Let's talk about WIPs

For those not in the know, WIP stands for work in progress, and I've got quite a few of those going on right now. I was going to do a combined post with my UFOs (unfinished objects), but since there are so many of both, it'll have to be a two-parter. 

First up:

T-shirt quilt for my BFF. She's been complaining that I robbed her of her entire wardrobe to make it, so she'd like to see the quilt sooner rather than later. I told her that it's way past time for her to stop wearing college t-shirts anyway (she graduated 6 years ago). Still, I figured this would be an easy way to get started sewing again.

 

These are all of the shirts she gave me. I'm mostly just winging this in terms of finished measurements (as I did with my own). I decided not to cut into all of these because I wanted the quilt to be 3 shirts x 5 shirts and didn't end up needing all of them.  

The largest logo is almost 12.5 inches wide, so that settled the question of square size -  13 x 13! Alas, I realized too far in that 2 of the shirts weren't wide enough (my BFF is tiny), so I'll have to do some creative fixing. 

 [The small ones are hiding - I can't deal with them right now, still kinda bummed about that one.]

 

[All of the cut-out squares]

Next step: iron interfacing to the back of all of these - at least that step will keep me warm and humidified during the cold, dry Chicago winter!

Last(ish) WIP:

My Dexter boyfriend cowl (because I've exclusively been knitting this while at my boyfriend's (yay for following resolutions so far!) or while watching Dexter, or both):

I've been using entirely stash yarn for this, leftovers from some sock monkeys I made for my mom, I think. I recently started adding in some light gray leftovers, too, since I didn't think it would be long enough with just the beige and brown. I really like the random stripes so far - it's very freeing to not have to follow a pattern so strictly, or worry about counting stitches or rows, as with my sidelined knitting project.

The goal is to have one of these before winter is over:

[Image from Unneva]

I swear this thing might be the death of me. It's a super simple stitch, and is very thick and cozy, but it is impossible to correct dropped stitches. Usually what happens is: I'm watching Dexter, knitting along, and I realize that I've dropped a stitch 3 or 4 rows earlier. It's always very obvious, but I have no idea why I don't notice sooner (other than the TV, I guess). I then have to rip out those 3-4 rows, and usually 5-6 rows BEFORE that to correct the mistake. So I've probably knit enough rows to almost complete this thing by now, but have ripped out half of it. Sigh. 

Looking at the other pics, I also maybe should have gone with bigger needles, but...no way I'm ripping that sucker out now! It'll be really nice to have this done and retire my semi-hideous scarf/hood thing.

In my next post, I'll detail all (some) of my UFOs, which I am now determined to finish sooner rather than later!