What My WIP Taught Me - A 2020 Reflection

Can you believe we made it through 2020?!?! It was touch and go there for a while, but I think we all deserve a pat on the back and a large belt of whiskey for ringing in the new year.

This was a sad, scary, stressful, and heavy year, but it has made me more grateful for the people I love and the little joys in life. I’m so grateful for my family and friends, but also to all of you - the awesome interwebz friends I have made. Whether you are here for the yarn, the cocktails and beach life, the body positive talk or you’re lost and can’t find the exit, THANK YOU for playing along with me this year and I hope you’ll stick around for more Knitting Tipsy shenanigans in 2021.

The start of a new year is often a time of reflection and as I’ve thought back on the shit show of 2020, I realized that this was actually a year of a lot of growth for me. I grew as a maker by taking on new and challenging tests, putting myself out there meeting new friends (virtually) and joining collaborations, and pushing myself to try new skills and concepts. I grew as a designer by putting my own ideas onto paper and I published 2 size inclusive crochet bikini patterns. I also grew in my self confidence and found strength in loving myself and my body, even when society whispered that I shouldn’t or couldn’t love such imperfection. I’m really proud of all these milestones and it has made me realize that while we may be in a New Year now, I definitely don’t want a New Me. I’m happy with the current me and just want to continue to encourage and better the version of myself I am at present. I plan to embrace the things I love and push myself to do the things I’ve always wanted, even if it’s a little scary. As a Will Smith Tik Tok told me: “If you can’t beat the fear, just do it scared.” And I want to be better at accepting my faults and flaws and knowing that life isn’t meant to be perfect. Just like our handmades, it’s not about a flawless garment, it’s about the work and love you put into it and the pride you have in knowing you’ve created something with your own two hands that you’re excited to show off to the world.

I really had to put these beliefs into practice as 2020 drew to a close. One of the things I really wanted to do before the year ended was to wrap up my longest lasting WIP on my needles - The Iqaluit Shawl by The Petite Knitter that I started in June 2019. This shawl has been really special to me for a number of reasons. First, it’s the last WIP my Great-Grammy Kay and I talked about before she passed away this summer. I showed it to her over Christmas 2019 and she just loved the texture and the yarn I’d chosen. We sat and knit together for a bit that day and I’ll always cherish that memory of working on this shawl beside her.

My Grammy Kay. The OG Maker. Spinnin’, knittin’, crochetin’, and weavin’ before it was cool.

Secondly, this was my travel WIP for my trip to Ecuador - my #1 bucket list destination I’ve wanted to travel to since I was 16. I wanted a project that would last at least as long as the trip (2 weeks) but wouldn’t require too many notions or skeins of yarn as we were backpacking and had limited space. This shawl was perfect for the trip and is now infused with the mountain air of the Andes and the memories of all the places and faces of people I met while knittin’ along.

Sounds like a perfect project, right? Welllllllllllllll not quite. I made an absolute rookie mistake and “guesstimated” that I’d have “plenty” of yarn instead of weighing out what I had and checking the pattern requirements. The shawl is meant to have a color change right at a lace dividing point giving it a really neat interlocking/joining look between the colors. I ran out of yarn in my first color approximately 6 rows before this join. Ugh. Now, I could have stopped and waited to get more yarn when I arrived home. But I was enjoying the hell outta the pattern and didn’t want to have idle hands during the hours long bus rides between towns in Ecuador. So, I made the decision to switch colors before the join in order to keep the WIP alive. Alas, I am not one to make a decision and think no further on it. For the ENTIRE last year I have gone through moments of “It doesn’t look bad! And handmades aren’t meant to be perfect! I love it!” to “Oh fuck this. I’m frogging it. I can’t stand that it’s off center.” Ask my husband. The poor man must be so sick of hearing that same argument and trying to support whatever decision I made in that moment. Only to change my mind 5 minutes later.

BUT- I didn’t frog it. I kept going and little by little, I began to accept the flaws in my shawl and realize just how beautiful it still was. THEN, December 31st, 2020 happened. And I ran out of yarn 13 rows before the end of the shawl. With mere hours to go before my self imposed, completely arbitrary deadline for this shawl, I had to decide. Do I frog a year’s worth of work, of memories, of growth so as to not create a new “flaw” in the design? Or do I accept that 2020 is fucking me over one last time and work with what I’ve got. I rummaged through my limited vacation options and found a silver fingering weight yarn with stellina. (PS If you add sparkle to a mistake, it’s now a life choice and sparkle is ALWAYS a good idea.) I finished that shawl with a glass of champagne and told 2020 to kiss my ass.

So there ya have it. My incredibly special, slightly wonky, flawed and utterly perfect Iqaluit shawl. I’m in love with it. And I hope I can always look down at this shawl and know that life gets fucked up sometimes, but the memories of the good times and the people we love make it all beautiful and worthwhile.

Happy 2021, Y’all!!!! I can’t wait to experience all it has to offer with you!