I started to think about a rag rug. Very much inspired by Jodie's rag-a-long, I began contemplating methods and shapes and colour combinations. It took everything I had to stop myself from pulling down some floral sheets and ripping them into strips. It took almost more than I had to stop myself from doing a google search into ways of stitching the long braids together and a pinterest search for some rag rug eye candy.
But I succeeded. The rag rug will wait.
But the dress could not.
We came back from the beach and I made a dress.
An ugly sheet, just to get the pattern right, dress. But a dress none-the-less.
Not a few rows of the blanket.
And just like that the blanket has been neatly folded and popped on the shelf. A WIP (work in progress).
Hopefully I'll pick it up again soon.
I'm fascinated by that moment though. The exact minute when your current crush becomes yesterday's news. When your mind wanders. When something better comes along.
Is it inevitable in a slow burn project? If you rush and hurry can you beat it? Cheat it? I wonder.
Do you know what I'm talking about? Does this happen to you in your patch-working/novel writing/scrap booking/mosaicing/embroidering? Do you go back? Is there hope for the granny queen?
xx
I know exactly what you mean - there's a very good reason why I love to make small quick projects. I have the attention span of a gnat!
ReplyDeleteI very rarely end up with a WIP, it's either gungho until I finish or give up completely. ;)
ReplyDeleteCute dress although the fabric reminds me of an apron... is that awful to say? Or are aprons oppy chic? I don't know, I'm no style icon!
I'm sure you'll get back to the crochet - you don't seem the type to let a project languish unloved for long.
I have the patience of a three year old. A very fiesty three year old. I couldn't sit down to crochet a cushion let alone an entire blanket. I really wish I could. x
ReplyDeleteI switch projects constantly, I think I have about 4 or 5 WIP's at the moment. It drives my boyfriend crazy, but, especially with big projects like my granny square blanket, I just can't sit and crochet the same thing ALL the time until it's finished. :)
ReplyDeleteBut your crochet granny blanket looks SO nice!! Please finish it ;)
When I have a big project like that I like to have something small to go on with as well just for a little break, but I never put it away. As soon as it's away I find it very hard to get going again.It is looking beautiful, you know!
ReplyDeleteFascinating comment, I know EXACTLY what you mean! I have a crochet stripe blanket on the go, I finished two thirds of it within a few days almost, now I can hardly bear to pick it up. The only way I can do it is to promise myself I will do just one row a night (and I don't always do that) which takes me less than ten minutes. I can manage that commitment surely? And slowly, slowly it is getting there.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of the struggle I have when I don't want to exercise, I know it is the right thing to do, but I really don't want to....
WIP's are all part of the creative process. Ive got a few too many still but there's no way known that I could work on one thing, finish it and then start the next. Never gonna happen. Nuh uh. No way!
ReplyDeleteHappy crafting, whatever it may be :o)
Ab xx
I've got the same project, but a king size on the go!
ReplyDeleteJust working on it in between other stuff, or when we're at swimming lessons/up at school... slow going, but getting there gradually!Xx
I'm with Curly Pops....I love baby items! I also have about 10 WIP's :-)
ReplyDeletethere is hope.
ReplyDeleteMy first ever granny blanket took me a year.
Then I got uber excited by crochet, and crafting in general, and I want to make a special blanket for each of the 3 children of my bestest friends.
The green granny blanket currently on my hook, needs to be finished in time for a 5th birthday in less than 2 weeks. On a number of occasions this blanket has been neatly (hastily) folded up and put in a corner out of sight.
It's out again, and I have high hopes that it will be ready for the 5th birthday...
I have a crochet ripple going at the moment but I am not loving it at all. I think it might be the colours or something. I literally cannot look at it at the moment!
ReplyDeleteI love the invention process. It's the doing of the weary, boring parts that may waylay the finish. Cherrie
ReplyDeleteThat tickled the heck out of me because I recently did a rag rug tutorial, and right now I'm crocheting rolls of your ric rac! :)
ReplyDeleteThis moment happens to me ALL the time!! I eventually go back, but I find my enthusiasm is never the same.
ReplyDeleteI love your dress though, it was well worth the distraction :)
Mine applies to books...will read a fave/something new and topical/something recommended alongside my bookclub book, just to keep me going.
ReplyDeleteI love all things crochet and colourful and look forward to the unveiling of this big project.
It usually happens to me when it gets to hard. If I stuff up and just can't be bothered pulling it out and redoing it it gets put aside. I think with really big projects it is bound to happen at some point.
ReplyDeleteIt happens to me whenever new yarn calls ... I'd be surrounded by nothing but wip's if I didn't periodically give myself a good talking too !
ReplyDeletethere's always hope Kate. I have so many put aside projects in all areas of craft but I do go back and find the excitement for that project again.
ReplyDeleteWho cares about big style crochet when there are dresses to make.
ReplyDeleteVery, very, very nice dress, Kate
x
I quite often find that I get 'bored' with projects and move onto something else - which usually ends up being a much smaller project. However, I do usually go back to that "WIP" when I fancy a casual bit of crochet (it's just easier to go back to a project than to find a new one and get it started, I find). Your dress is beautiful though so it's not as if you've put aside a project and stopped being creative!
