the unfinished project log
Apr. 25th, 2024 07:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gnatpackFor the first time in about 6 years I bought a pair of jeans. They're that oh-so-trendy distressed style that gives only my knees a tan, which I'm not super a fan of but they're cheaper to buy secondhand than intact jeans. In order to protect my knees from unseemly exposure (kidding!) I'm going to be practicing my visible mending skills on the jeans as if I don't still have an unfinished denim jacket laying around. So, in an attempt at accountability, here's a list of some other thing's I've been meaning to do but haven't quite finished yet.
I tried doing a test run in another part of the yard, but the bed was beneath a pecan tree. Pecan trees are notoriously difficult to grow under because the juglone they release into the dirt inhibits growth. Only one out of six seeds actually grew, and that poor sprout is trying to stave off the particularly voracious wooly caterpillars we have devouring everything this year.
Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to continue trying to prepare the flower beds or settle for using pots this year and leave the real work for next year. Whatever choice I make might be irrelevant; there's also the chance that we will get yet another devastating summer drought that obliterates any attempts at gardening. This has happened the last two years so it's hard to tell if it's a phase or our new climate change normal.
The problem is that if I finish knitting the last strap I have to try it on. And if I try it on I have to find out if it fits.Given my track record with knitting clothes that take a long time and then don't fit, it seems simpler to leave it an eventual, unfinished project. Also my cat keeps sleeping on the cart where I store my knitting, which makes it kind of hard to get things out of it.
The problem is that I also want to knit other things, and I have a rule about only taking on three knitting projects at a time. This keeps me from having a bunch of unfinished things floating around, which in my experience leads to them getting eaten by little wormy things. 2/3 of my current knitting projects, however, are tied up in shawls that aren't gong to be finished any time soon. Finishing the bralette would be the easiest answer. But instead I'm spending my time planning what I want to work on once I finish putting off finishing.
There's a small stack of fabrics that I have been meaning to make things with, but having ideas is easier than having the skills to execute them. For instance there's a leopard print jacquard I bought imagining a very specific style of vest, but I'm not super confident in my ability to actually successfully make a vest. My dress form currently has a clump of fabric pinned to it in the shape of what might one day be a skirt, but while working I've discovered I don't particularly like the feel of the (donated) fabric and can't decide if I want to continue making the skirt anyways for some instance that might require some sort of emergency skirt.
I think sewing is where I get the most indecisive because it's where I have the least experience. Using a machine is easy enough, as if hand-sewing, but piecing the puzzle together into something wearable and maybe a bit technically impressive feels intimidating. It also doesn't help that I'm learning from a hodgepodge of online sources rather than a physical person who can show me things. But all the people who sew in my family are dead and I don't have sewing money so... here we are.
My plan is to maybe someday finish some of these projects. If nothing else, I plan to document my attempts at finishing projects.
garden goals
At the beginning of April I'd started working on preparing garden beds for growing zinnias and a few others things. What was supposed to be a weekend plan turned into something much larger when I discovered a black weed suppressant fabric that has had grass growing over it for the last decade. It still hasn't been fully dug up, and my flowers still haven't been planted.I tried doing a test run in another part of the yard, but the bed was beneath a pecan tree. Pecan trees are notoriously difficult to grow under because the juglone they release into the dirt inhibits growth. Only one out of six seeds actually grew, and that poor sprout is trying to stave off the particularly voracious wooly caterpillars we have devouring everything this year.
Right now I'm trying to decide if I want to continue trying to prepare the flower beds or settle for using pots this year and leave the real work for next year. Whatever choice I make might be irrelevant; there's also the chance that we will get yet another devastating summer drought that obliterates any attempts at gardening. This has happened the last two years so it's hard to tell if it's a phase or our new climate change normal.
knitting is a conceptual hobby
In January I started knitting a bralette. In February I mostly finished it. But mostly finished means somewhat unfinished.The problem is that if I finish knitting the last strap I have to try it on. And if I try it on I have to find out if it fits.Given my track record with knitting clothes that take a long time and then don't fit, it seems simpler to leave it an eventual, unfinished project. Also my cat keeps sleeping on the cart where I store my knitting, which makes it kind of hard to get things out of it.
The problem is that I also want to knit other things, and I have a rule about only taking on three knitting projects at a time. This keeps me from having a bunch of unfinished things floating around, which in my experience leads to them getting eaten by little wormy things. 2/3 of my current knitting projects, however, are tied up in shawls that aren't gong to be finished any time soon. Finishing the bralette would be the easiest answer. But instead I'm spending my time planning what I want to work on once I finish putting off finishing.
sewing ambitions
Much like my knitting, I have one or two mostly-done sewing projects that I haven't finished because I don't want to know if I messed up. While I've been knitting for 15 years at this point, sewing is a much more recent endeavor. And since I can't really afford fabric and sewing patterns I've had to settle with learning on the fly. A lot of this means making things from times predating the modern paper sewing pattern where I can use math to figure out shapes and sizes of the pieces I'm assembling.There's a small stack of fabrics that I have been meaning to make things with, but having ideas is easier than having the skills to execute them. For instance there's a leopard print jacquard I bought imagining a very specific style of vest, but I'm not super confident in my ability to actually successfully make a vest. My dress form currently has a clump of fabric pinned to it in the shape of what might one day be a skirt, but while working I've discovered I don't particularly like the feel of the (donated) fabric and can't decide if I want to continue making the skirt anyways for some instance that might require some sort of emergency skirt.
I think sewing is where I get the most indecisive because it's where I have the least experience. Using a machine is easy enough, as if hand-sewing, but piecing the puzzle together into something wearable and maybe a bit technically impressive feels intimidating. It also doesn't help that I'm learning from a hodgepodge of online sources rather than a physical person who can show me things. But all the people who sew in my family are dead and I don't have sewing money so... here we are.
My plan is to maybe someday finish some of these projects. If nothing else, I plan to document my attempts at finishing projects.
