State of the Workbasket Address (or February is for Finishing 2015)

Oh hi there.

Assuming you're still here, that is.

I vanished for a bit, which is what happens when (if you are me, and I often am) you go in for a check up and a flu shot.  ::shudder::  Let me be clear - flu shots cannot give you the flu*.  It doesn't work that way.  However, some people (like moi) have achey, blood-sugar-spike-y, not-so-great reactions to them. It took about a week, but I'm finally getting back to normal (thank g-d).

In the meantime, it's February, which if you've been around Kade's blog at all, you'll remember is for Finishing Things.

So follows the accounting of several days spent frogging, sorting, and otherwise working on various projects-in-progress.  Think of this as a knitting/crocheting State of the Union Workbasket address.

I started the month with 17 projects in progress (having just finished my Gordian Shrug on the very tippy end of January):

Success!

Now, eight of those things (to be addressed momentarily) I knew I was keeping.  Most of them were started within the last month or three and thoroughly delight me:

Granny Square Spectrum Afghan

Evenflow Cardi

Summerberry Hitchhiker

Lithos Cardi

Mystik Spiral Socks

Slipstream Mitts

Strie Socks (Top Down)

"This Bliss" Cowl

Then, I had to decide what to do with the rest of the lot:

The Nicole Camisole

It really is this eye-searingly bright. (Koi Shawl)

The Forest Path Stole

The Lace Dream Shawl 

Mystic Water Shawl

Fire Shawl

Most of these were frogged.  I'm really over lace right now, and I'm trying to cut back on knitting things I won't actually wear. (Crazy, huh?)

I kept the Forest Path Stole and the Lace Dream stole on the needles, because a. I still really like them (and in the case of the Lace Dream I'm not willing to give up on a 20-year-old WIP), and b. I know I'll actually wear stoles.  Both projects are going to stay in deep hibernation, though.

I don't expect to finish all of the projects listed above this month.  I've already finished the first of the Mystik Spiral socks (see below), and I'm about halfway done with the first Strie sock.  I'm tentatively hoping to get the Bliss Cowl done, or possibly the Hitchhiker, and I'd like to finish the back of the Even Flow Cardi and the Slipstream Mitts (those are a priority right now because it's cold out!)  I tend to lean towards working on whatever makes my knitting muse the happiest, but I'm not above methodically going through and working on them in order of "how much is left to do" in the last half of the month.

All in all though, the frogging was cathartic, the finishing is empowering, and I'm pretty happy with the variety and number of things I still have on the needles.

catharsis!

empowerment!

So what's your February strategy?  Are you subject to your knitting whims or do you have a strategic plan?  Was this a year of unflinching frogging and flinging, or are you simply weaving in ends?

* Not a doctor or other medical expert or practitioner, I don't even play one on TV.  This is me, relating my own personal experiences, and should not be taken as medical advice or indicative of how such things may or may not effect you, my dear reader, or anyone else, for that matter.