Friday, May 18, 2007

5 WIP Rule (and how to break it)

Ali from Skeins Her Way is currently having a cool contest over on her blog. So after you read my list of summer knitting goals go here and participate too! Just make sure you let her know I sent you there.

Last year, Aswim in Knits had made a 5 WIP rule for herself. I thought it was a fabulous idea and tried to apply it to my own knitting. I did pretty well with it last year… until we moved. Apparently stress makes me cast-on. I currently have 9 things on needles that I can think of off the top of my head. Which means the real number is probably closer to 15. Sigh. Here’s my summer goals -

1. Get (and keep) the WIPs down to a manageable 5. It's going to be tough because even just writing that makes me itchy to cast on something new. (Do socks count as WIP's?)

2. Do all the socks for Sockamania.

3. Organize a helmet-liner drive.

4. Organize my book proposal and submit it to at least 3 publishers.

6. Be true to the stash-buster 2007 resolution I made (so far, so good! I've only slipped once. Good thing that sock-yarn-grace is built in!)

7. Stop here so I can keep my goals realistic.

I saw this contest first at Knitting in Pink, then at Stumbling Over Chaos (who, as I've mentioned before has the line on all the knitblog contests!), then at Uberstrickenfrau.

Exciting news! (At least it's exciting to me...) I got my first sidebar listing! You know, where someone links to your blog on the side of their blog. In the list of regular blogs that they read. I'm listed over at No More Sweaters. It's kinda funny because I saw Fifth Element Knitter listed for a few days and I thought, "What a cool name." I finally clicked on it to see what that was about and it was me! I'm actually '5elementknitr' as in 5 Element Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine but who cares! I'm listed! SWEET!

That reminds me. I need help. I try to list stuff like that in my sidebar but I always end up with miles-long website addresses instead of cool buttons (of blogs I read) or pictures (of books I read). Anyone wanna email me and I'll give my # to call and y'all can walk a computer-impaired chicka through it all? RuthAT5elementknitrDOTcom. Anyone in the Denver area wanna come over and help? I'll trade and give an amazing therapeutic massage! Let me know!

Good luck and happy summer, Ruth!

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like using the blogroll through Bloglines to list the blogs I read. (You're in my list, baby!) It keeps my sidebars neat and I don't have to mess with a bunch of typing....'cause I'm lazy.

Yarnhog said...

I got the same thrill when I first saw my blog on a sidebar...and it was also at No More Sweaters! I also don't know how to add stuff like that (and I'm convinced my computer will self-destruct if I make a mistake), so no help there. In answer to your question on my blog (about the little blanket), the yarn was a ball of Patons Classic Wool that my son hand-painted himself with Kool-Aid. I blogged about that experience a few posts ago (probably before you started reading). It's under "Kool-Aid Dyeing Experiment #1". The pattern is just a loose-knit lace stitch that I picked to try to maximize the yardage, and the trim is Cascade 220.

Faith said...

Whoops! Sorry for the wrong name, I changed it! You have a fantastic blog and as a newer blogger myself, I realize that it's sometimes difficult to roll with the big dogs, hence the "Super New Knitters" title. Keep up the great work, it's mightily appreciated on my end.

Valerie said...

Hiya--I just barely got the comment you left on my blog about the frog and yarn prizes. I'm sorry! You are just barely too late. I'm just now posting the winners.

I think the sweater would be great in an adult size--the rows spanning the sleeves and shoulder would be killer, though! I think it would have even more of a military jacket feel in a bigger size. That could be good, or not... Hmmm. I think I'll have to go make a sketch.

Chris said...

Oh, I wish I was in the Denver area - sidebar tips for massage?! Wow. :) But I see a Sockamania button in your sidebar - so you must've had a taker??