Some Assembly Required – Ugh!

· by · in Crochet WIPs. ·

I was so excited to show you what I was working on when I did my last WiP Wednesday post. I’m still excited about what the finished objects WILL be, but right now I’m in the very very dangerous zone that has all of the not fun bits of crochet projects left to do.

It’s dangerous because when it comes time to finish off or assemble a crochet project that is when there is the greatest risk of it never getting done.

It makes no sense to me at all why I run into problems actually finishing things off. I would estimate that I have a 75% success rate of completing projects – complete being all the way done with all buttons sewn on and ends weaved in etc etc. It’s not a good success rate at all because I’m pretty sure that almost all of those projects didn’t require any assembly. If all I need to do is weave in some ends then I’m usually golden.

My son cracked a joke a few weeks ago that I should rename my website to “Tanglewood Not Finished.” šŸ˜¦

He wasn’t being mean. I have a sense of humor and I love a good joke. I laughed along, because I couldn’t refute it. Especially because the last two projects I made for him aren’t finished. Above is a picture of the slippers that I was making for him for LAST Christmas – they are still not done. And his awesome wizard hat – well if you spin that around you will see that it is missing at least four of the star appliques. He is a good sport though and has not put any pressure on these getting done. So I took his playful joke in stride. šŸ˜€

Back to my exciting WiPs:

Woven Crochet Picnic Blanket

picnic blanket ends

This is all crocheted and woven. I now realize that I missed an opportunity to make this tangle of ends easier to manage. I should have secured the ends as I was weaving the chains. I’m at the point now where I am going to pull all of the weaved chains out and redo them. It will be more efficient in the long run since this is a picture of just one side – there is the other side not pictured that I still need to deal with. I also want to come up with the easiest way possible to finish off a woven blanket so that nobody will be scared off by this ‘den of snakes’ that the chains leave behind. Fortunately I don’t need to remake anything, I just need to reweave it. On the plus side – I love the way it came out! I was going for a gingham vibe and I think it hit the mark! šŸ˜€

Dancing Butterflies (Dragonflies) Sweater & Madeline’s Sweater

This just needs a finishing row of single crochet around it and I need to make a decision about what I’m going to do with the sleeves. I was going to leave it cap sleeved as is but now I’m kind of leaning more towards a 3/4 sleeve with a flowing ruffle at the elbow. We’ll see.

Madeline’s sweater needs sleeves and a hood. She wants long sleeves – I am NOT a fan of making sleeves. šŸ˜¦

And finally the Unstriping Experiment

This one requires the most assembly. I still need to make a lot of strips and then joining them is really very tedious. I’m still getting stripes but it’s a different kind of stripes so I’m pleased with how it’s coming along.

I suppose the easy answer to my ‘finishing projects’ dilemma would be to not start projects that have a lot of moving pieces.

That’s no fun! šŸ˜€

I really don’t mind the less fun tasks that go along with crocheting, once I actually sit down and do them. The very, very difficult part of being in the ‘Almost Finished Danger Zone” is not starting any shiny new projects!

Thanks for reading!

~ Tami

 

57 responses to “Some Assembly Required – Ugh!”

    • Thanks Carrie! It really is all that I can do to not start a new project right now! I would sit on my hands but then I wouldn’t be able to finish these up!! LOL šŸ˜€

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  2. I make lists of the little things that need to be done to finish a project, and then I do several before rewarding myself with something I want. I subdivide them, too, so they are faster to check off, and because I love checking or crossing things off a list! Ex. For the picnic blanket I would divide it by the red ends on side A, white ends on Side A, etc. I might still do all the red ends at once, but if I was tired of it, I could finish on a side and still get to check it off. Everyone needs a little instant gratification once in awhile!šŸ˜€

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  3. “Tanglewood Not Finished.” Oh man, that’s a brutal joke. Thanks for warning me about how it’s annoying to join the hairpin strips together. I won’t be trying that one out in a very long time. Everyone hates sleeves. For some reason, though, crocheting sleeves is more enjoyable for me than it is to knit them. My mom has frequently left the sleeves off a lot of sweaters and presented them as vests. No matter how you looked at them, though, they just had that “unfinished sweater” vibe about them.