ReplyDeleteLeah
P.S. Your projects are always awesome! Inspirational all the way!
this perfectly describes the crocheted blanket I started 3 years ago - I don't like that it is not finished - yet have no real desire to actually finish it- I think it was a large project that was probably overly ambitious. I only feel like doing it at night which is also the time I sew rattles and cut fabric for My Bearded Pigeon...plus If I am not doing either of those I want to do embroidery... I don't know if I even answered your question such is my mind wandering at the moment... xx
ReplyDeleteI'm like that,,,,,I get half way through things and I start looking for the next thing that catches my eye,,,once it dones the current project seems really boring and I get restless. I force myself to keep going though. I hate having half finished things laying around, I have to have them finished.
ReplyDeleteCurrently I am working on a scarf that I just cannot seem to get the pattern right for. I have started it, get 6 lines in and realise that it isn't right,,,,,pull it apart and start again. It is frustrating the crap out of me but I am determined that it will work, after all it is supposed to be an easy pattern lol, maybe its just me!!
I would love to be able to say "I came back from the beach and I made a dress"!!
ReplyDeleteI do that quite often, only trouble is it sometimes takes me years to finish anything lol. I have so many ideas floating around my head at the moment, but can only do one thing at a time dammit!
ReplyDeleteLove the dress!
Soooo glad its not just me!. I started a granny stripe blanket only to decide I just couldn't do it so now have a fab (and long!) granny striped scarf!
ReplyDeleteLove the dress too!
Just have a little break.... Granny blankets are great to work on, on cold evenings. Take it to crafty catch ups, while helping the girls with homework, snuggling up on the couch with a cuppa....
ReplyDeleteI too get bored with certain projects, just to fall in love with them again later on. I think it is the process that I love. The end product is a bonus. As long as our creative soules get an outlet to keep sane, does it really matter which project or how long it takes?
What ever feels right
I am surrounded by WIPs and by things that I just 'can't be bothered' finished. I am terribly lazy. But I think about craft - surely that counts?
ReplyDeleteLot's of WIP, even more ideas of WIP. The lead up to the start of the project is incredibly exciting, I'm bursting at the gills, then just like that, bubble gone and there is something bright and shiny else where. How I complete anything is a mystery sometimes...
ReplyDeleteps. the granny blanket is looking awesome.
I love your dress! I do this all the time, one minute I'm happily working on something, loving it & then I get an idea or find inspiration in the strangest thing & BANG off I go busting with excitement to do something new & to get it done quick smart!
ReplyDeleteFunny that, I've been aching to rip into my sheets and make a rag rug too! That or waiting for my man to sort out his huge tshirt collection and maybe cut into that! Mmm love the dress great design.
ReplyDeleteI am definitely a UFOs kind of girl who has far too many projects on the go at once. The thing that captivates me is how some WIPs can just have a really long gestation period, languishing in the dark corner of the cupboard until you get the passion to finish them (and then maybe even love them) while others just fizzle out and stay out? What makes the difference between a WIP and a never-to-be finished?
ReplyDeleteDo you think the century after this one will be consumed by the unfinished projects that we have left in this one? I think so ...
ReplyDeleteI always had many wip's but not anymore. When I see another project it motivates me more than anything to finish my current project so I hurry to get it over and done with. I am making a granny blanket at the moment, all granny squares.... it gets boring after a few weeks so I am working on a cushion cover too. Different yarn. And I treat myself every day to work a little on that too. And the one a day group on Ravelry helps me too!
ReplyDeleteYou really have to finish this blanket...it is soooooo nice!! Can't wait to see it finished. Love the colours!
Off to my other project now: painting the kitchen walls white (they were yellow)! :-)
I have my pattern out and I'm making a shift dress too. I love it!!
ReplyDeleteI try not to have too many WIP sitting around. Maybe 1 or 2, but I always hear them calling to me..."Finish me, finish me!"
ReplyDeleteMy name is Car and I am a WIP addict, I have far too many projects on the go and usually start more than I finish :o This works for me because on any given day I can work on any of my projects and be happy. As for finishes, I do finish them on occasion and this year I intend to finish one quilt a month - my crochet / knitting are my in between craft!
ReplyDeleteI am too easily distracted.
ReplyDeletePlus if I stop mid-project, even a small one, I find it really, really hard to get going again.
I have an easy knitting project kept in a bag by the door that is my project for company and activities where I might need to be social or distracted. I really wanted to finish it but now I have decided that it is my "go slow" project and so far I am keeping my enthusiasm for it.
JUst aim for your 50th wedding anniversary. Then you have a goal...and will find yourself madly crocheting 2 weeks before the due date.
I am in the midst of a single granny square crochet bed spread for my daughter. It is lovely because it is an easy no thinking project, but it is hard because i have ten millon other projects in my mind but i am trying to finish this very time consuming one. I pick it up, i put it down, i do other things but it is still the main thing i am trying to finish....lucky it is colourful.
ReplyDeleteI like the pattern on the sheet you used. I know what you mean by it being ugly... but sometimes ugly things are my favourite - I like them best. I don't know how to explain it.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking about that rag-rug that Jodie's doing all the time, wondering if I should do it? Think I will! There's also a pouf I want to make, you crochet it out of old bed sheets as well. They look great finished. Oh! Too many great ideas on the internet!!
ReplyDeleteYour blanket is looking great by the way.
Rach x
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