Work in progress

I have come to a sort-of conclusion that maybe knitting is not for me. I love it, I really do - but nothing I have made this year has turned out right at all. It's very disheartening.

Crochet, on the other hand, is much better. It grows quickly and in the blanket pattern I'm using I only have to count up to four, and even I can manage that.

So why, in my little pile of works-in-progress, do I have two knitting and two crochet?
The knitting is down to sizing issues. Neither of those pieces are finished and I already know one is going to be too big and the other too small. I am too close to the end to give up completely, but my motivation for finishing them is distinctly lacking at the moment.
The crochet is all down to colour. There is some incredible inspiration on the internet, and when it comes to choosing my own colour combinations I get overwhelmed and then keep second-guessing myself. These are the remains of two blankets that I started, decided I didn't like, and have left in the pile because I couldn't bear to frog them all.

The good news is that I have started a third blanket. I finally decided that I had to STOP looking at other people's work, pick my colours from my stash and stop buying more yarn, make a plan and get on with it. And remember that the 'look' of the blanket changes with each row...I've just done two rows in purple, but the overall look will not be very purple at all. I've done about 16 colours so far (two rows of each) and without wanting to tempt fate, it's coming along nicely. Fingers crossed this one might actually progress to being a finished item.

A summer knit

This yarn is just absolutely gorgeous. I had been indecisive about what to make for a while - I really wanted to crochet something but I just couldn't find a pattern. Then Mindy took a delivery of this, and the patterns to match, and I knew it was the 'one'. I haven't knitted for ages, not since about 2009, in fact. Complicated patterns scare me, so unless it's labelled an 'easy knit' I'm not really interested. Fortunately, this yarn is self-striping so I don't need to do any complicated stitches, just knit & purl and let the yarn do all the work. Isn't it gorgeous?

Well, when I say the yarn does all the work...the pattern I chose has rows of over 300 stitches, which is not exactly easy. But, as it's knitted all in one piece, at least I won't have too much sewing up to do. It's still a work-in-progress, as I need to sew two seams and knit the edging. I have a sad history of unfinished knitted pieces, which is why I was a bit wary of sharing this in case in never makes it out of the basket...but it's looking hopeful that it will be wearable soon.