish it project is a wrap made with the yarns that were dyed by a friend. I bought the yarn to support her. I hate the color…. but I keep thinking I should finish the wrap because then she would know I really love her and her yarn??? Sigh.
A sweater – a really easy one — that I started for a family member when she was in her early teens. She’s thirty now. That barely-started sweater, still on the needles, and the remainder of the yarn is sitting at the bottom of the stash, where I can (mostly) pretend it doesn’t exist. Sometimes I think…just give the yarn away already and be done with it. Other times I wonder whether I should finish it in case she someday has a daughter. The decision, like the project, is a work-in-progress.
Well, there have been a few! But, it was probably the intarsia Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle sweater that I designed and knitted for my oldest son, in the 90’s! Fast forward a few decades and I’ve just finished the first sleeve, one more to go! And it is now destined for my son’s son who loves those Ninja Turtles and will be 5 years old in May! Let’s hear it for second chances!!
In 2020, I started the Stephen West Slipstravaganza Knit-a-long. I got a kit with colors I like and started (not realizing that the combination of those colors would end up looking like a Harry Potter shawl. It isn’t bad, but I will think more carefully about putting colors next to each other in the future). I have spent tens of hours on the shawl… I have finished a number of the sections, but now it has been sitting for months and months and I am not sure if or when I will get back to the 900 stitches I have on a holding wire!
my never end wip is a barbie dress my daughter wanted me to make for her doll. she is now 32. it’s still not done. but i would still find time to read the field guide subscription. promise.
chifforobe i read the article because of that word. my mom used it often. i had no clue what she was saying but you just didn’t interrupt mom. finally i asked her what it was. she tried to explain to a small child me. but yesterday would have been her birthday and yes i have her chiffarobe in our living room. a treasured word. thank you for using it.
A beginner’s diagonally striped garter-stitch scarf in four colors of Brooklyn Tweed Dapple (60% merino/40% cotton) that I started and ripped out at least four times. Finally knit and wet-blocked a swatch, which I tagged “gauge too big” and stuck in the project basket at least a year ago. I count eight rows on a size 6 needle but the pattern has gone missing from the basket.
That socks is my biggest challenge and I over came it!
This gorgeous, complicated-stitch orange coat from an issue of IK, circa 2003. I knitted the back, got a RSI from knitting and had one hell of a time typing up my thesis. I still have the approximately 30 skeins of Brown Sheep left for the remainder of the coat, which is very mod.
About 11 years ago I purchased the pattern for Susan Hickson’s Oscar Rabbit and excitedly bought all the yarn for it. I thought I would make it for a 2nd grandchild. That never happened and so it still sits in it’s project bag, untouched. It may be time to repurpose that yarn!
The ufo sweater…and a sweater…. And then I remind myself that I should keep trying.
I have NEVER laughed out loud to a blog post much less giggled so frequently as I did reading this! What a treat!
My “never-gonna-finish-it” project is literally everything I make because I LOATHE weaving in ends!! It’s the worst part of knitting!!
But if I had to pick one project, it’s my birthday swoncho from 3 years ago. Found a pattern I’m in love with on Ravelry, ordered custom dyed yarn from an Etsy seller and got right to work. The pattern is easy, the yarn absolutely delicious! The problem? Because it’s hand dyed, I’ve learned about color pooling and I’ve been advised to change skeins every 2 rows. This has proven apparently impossible for me to figure out how to 1. manage so many yarns at once without getting everything twisted and tangled as I work the rounds, and 2. how to smoothly carry 4 threads of yarn through the work without creating lumpy fabric. It’s been an awful mess from the very beginning. And so, it sits in with WIP basket for eternity…
Project I’ll likely never finish is a lace weight mohair shawl. I’ve missed something in the charts, am off by a couple of stitches and unable figure it out without tinking back a round or two (300-500 stitches). Wouldn’t be so difficult if it wasn’t mohair.
