Crochet Summer 2017: How Many Projects is too Many Projects?

If you know me, you know that I absolutely LOVE to start a new project. I am a process based maker, not a product based maker. My studio and office (and living room, and bedside table, and bins in the basement) are filled with unfinished projects ranging from knitting to crochet to needlepoint and nearly every fiber craft in between. I have purchased more than two drop spindles in my life because the others are filled with bits of yarn that I haven’t finished spinning…and will surely never pick up again. If this confession makes you cringe, or fills you with anxiety on my behalf, then take heart, dear reader…because Crochet Summer and my own “start-itis” brings me great joy. 

Remember this gem?

I started crocheting this amazing wrap before Crochet Summer even began. I was really excited about it, chose all my colors from The Fibre Co. Acadia, and was off to a great start. This blog post is, in part, coming to be because of a desire to post an update on this project. I had the tote bag with the project in it in my living room, and brought it into the office to take some photos to post an update. Upon taking it out of the bag I realized it was in the same spot I had left it. Yep. I HAD NOT TOUCHED IT SINCE THE LAST POST. 

Amazing.

Did that stop me from starting another project for Crochet Summer? NO! Absolutely not. I could not resist the urge to cast on this shawl, Lost in Time by Johanna Lindahl.

Johanna’s website, Mijo Crochet, is a dangerous place if you, like me, suffer from the desperate need to start new, beautiful projects. Her crochet style is awesome. 

I had bits of leftover yarns – and some of these are rare, deep cuts – with which I intended to make Enchanted Mesa by Stephen West. And while I did cast on and knit the neck, I quickly abandoned it for another project. The tote bag full of yarns I had chosen for the sweater, however, lived on in my bedroom closet. The colors are earthy, with a few pops of pink, mint green, and blue. There are a couple of old skeins of the original Knightsbridge from The Fibre Co., a skein of sparkly Eat Agar I bought at Fancy Tiger Crafts, various bits of Shetland wool, a lovely skein of (now discontinued) Drops Silke Tweed, various bits of fancy yarns from Habu, and even some of my own handspun making an appearance! 

This project is all about yarns with interesting textures and earthy colors. I’m winging it a bit in terms of which yarn to use when, but so far I feel pretty good about it. 

And, I’m happy to report, I have worked on it diligently and it’s larger now than in the pictures above. Though I think I am working the edge increases wrong, but I’m not going to let that bother me too much. After all, it’s about the process.