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    • He gets his biting humor from me I think so I really can’t complain too much when the jokes bite me. LOL
      The type of joining I’m doing on this hairpin project is super tedious because I need to take the strips off of the loom completely to join them. There are other joining methods that I can do while it’s still on the loom and then use standard crochet stitches to assemble them in to something. Hairpin lace projects are definitely “some assembly required” projects. Only slightly more annoying than weaving ends and joining granny squares. The joining I’m doing for these is my favorite because it ends up with a faux braided/cabled look.
      I have this grand plan to make everyone in my family “Ugly Christmas Sweaters” this year but now I think I’m going to go with “Ugly Christmas Sweater Vests” instead!!! Thanks for the suggestion LOL!!! šŸ˜€

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      • This is where you want to try out the bulky yarn to make it all especially unappealing and horrid for photo time. I recall a winter olympics when everyone complained about the team’s sweaters. They were knits, so I think if you take that extra step and try to imitate knitting in crochet with bulky yarn, leave off the sleeves, and include plenty of lace, you’re good to go.

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      • Maybe the fake fur yarn too!! And glitter!! Spray some tacky stuff on there and glitter bomb them. I like the way you think Tony! If I’m going to go Ugly I’m going to go Big Ugly!! šŸ˜€ šŸ˜€ šŸ˜€

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  7. SO many ends!! I think that would get shoved right to the bottom of my WIP pile where I didn’t have to look at them all šŸ˜‰
    The dancing dragonflies sweater is absolutely beautiful, I’d wear the heck out of it

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    • I’m so happy with how the sweater came out!! It’s EXACTLY the way I envisioned it. I am really struggling with getting all of those ends under control. I wish I had tied them off as I went along. I love the way that the woven mesh looks but it really is a lot of work. I just want to be able to use it for at least one picnic before summer is over. I may just leave the ends loose and hanging and use it anyways then stuff it in the bottom of the wip drawer!! šŸ˜€

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  8. DAMN! Your getting as bad as me hahaha. Can’t wait to see everything all finished though! I think the excitement of making something kinda plays a huge part and then if your mood drops, my mood goes down when i realise i have to finish it and its like urgh can’t it just be done with, especially when you have lots of rounds lol! You got this though – were here were here giving you a cheer, get your hook, take a look, the end is very clear!

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    • LOL!!!! šŸ˜€ šŸ˜€ I’m imagining you jumping up and down with little pompoms that you made yourself!! You said it exactly though – at the beginning it’s all high energy but then it slowly fades the closer I get to being done. I have decided that I am going to finish the sweater today dammit!! It’s so close to being done it seems silly to just not finish it up. šŸ˜€

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      • šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚šŸ˜‚ I can only manage one jump I aren’t very healthy LOL. You go girl you got this, pretend like it’s an extremely important order and it needs to be done and posted by tomorrow!!! I saw your other post about the card. I did write a comment and when I pressed send it kinda disappeared so I aren’t sure if it needed approving but I’ll just kinda repeat it here – I think that’s really sweet and beautiful that she’s gifting you that card, really made me smile that lovely people still exist. Just followed her blog, she seems such a magical person I love faeries and anything pixie or elf like. Don’t forget to share when your card arrives haha zxx

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      • I’m cool with you laying on the couch and just sort of holding a pompom in the air!! I don’t want you to hurt yourself. LOL šŸ˜€ šŸ˜€ šŸ˜€

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  9. I have this habit too! I love how the blanket worked out, so cool! The hairpin lace strips look awesome, the colors are fantastic šŸ˜€. I can’t wait to see how that turns out. Your experiments are making me want to try more, especially hairpin šŸ˜Š.

