It's A New Year! Of projects...

While officially this is the beginning of YOP Year 10, it will be my 6th year of participating with this great group of bloggers.  Since some of my readers are not Year of Projects participants, though, I'll take a moment to explain this thing I post about most every Sunday.

On Ravelry, there is this group called Year Of Projects where the participants make it their intention to share and document their creative pursuits via their blogs for a whole year.  The original participants chose to have their YOP year run from July 1st through June 30th of the following year, and that format continues to this day.  That said, a few YOPers choose to use a calendar year for their YOPing.  It works for them and that's cool.   'Nuff said on that, I think.  If you're curious about possibly participating yourself, check out the group on Ravelry.  

A few years ago I ceased creating an annual list of projects I would work on and now each July I just launch myself into the new YOP year with little concern about what I might actually end up making over the next twelve months.

But as this new YOP year begins, I thought I'd use this first post to survey my WIPs for the sake of considering whether I want to focus on any (or all) of them during upcoming YOP year.  

Starting from oldest to newest:

My BAM CAL (Block of the Month Crochet-A-Long) blanket:

I started this project back in 2017.  The idea is to crochet one (0r two) squares each month, and in a year's time one has enough squares to finish a whole blanket.  The last square I finished was in 2019.  You can see from this picture I've made approximately 2 squares a year, so if I want a blanket made of 20 squares (4 x 5), I'm on schedule to finish this blanket in the year...  2027!  I really should apply myself to this more - or maybe decide to make a smaller blanket...

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Next is my Maybelle Flower Garden blanket:

I also started this project in 2017.  This blanket will be made up of squares that are a combination of the Maybelle Flower and the Rose Trellis Afghan square.  I have no idea how large or small I'll end up making this, nor do I have a plan for when I will finish this one, but I still love it so it remains in my WIPs collection.

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Next there is my 99 Little Doilies project.  I think it was in the summer of 2018 when I impetuously purchased a used copy of this book and after making a few of the doilies, I got the idea to maybe make them all.  

I still think that's a fun idea, but I haven't moved very far on it.   I've made five little doilies to date - so that puts this project on schedule to be finished in... let's see...  oh wow!  in 2043!  😲   If I manage to live that long, I doubt I'll still be crocheting, so I might want to get this project in gear or maybe just hold the idea of finishing it very loosely.  For now, it remains a sort of WIP.

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Leaping Stripes Blanket:

I began this in February of this year and it was put aside because I needed to buy more yarn.  Yarn is now purchased, so I have no good reason to not start working on this project again.  Should be completed shortly - hopefully.

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Linen & Threads 2020 Mystery SAL (Stitch-A-Long):  

I'm choosing to make this as a Nod-to-COVID-19 piece.  A section of this is published each month (which started in January).  I started this project late, and am even more behind now, but I have a feeling COVID-19 will be with us long after the complete Mystery SAL pattern is published, so I feel no need to keep on a tight schedule stitching this. I do hope to have it finished by the time a trusted vaccine is made available.  The optimists say that's maybe early-mid 2021.  The pessimists (or maybe they're the realists) would tell me not to worry.  I have plenty of time to finish this project.

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I will, of course, tend to ignore some of these WIPs and make whatever strikes my fancy whenever my fancy is struck.  For now, these projects hold enough appeal that they will stay on my well-intentioned WIPs list.

And that, dear reader, is how I roll with my Year of Projects project.  Some might call it "loosey-goosey.  I like to think of it as spontaneous.  😉

Check back next week to see if I've made any progress on anything!   You just never know what may show up here.  

Year of Projects 2019-2020 Round-Up!

June has been quite the month here (I have written a couple of posts prior to this one about what's been going on) and I'm so glad to have arrived at the final Sunday of the month for two reasons:  

• There's just something that feels really good about turning the calendar page after some hard things.  It's a new beginning of sorts - and who doesn't love a new beginning.

• The annual YOP Round-Up post is my favorite post of the year.  It's interesting to look back and see what I've done crafty-wise over the course of the last twelve months because I always find a project or two I've completely forgotten about, and when motivation is temporarily waning, it reminds me that I haven't truly been as unproductive as I may be feeling right now.  