Socks. I have tried to like knitting socks, but am never happy with my work. UGH!
sweater – started when sitting in a hospital waiting for info on very sick relative – project brings back very difficult memories
I started a fair isle pullover in a class. The next year, I took the class again to get help with my sweater. I booked special tutoring sessions. After about – who knows?? – five years (or ten) of having that sweater guilt me, I threw it all away last fall. What a sense of relief!!
Tying in all the ends on ANY Fair Isle project! I add ease to fit the ends into the hat or sweater!
Over 10 years ago my then teenaged daughter requested an infinity scarf in a horrible novelty yarn. While I did knit it, I never grafted the ends together. At first I thought it was because I need more grafting practice in order to be able to handle that novelty yarn which had bits and bobs popping out all over the place and was quite irregular, and of course I could of just sewn it together, but I’m guessing my subconscious won’t let me finish it.
My may-neverever-gonna-finish project is a replica of the British flag for my British-born hubby. I promised it by Christmas 2013. Ugh. I’ve attempted it 4 times. Now it resides at the bottom of my yarn cabinet. All those intarsia angles are killing me. Have you ever really looked at the Union Jack?
Years ago now, I started a pair of green mittens for my now-ex partner, who was a fan of a certain webcomic. So I hatched the idea to make him a pair of mittens in the form of two snake characters that he particularly liked. This required me to come up with a way to make the whole thing work as both mitten and hand puppet and look reasonably like said characters. It was a great creative challenge, but I only got as far as finishing the long cuffs before being stuck on the best way to divide the work to shape the mouth of the puppets. I still have the project somewhere, waiting for me to either frog or finish them. But since said partner is an ex, finishing them is… highly unlikely.
A crochet blanket… and I’m a knitter. It’s a struggle!
Pressed Flowers shawl just won’t leave my head and I think I’ve committed to the contrast color so now starts the hunt for the main color – or I’ll change my mind and flip the main and contrast. Main in pale or dark, which do I want to stand out? Perhaps this will be the year for the cast on.
I have 2 incomplete projects:
The Einstein coat which was finished 4 or 5 years ago, except for sewing the buttons – which I bought prior to finishing knitting the coat.
#16 A-Line Tunic by Norah Gaughan, started in 2019 and put away after a few months of knitting: one of the charts for the celtic motif stops at row 50 and that’s where I also stopped!
A mohair skirt that I messed up on and dread having to rip out.
Several sweaters started years ago, set aside for something shinier/newer, and now they are not of a style I like anymore and might not fit now. I do finish lots of sweaters and shawls, but I need to salvage the beautiful yarns those hibernating projects and match them with new projects.
A shawl/cloak that I started at least 2 years ago. It is huge and kinda not pretty. But still always waiting for me.
Map of the US? Are you crazy? OK, it will probably be a great blanket, but it will make you crazy in the mean time. Cheers
My never-gonna-finish-it project is my In Dreams shawl, an intricate beaded lace shawl that has been on the needles since December 2017 and is only 15% done. One day I’ll get it out to work on again…
I started a skirt with a KAL in a lovely yarn shop and then stopped going, quite a few years ago. It and I need help with the project and just haven’t looked into starting up again!
My husband’s cabled fisherman sweater…begun in 2012. Currently have 6 inches of the body done. Never say never! Maybe by the time he retires?
Amazing pattern! I hope you post more when you find time.
There’s a very large and very pretty lace shawl languishing in my knitting bag. I love it, but knitting it is taxing. I work on it for a day or two and then switch to something small, quick, and easy…like a cabled hat. I’ll finish it eventually, I hope.
Lace shawl started years ago. Frogging due to dropped stitches one to many times caused the project to be set aside. The dog eating the other cone of yarn has caused the project to be abandoned.
There are so, so many. Embarrassing but true
My Nordiska! Gotta get moving on that!!
I started a lace shawl two years ago. But progress stalled when I had to pick up 519 stitches around the body of the shawl to make a lace border. I can’t seem to get them distributed evenly. I still love the lace shawl but who know’s if I’ll ever manage the edge.
I just pulled out some cotton/silk yarn for a blanket. Will it get made? Who knows 🙂
The Fox Paw scarf. How could someone’s mind think up something so complicated?
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