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    • I really need to find an easier way to deal with all of the ends for the woven blankets. I love the finished result and it really is so easy to make. It’s the assembly that really makes me hesitate starting projects like this. Hairpin lace needs assembling too but I think of it as being just as much a pain in the butt as granny squares. I really really enjoy making the hairpin strips. Once you get comfortable with the loom it’s very meditative. šŸ˜€

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  10. I totally know what you mean Tami! Starting a new project is alway more fun than the final few hours on an old one. If you are anything like me, as I put them away for a few months or years, they become new again and I get enthused to finish them. Hopefully I haven’t waited so long that they are out of style or too small. Lol:)!

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  12. The struggle is real lol I have the same issue at times along with a smartalec son that reminds me constantly šŸ˜‰ Your not alone. I still love ur projects done or not… just throw me a message if you figure out the cure to our “not quite finished” syndrome šŸ˜‚

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    • Ha! I’m so glad I’m not the only one that raised a lovable smartalec!! I was kind of hoping that someone would tell me the cure for “not quite finished” syndrome in the comments here!! Well at least we know that it is an epidemic and we’re not the only ones that have it!! šŸ˜€

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  14. “My son cracked a joke a few weeks ago that I should rename my website to ā€œTanglewood Not Finished.ā€ šŸ˜¦” I laughed when I read this, Tami! I loved getting this little window into your process. It struck me that it’s hard to finish writing projects as well. Just this week I’ve gone back to a WIP manuscript of re-imagined Fables that I’d like to complete. Finally! I have been generating new stories to put into it, but some of the earlier stories I got stuck on. For instance: Jack in the Beanstalk, where Jack is actually running a tourist business featuring the giant, who waves at tour groups as they go by, but is threatening to quit the business. I wasn’t sure where to go with it after revealing the conflict. But, yesterday I sat down, and with a focus on the characters, I wrote an near-end to the story that I really liked. Finished it at home last night. Ah! Unfinished writing projects, unfinished crochet projects … we go together!

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    • It’s so true Theresa! But when we finally get those last few stitches/words done we make such beautiful things!! I love the re-imagined fables concept!! The twist on Jack and the Beanstalk sounds amazing!! I can’t wait to read them! šŸ˜€

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      • Oh, yeah, you are totally right. Just yesterday I found endings for two stories that had eluded me. And I’m almost there with the Jack and the Beanstalk story as well. Starting next on the Emperor’s New Clothes as performance art!

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    • Thank you Britnee!! I am so in love with the Red Heart Unforgettable yarn – this one is called Dragonfly and it’s my favorite. I want to get more to make another dancing butterflies inspired triangle shawl. As I was working on finishing this sweater up I found some small glass iridescent beads that I’m putting around the neckline – they match perfectly with the yarn!! I should be finished with it very soon. šŸ˜€

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  17. I think everyone must have the same issue, it’s so hard to resist a new project when the alternative is to sew in ends or assemble other projects šŸ˜‚ I am very excited to see those finished though

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  19. I’m really late here, so maybe you’ve completed one of these? But I agree, weaving tails in is the pits! I really try to do it as I go along because it is overwhelming when there are a lot when the project is “done” (not).
    Sometimes I have been able to take the tail of the last yarn and crochet it into the stitches along with the new yarn. It works great, and then I just clip the yarn… BUT it doesn’t work if the colors are dramatically different. You’ll have little bits of the last color popping through the new stitches. šŸ˜¦
    I used to weave tails in with my crochet hook, and now that I actually use the tapestry needle it is much easier.
    Best of luck finishing these up!
    Jan

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    • Hi Jan! The only thing I completed is the sweater. I keep telling myself I’m going to just finish the picnic blanket but then I don’t. There are going to be just a few more picnic weather days left this year so I need to do something with it soon. šŸ˜€
      Sometimes I take care of the ends as I go, depending on what the project is. I have found too that when I leave a really long tail, like 6 inches or so, it’s easier to either crochet over the top or sew them in. When I’m just changing skeins that are the same color I use an invisible Russian join with the ends so I only need to worry about the first and last ends.
      I used to use my hook to weave them in too and you’re right the tapestry needle is so much easier. It really only takes a few minutes on most projects to really “finish” them up so I don’t know why I just don’t do it right away. šŸ˜€

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