Life becomes busy. It happens slowly. Dishes stack up. The vacuuming has not been done in a week or more. Then a day passes when there has been no time to sit down and knit. Then suddenly one is told to stay home. One catches up on all the delinquent cleaning. One looks at the knitting sitting in piles in every room. It was time to take control of the WIPs. I made a list of all the WIPs, Walking through rooms, looking through baskets, into re-useable canvas shopping bags, even a plastic storage bin. I found 19 WIPs in various stages. Even I was a bit surprised.

Yes, I will start projects and then lay it aside to knit something that catches my eye. Look at the Toph hat I have been wearing all winter. I knit that hat in a few evenings. Then I remembered the Orfeo Hat. That hat was going to be my winter hat. (see post from November 1, 2019). The Orfeo Hat was easily found, nicely gathered in a lovely zippered project bag and the bag was sitting on top of the color chart, all nicely labeled on a magnetic pattern holder.  And that was the problem, the color chart. I love knitting corrugated rib. It is fun and easy to knit. But you can only do so much corrugated ribbing. The color pattern began and my interest dropped in direct proportion. The project bag with the Orfeo Hat was neatly placed on a shelf and I knit Toph with gusto. Toph is also color knitting but it is a totally different type of color knitting.

Toph, designed by Woolly Wormhead is knit flat in segments and is all about short rows. I love short rows. I like short rows so much that I teach classes about knitting with short rows. Short rows are fun and fascinating and Toph fit into my idea of fun knitting. The fact that it also used two colors did not even faze me. I used Bohemian Gothic in Jekyll and Dorian. Technically, the pattern calls for DK wool but my gauge using the worsted weight Bohemian Gothic was not that wide from the required gauge. I adapted by knitting the smaller size. I also adjusted the fit by knitting one less wedge then called for in the pattern. This is my favorite hat ever. It is warm and stylish and I wear it everywhere.

Ah, the Orfeo Hat? In this time of “safer at home”, I have made an effort. I am becoming more adept at color knitting. I am discovering the fun of seeing the pattern gradually appear. While I am progressing, let’s be honest, I won’t be wearing this hat until next winter.