While I have a feeling I've missed some things, here's a look back:.

I have enjoyed getting back to cross stitch:

And I've discovered how easy and fun Helical Knitting is:

 

I really need to do more of this...

I've also enjoyed some quick and easy projects:

As well as more time consuming projects:

And as always, I enjoyed making scarves:

And this year added scarf/shawls to the mix:

And in my on-going quest to use up my huge stash of cotton yarn, I knitted lots of dishcloths again.  This is just a sampling:

Also, I finished a langushing toddler sweater (now ready to gift to a toddler some day):

And lastly, I mustn't forget my Sacred Space blanket:

A kind of funky, just-for-fun project:

I have a feeling (with hub's healing from knee surgery and eventually getting back to clearing out MIL's home after her recent passing) life is going to be slowing down my crafty times for a while, but who knows...  If can get back to thinking of crafting as a soothing activity it may provide refreshment.  At the moment, it's just feeling like one more thing to do.  Nothing soothing about that.

While June has been a doozy, maybe just turning the calendar page will get me over this hump I'm experiencing.  Here's hoping a new YOP Year provides many of us with a needed lift in this year that has been anything but normal.

To see what other YOPers are up to (and especially if you'd like to consider joining us), click on the Year of Projects graphic below:

Waiting is hard...

Hubs and his knee are recovering after his knee replacement.

Hospital visits (here, anyway) come with lots of restrictions.  Yesterday I was allowed in the surgery waiting room while hubs was in surgery, but once he was done in recovery I only had about 5 minutes with him outside the elevator doors before they wisked him to his room for the night.  I won't see him again until I pick him up - possibly tomorrow?  I know it's the time we're in, but that just seems crazy to me.  Anyway...  I figure I put in a full day waiting from 9am 'till 6pm yesterday. And then I just drove home.  

A bit numb. 

Definitely relieved. 

Confused. 

Nothing normal about it, for sure.  And all the others waiting for their loved ones in surgery spent their day in the exact same shoes.  

Alone.  

Quiet.  

Masked.  

Isolated.

You know... I truly do embrace masks for the protection they provide during this COVID time.  But I hate the same masks for the isolation they create.

I ripped mine off as I stepped out of the hopsital doors and breathed in gloriously fresh air.  It had been a beautiful day outside.  They should make outdoor waiting rooms...

An hour later I had picked up a supper and was finally home. I spent the rest of the evening texting friends and family and responding to questions, in between hubs and I calling each other numerous times until about 10pm.  I know I had the easy part, but it was a long day...

And now today, having nothing pressing for the first time in weeks, I feel like the weight of this last month has finally overcome me.  Raw emotion is just under the surface.  I can feel it.  If I could melt into a puddle I would.  I have a new apprecation for the expression, in fact.   I'd cry, but I'm afraid if I start,  I'll be weepy all day.  Best to just suck it up for now, I think.  Something to make me laugh sounds good.  But I see this morning the news is still bad.  People are still insane.  And somehow, in the craziness, the world goes on.

And a text from a friend reminds me...  I am truly fortunate.  A younger couple is separated by the wife being in the very same hospital hubs is in, but she has lung cancer.  She's suffering right now from heart failure and renal failure.  The husband is afraid he may not see his wife alive again.   The hospital does have end-of-live provisions for visitors, so I don't know if he had just gone home exhausted, afraid she might not make it 'till he got back there.  I don't know.  I only know their hearts are breaking.  And the heartbreak is more brutal due to this COVID time.  

My situation is easy in comparison.  Which is kind of silly to say - because there's no comparison.  A new knee is all good.  

One more night (at least) for hubs in the hospital.  And then I'm on duty again - picking him up, getting instructions, bringing him home.  I think being on duty will be easier than this waiting is.  While a new knee is all good, waiting is hard.  So... for the moment, I'm writing this and will visit a bit with my blogging friends.  

Mid-week I wrote Sunday's YOP end-of-year post.  That felt good to do.  And it's good to have it done.

And while there's plenty, still, I could find to do, I feel too distracted to manage anything much.  So I wait, knowing that this feeling will pass.  

I hope you have a good weekend!