On Knitting and UFO's (Unfinished Objects)

It has been nearly 43 years since I tumbled down the magic rabbit hole into the world of knitting, my grandmother, my teacher, holding my hand. Although I have grown passionate about other aspects of fiber arts, knitting was first -- it is in my heart, my soul. It is my connection to my past, to my Grandmother. As in life, knitting is a journey of transformation, full of choices, we sometimes choose the familiar easy road with its predictable outcome; or the new untraveled road where the journey pushes our skills to a new level, and we emerge more confident having traveled it.

I have done a lot of knitting, over a lot of years. So when asked how many knitting projects I have going on at one time, my standard response is "a few". This is an understatement, but to reply with an actual number, as in 3 or 4, would be inaccurate. MY UFO's are most likely in the double-digits and holding. I was confronted with this truth last week as I began to clean what had become my not-so-creative "creative room" due to an overabundance of clutter. This room also serves as a guest room, complete with a bed that was buried under layers of yarn and fiber. So, with a houseguest on the way, I began to sift through the layers.

I unearthed a couple of unfinished projects from the 80's, which felt like an archaeological find to me because I didn't know they were buried there, and I wasn't sure what they were. As I looked at the yarn and the partially knit fabrics I thought, "what was I thinking?" You know the saying about if you hang on to something long enough (especially clothing), it will come back into style. That may be true, however, what I might have worn in my 20's would not pass for appropriate clothing on my body now, more than 20 years later. What to do with these UFO's.

Rather than being shackled with the arduous task of finishing each of these projects as originally intended (I would have to be insane and a masochist!) I began to look at them differently... not what they were originally supposed to be, but rather what they could become... now. A small cropped sweater (no sleeves yet) could very easily be transformed into a vest. A nearly finished sweater "back" that, I admit, holds absolutely no interest for me,not to knit or to wear, may very well become a pillow top with a little fulling in the washing machine. Hmmmmm, these things I can do!

So, here is my revelation. I will no longer refer to my unfinished projects as UFO's. Unfinished Objects... it just sounds so negative, doesn't it? From this day forward they will now be referred to as WIP's - Works in Progress. Now doesn't that sound positively creative, almost artistic!

By changing this 3-letter acronym, my load has been lightened and I've been set free, or at the very least, a couple monkeys are off my back. I got to thinking that this whole WIP thing could be applied to other facets of my life, for example, my housekeeping, which is constantly interrupted by my need to knit or spin ... again "work in progress". My gardening (or lack of)can also be described as a "work in progress", although there has not been much progress there lately, as my bumper crop of dandelions will most certainly become a garden of "blow flowers", as Miss Lily calls them, before I attend to them.

As I see it, it's all one big work in progress, really. You, me, our lives in general, and today, my knitting stash in particular, as my hands meander through seemingly endless bags and baskets of yarn. Yarn gathered over years because it "spoke to me", because I just knew it would become something, eventually. You "yarnies" out there know what I am talking about. Today I realized that my stash already is something, and has been something all along... my inspiration!