Mission Undesireable

So, a few months ago, specifically January, I joined a group on Ravelry. (What is Ravelry? In a word, awesome.) The group is called Mission Possible 2008.

The basic idea of the group is that knitters and crocheters have all of these projects sitting around that aren't done, that we should really finish, but sometimes we just start new things instead. The people who started the group decided that in 2008, we would each pick 12 projects to finish by the end of the year. Now we're about halfway through July, so I figured it's about time to check in on what I said I'd do.

Here's what I've actually finished...
1. Backwards Ribs socks (languished on the needles for a coupla months)

Here's what I said I'd do, which is still undone...
1. stuffed baby penguin (in pieces, needs to be sewn)
2. Ravenclaw scarf (has had unwoven ends for about a year)
3. legwarmers - now Mosey from spring Knitty 2008 - one leg done!
4. prayer shawl (I have 4 skeins of blue Homespun designated for it)
5. stuffed Totoro (using leftover yarn from the Totoro sweater I made for a friend)
6. felted meta-iPod case (for leftover wool; it will look like and fit an iPod)
7. write up pattern for Dark Mark Illusion Armwarmers (I think this counts, since as a fledgling designer, I have some patterns that haven’t been written up yet)
8. write up pattern for Totoro sweater
9. a bag for when I (hopefully) study in St. Petersburg, Russia this summer!
10. socks from the bright green sockweight alpaca my friend Kathryn brought me from Chile
11. Blaze from Knitty (already have the yarn)

Now. Number 2 should go quickly. And number 9 never happened, which is totally fine. (I did have a specific pattern in mind for that bag, but as I never purchased the yarn for it, I don't feel like not finishing was a big deal. There's actually nothing hanging around haunting my stash that was supposed to be in it, so there we are.) I imagine the legwarmers should go quickly once I'm around them again (they're not in Russia), and Blaze is definitely a project I was planning to make in the fall.

The patterns need to happen to, and they will.

HOWEVER. The prayer shawl will involve carving out some time. And the stuffed Totoro and the baby penguin will be super cute and all, but they're going to have some tedious bits, which I'm not really looking forward to. And the felted iPod case? I really should have made that in January. The back of my iPod has lots of little scuffs and scratches, but I never seem to get around to it.

Basically, I'm looking at this list of 11 things I should really do in the next five months, and I really don't feel like doing that many of them, and the things I'm working on now, and the things I'm really excited about doing aren't on this list.

But how freeing would it be to get that penguin done? And that prayer shawl? And those scarf ends?

So I'm thinking, how much is it cheating to change my list this late in the year? Is that like trying to engineer my success or something? I don't want to cheat, but I don't want to be a complete failure.

Also, I might have created the original list too hastily. Does it really make sense to have projects that I would just like to make at the moment (like socks and a bag and stuffed Totoro) on this list, rather than including parts of my stash that are really burdening me? Are there skeins of yarn that I would like to get rid of? It's just been the last year that I've really gotten into using nice fiber, so I haven't really ever seriously considered getting rid of some of the lower quality acrylics that I have. There's a lot of stuff I have that I'm not that excited about. None of it is stuff I've purchased recently. Perhaps if I don't want the yarn that I leave at home while I'm at college this year, I'll get rid of that in the spring. Maybe I'll get rid of it in December. Hell, maybe I'll get rid of it in August.

Since I don't have any time tonight, perhaps I'll think this through and come up with a new, and more well-thought out list of things to finish. It can't be cheating. I'll be trying to do 11 things in five and a half months. Really four and half, because I probably won't have access to any of these things until I'm home.

Which isn't really home, because it's a new house. For some reason, while I was checking my email this morning, it really hit me: that house I've lived in for 17 years? I'm never going back there. I'm getting a little teary thinking about it.

My dad is having a blast today though. As the move is tomorrow, he's been getting to throw around his favorite word ('penultimate') around a lot recently.