Finally Finished Projects

I don't know about you, but it often takes awhile for me to finish a project.  Starting any new project (knitting, bookbinding, rug hooking, whatever) is all exciting!  Designing your item or looking for a pattern to make, and then choosing the colours, materials.  Usually there is some tweaking involved, and sometimes you change your mind because you see a new pattern, or get a new idea.  All this is fun!  

Then you get started, and that's fun, too, because you imagine how much you are going to enjoy the finished item.  You work hard on it, and then you get to the not-so-fun part - finishing.  There is finishing to be done in anything that you make.  With knitting, there's sewing it together and hiding all the ends.  With rug hooking, you have to bind the unfinished edges, and snip any excess threads.  You get the idea.  So sometimes (or often, depending on the person), the finishing gets put off in favour of starting another new and exciting project.  It's obvious that this is pretty common, because I've heard of knitting shops having UFO (Unfinished Object) nights to make finishing more pleasurable by turning it into a social event.  :)

So here are some of my finally finished projects.  These socks are made from sock yarn I bought while visiting family several years ago.  I did start knitting with it, and the yarn kept splitting - aaargh...  So I put it away.  Actually, I almost gave the yarn away, but this year I tried it again, this time with my newer wooden dp needles.  And it didn't split!  My metal needles were getting fairly sharp at the tips, so that might have been the problem.

Here's another pair of socks I finished this year - I was on a roll this spring....   I got this yarn in a swap, and again it sat in my stash for many years, mostly because it was a variegated yarn with a lot of bright yellow in it.  I like the colour yellow, but not in my clothing.  I had bought some weak acid dyes to use on wool fabric for rug hooking, and decided I might as well over dye this yarn with the maroon at the same time.  The results were wonderful!  Now the yarn was varying shades of red with small bits of yellow - much more my style.  And here are the finished socks:

And finally, here is a knitted felted tote bag I designed years ago (seeing a theme here?).  It originally had a knitted felted handle, too, but I was never happy with it.  I loved the bag but felt the handle was too light weight and might stretch out if I carried anything in the bag.  So I removed the handle, and the bag sat in storage waiting.  This year I finally found a wide leather belt at a thrift shop that I thought would work.  First, I lined the bag with some cotton fabric.  Then I punched holes in the belt, and handsewed it onto the bag and through the lining with thick waxed thread - the kind used for sewing leather, etc.  Now I love the bag, and will use it.  The leather strap is long enough to make it a shoulder bag, and there is a magnetic purse snap that holds the bag shut.

Sometimes it's okay if it takes awhile to do the finishing, because maybe things change and you get an idea that will make you love your creation even more! :)