In an attempt to work my way through my abandoned WIPs (Works In Progress) I’m hauling them out, one by one and dealing with my “issues” with each one. I mean there has to be a reason for why an otherwise perfectly normal woman would begin project after project only to take about half of them and stuff them into the back of her linen closet. Right? Today’s therapy item is 3/4 of what should be the back of Debbie Bliss’ “Farmyard Jacket” from “Farmyard Knits”, in Cantata Cotton Crepe dk.
I took it out and began the delicate process of self examination. Looking within myself for the subtle barriers to completion. What are the obscure and enigmatic reasons that I’ve turned my back on this project? The answer came to me in a dazzling moment of clarity.
I freakin hate it.
I hate intarsia with cotton yarn. I hate knitting yarn with no stretch, I hate trying to weave the ends in on cotton intarsia and I hate how many stupid little ends there are. I hate how uneven cotton intarsia looks and I think that Debbie Bliss is a masochist. (Brilliant, but a masochist)
I may also have a problem with cows. I learned all of this (except for the cow thing) when I knit “The Bird Jacket”. I must be a slow learner. How is it that I continue to allow myself to be seduced by the finished product when I would rather wash a live emu with my very own toothbrush than endure the process?
Now the question becomes this…I’ve knit 3/4 of the back, do I rip it out? Do I force myself to continue? Will it make me a better person to make good on my intention to knit this? If I did rip it out, what else would I use the yarn for? Slow learner I tell you. Painfully slow.
Maybe we shouldn’t discuss what else is in the linen closet.
Yarn Harlot
Rip it. Then give the yarn to goodwill. I hate cotton yarn and the back of that sweater looks like something nobody in their right mind would wear.
Consider it a lesson learned over and over again. I hate intarsia, but I still insist on making these tapestry sweaters – and they are still huge amounts of intarsia.
lizzy
I’m with Lizzy. I don’t know what possessed you to knit this. Unless some cute kid asked you for it??
If you’ve only knit the back, I vote for ripping it out, using the yarn for washcloths and never speaking of it again.
Just to play Devil’s Advocate here, why not finish the back as written and then complete the sweater minus the intarsia? Less time spent hassling with those annoying cows, plus the sweater looks fairly simple until someone sees the back and says, holy crap you’ve got a farmyard on your sweater.
That said, I night as well confess that I myself dislike knitting with cotton. And all my intarsia efforts have ended up being frogged with extreme prejudice.
Or you could always just bind off what you’ve finished so far and use the results as a washcloth. The dangling ends would, um, exfoliate better. Or something.
Oh honey, take that puppy to the frog pond! If you hate it, finishing it will just make you hate it more. No one should ever be forced to do intarsia with cotton yarn!
Make a pillow out of it and forget it. It will help you remember not to do that to yourself again. 🙂
OMG! What are you putting yourself through?? Rip it out!!!! If you hate it now when it’s not even halfway done, you’re going to hate it even more after you’ve forced yourself to finish it. Besides … would you ever wear this?
I agree with the majority – life is too short. Finish the last images and frame it.
Cast if off. Through it in your knitting bag. Use it to dry your hands after you wash them to begin the next project. This will keep fresh in your mind to never never do this to yourself again. What the heck would you do with it if you finished it? And, honestly, would you EVER finsih it? This is the great thing about moving. You can throw things like this in the trash and feel virtuous because you are making room for your kids’ and husband’s stuff in the moving van. I’ve done it three times now.
Barb
I vote for the pillow idea — it looks like you would only have a few more rows to go. If you rip it, you will then have all that yarn (that you hate working with) in your stash, just sitting there, staring at you ….
The pillow idea is brilliant! Just squeeze out a few more rows to finish that half a cow (sorry I’m a cow lover/collector). I’m having similar feelings knitting Fairisle with a stretchy yarn GAG!
I too have learned to hate cotton. I think the best idea is the pillow, only so you don’t feel all that work was wasted. Don’t even bother to finish the damn cow, put a garter border around it and make it a pillow cover. Then either give it to some child for their room, or keep it near your favorite knitting space as a constant reminder to NEVER do that again!
Actually I love to knit cotton, but not intarsia. I’m with Julie, finish the rest without the farm.
How about using the back for the front, and then knitting a new back and sleeves in red, with maybe a stripe or two in black/blue, to tie the colours in?
I had a half a cotton intarsia sweater that I hated like that. A total TOAD. It has been a kitchen towel now for over a year, slightly oddly shaped because I had begun the armhole shaping and I wasn’t even going to bother to frog that. Somehow it feels good to have a towel that announces that I am a creative person–and that I get to wipe my dirty hands on in revenge for its having taken up so much of my time when I was working on the darn thing.
pillow was gonna be my suggestion too.
If it would make an appropriate pillow, for you or someone you know, that would be my first choice. But just because it CAN become a pillow, doesn’t mean it SHOULD become a pillow. If it will just be a hated pillow, frog it.
Go pillow, uh-huh, go pillow . . . And if you hate it so much that you don’t want to look at it, then sell it on ebay and consider it gravy. And thanks for the laugh, I like the emu/toothbrush thing!
oooh ooooh – a pillow is even better – forget my framing suggestion.
I guess I’m a freak (well, I knew that already), cuz I really like it. Pack it up and send it to me!
Don’t even bother to frog it. Throw it out.
Life’s short.
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