knit

Yarn Music: 100 Days 21

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 21:

Beginning the second fifth of #The100DayProject today. First, I organized my yarn stash, which—after some unravelling of a couple knotty skeins— currently fits into one very large bin and two big baskets. I do not, as the hip-hop song I posted with yesterday’s reel about the project, “Need More Yarn.”

I Need More Yarn
by Yarnie On Da Hook

“I got 57 skeins and I still ain’t calm.”
I need more yarn, don’t ask why,
Cart full of skeins and I still might cry.
Bought a whole stash, said “this the last,”
Then saw a sale and spent it fast.
I need more yarn, like now, no cap,
Got bins on bins and a color map.
Yarn store clerk know me by name,
Swipe that card, I feel no shame.
I got worsted, DK, jumbo too,
Color so fine, had to cop that blue.
Said no more yarn? That’s cute — you tried,
But I see a gradient, and all bets slide.
Midnight scrollin’, eyes real wide,
“Limited stock” — now I’m outside.
UPS man just shook his head,
Dropped off a box, it’s full of thread.
I crochet slow, but I buy like zoom,
Got yarn in the closet, yarn in the room.
Yarn in the car, yarn in my bag,
Yarn in a basket my cat tryna snag.
I need more yarn, don’t ask why,
Cart full of skeins and I still might cry.
Bought a whole stash, said “this the last,”
Then saw a sale and spent it fast.
I need more yarn, like now, no cap,
Got bins on bins and a color map.
Yarn store clerk know me by name,
Swipe that card, I feel no shame.
I got 3 WIPs and 10 more planned,
A half-done shrug and a ghosted headband.
Y’all out clubbin’ — I’m at Joann’s,
Stackin’ coupons in both my hands.
It’s a fiber frenzy, a textured trap,
One more skein and I’ll fill this gap.
I said I’d chill — that was a lie,
New colorway just dropped? Goodbye.
I need therapy, or maybe a tote,
To carry all this soft lil’ hope.
Crochet got me in a bind,
But I like my yarn like I like my mind — twisted.
You ever buy so much yarn you start hiding it in the oven?
Under the couch? Behind shampoo bottles?
If loving yarn is wrong… I don’t wanna be right.
I need more yarn, I said what I said,
Yarn in the fridge and yarn in the bed.
Custom life, I stitch, I slay —
But I’ll risk rent for that merino gray.
I need more yarn, don’t make me choose,
I got 8 pinks and I need more hues.
Stash so big, might start a farm…
One more skein won’t do no harm.
Yarn therapy…
That’s a real diagnosis.
Catch me outside — with a hook and a haul.
(Yarn gang 4 life.)

#The100DayProject

@dothe100dayproject

Color and Courage: 100 Days (17)

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

Tying Up Loose Ends

Day 17: In which I consider the artfulness of color and courage

Today I crocheted the shoulders together. I was thinking I would pick up stitches to knit up a more finished looking neckline, but I am going to leave it for now. I like the little roll, and I can always do more there later.

The problem now is the sleeves. When I began the project five years ago, when my knitting was slower and my attention span was even more like that of a butterfly, I followed the designer’s (Laerke Bagger’s) instructions more strictly, trying always to keep one of my neutral yarns in the mix of the two or three yarns I was knitting with at a time, and switching colors more quickly. As I got further in, and braver, I began to get bolder about using color more intuitively for me, changing colors less frequently, and blending my color changes. So when I unraveled the project the first time, I used the balls with the braver color choices for the front and the back, and made my sleeves from the grayer balls. The gray is on the top of the third picture.

I am totally in love with the two panels in the front and back, but I was only sort of satisfied with the sleeves, so. . .I unraveled them. This project has taught me so very much. About trusting my color instincts. About persistence. About approaching my work with a more artful eye. So. while I am disappointed that I still have so much more to go, I am really happy with how much the process has been teaching me, so I am actually really happy to redo this part of the sweater. I won’t have trouble finding a use for the gray balls.

I also crocheted a few more hearts and flowers for Pride.

#The100DayProject

@dothe100dayproject

Tying Up Loose Ends

/ Beth Weaver-Kreider / Leave a comment

I have finally managed to get my brain-squirrels at least running in the same direction. I think.

I had a wild and unmanageable list of exciting and interesting possibilities for #The100DayProject, lots of potential for daily dopamine sparkles, but a couple days ago as I was vacuuming the rugs (I do that occasionally), I had a brainstorm: What if this year’s 100 Day Project would be about tying up loose ends? What if I made a list of all my Unfinished Projects, and pledged to work on one of them every day for 100 days? The daily dopamine hit would be less sparkly, perhaps, but the satisfaction in the end could be immeasurable.

So here’s the plan:
1. Spend 10-15 minutes every day on an Unfinished Project. If I have an occasional crazy busy day in which I am simply running all day from thing to thing, I can give myself a short break and do five minutes.
2. I must work on a project from my project list, and not create a new project mid-stream. I can still work on things off the list, just not as a fulfillment of this project.
3. I will take a picture of my progress on whichever project every day to log on my social media for accountability’s sake.
4. I do not have to finish one project on the list before picking up another–it’s about making progress on the things I begin but haven’t finished.

Here’s the List (for now–I may tweak it in the next two couple days before the project begins on Sunday, February 22):
1. The crochet shrug
2. The Alone Together Sweater (second attempt)
3. The Granny Square Yard Sale Cardigan
4. My Tanzania 2024 Book
5. The Rosary Zines
6. The Words Collection
7. The black Granny Squares–whatever was I doing with them?
8. 100 Hearts and Flowers for Pride
9. 20 more Little Protector Dolls for Radiance
10. Nisselue–the knitted and/or crocheted Norwegian Resistance Hat
11. Mending
12. The Red Thread Embroidery
13+ I feel like there are some more that I listed in my journal the other day, so I might add a couple from there.

I have a little cheaty thing going on in my brain right now. I have been inspired by a crocheter who makes elaborate neckpieces of different yarns and stitches, mixing knitting and crochet and different sizes of hooks and needles. If I were to begin one before Sunday, then it would be an Unfinished Project. . . Hmmmm.

I chose the name Tying Up Loose Ends for the project because I am trying to free up my mind for other projects. The image I am using is a crochet circle I am making. As I cut off ends of yarn from projects, I knot those that are longer than five or six inches to a ball of loose ends, and then I crochet them onto my circle. When it’s large enough, I will use it as the top for a beret. I’ll keep adding to the Ball of Loose Ends throughout the project.

The project begins on Sunday, and lasts until June 1. Go to #The100DayProject web page, if you are intrigued and want to join. My process is to:
1. Do the Project every day
2. Photograph or video it
3. Post on Social Media

At school, we are encouraging our middle and high schoolers to join us if they want, for the sake of creativity, mindfulness, or focus.

You can be very creative about your project choice: Try a new dance every day, give a compliment every day, do a watercolor a day, a Zentangle a day, doodle a face every day, do a breathing exercise every day, write a haiku a day, research a different animal every day, sing a song a day. . .