100 Days Starting Now!

1st June sees the start of 100 Days Project Scotland 2025

Out of the blue on 31 May I signed up for the @100daysprojectscotland for the first time. I see people doing it every year but I’ve always been too late before.

The 100 Days Project has two simple rules:

#1 Repeat a simple creative task everyday for 100 days

#2 Record each day's effort

I started out with no idea if I’d be doing watercolour or weaving, really for me, it’s all about time. Just making the time each and everyday for 100 days to do the things I love, so I called my project #RosieSavesTime.

Now, we’re forty days in and I’m pleased to have made the time to finish quite a few pieces that had been languishing for ages.

I started off with weaving, as I hadn’t done any in over a year!

Tapestry loom sample piece

I warped the looms up for demo purposes in March 2024 and never touched them again. There was a wee demo piece on the tapestry loom so I spent the first few days of the project finishing it off. I really enjoyed having my homespun yarn in my fingers again as it gives such lovely colours and textures. It was easier to get in the habit of documenting my project than it was making the time to fit in the actual activity, but it definitely forced me to be more creative more of the time.

After 412 days on the loom I finally finished the weaving. In just two weeks I finished it off, backed it with cotton and made a little mat for my bedside table. It’s where I put my glasses at night, and where Ed puts my cappuccino in the morning. Well worth taking the time to finish!

Knitter’s loom sample piece

I must confess that I did very little of the actual weaving on this piece which was on my Ashford Knitter’s Loom. When I’m at an event I like to bring the looms so that people can have a go, and maybe even take one home.

I warped it up with some sock yarn that I had in my stash and set up the weaving so that it would easier for anyone who wanted to have a go. In the end, Ed’s daughter became quite engrossed in it, and ended up weaving the whole thing!

Once she’d finished I took over to get it off the loom, a process which involves securing the warp threads, cutting them off the loom at one end, and untying them a the other. Once it was all sorted she gave it a soak and we were able to hang it out on a nice sunny day to dry. The final step was to trim the loose ends on the back.

It’s always such a pleasure to support others on their weaving journeys. Now I need to decide what warp to put on next!

Cardigan completion

Getting the weaving finished gave me the nudge I needed to also finish this cardigan which has been a long time in the making! The pattern is based on Virginia, by Marie Wallin from her Bloomsbury Book. I always like to choose the colours that fit my wardrobe and I draw out the chart with coloured pencils on squared paper as I find it easier to follow than all the tiny symbols in the pattern book.

This time I even swatched to see what worked best, I wasn’t sure if I liked all the choices I’d made when I first tried them so I tweaked it a bit and tried again. It was a really helpful exercise and in the end I chose combinations from each swatch for the final design. I like to use Rowan Felted Tweed for my colourwork as it’s easily available and wears and washes well. I used some new shades I hadn’t tried before as well as some old favourites.

I started knitting it at the beginning of October 2021, and I’ve been working on it periodically ever since.

The original pattern is written to make separate pieces, starting with the back, the front pieces and then the two sleeves. I’m not a huge fan of knitting this way as it means you have to knit one row which faces the front then purl the next one which faces the back. This means that when you’re purling (on the wrong side) you have to remember to follow the chart in the opposite direction to the previous row! It’s confusing I know, which is why I prefer knitting in the round whenever I can.

To knit in the round I use circular needles with wooden tips and a process called steeking. So when I’m casting on, I add all of the stitches for the back and the fronts and put in an extra 5-7 stitches creating the ‘steek’ where I eventually cut the knitting. So instead of going backwards and forwards, and knitting and purling I just keep knitting round, and round and round until I need to split for the sleeves.

In the intervening four years, this was never the only thing I was knitting. I was easily distracted, and completed a few other jumpers along the way (but the navy cardigan has made zero progress!).

I’ve knitted it in Dunaverty, Luing, Ballachullish, Orkney, London and Mull, so it has lots of happy memories knit into the stitches. The trouble started once I finished the main body. I wanted to knit the sleeves from the top down so that I could match the pattern at the shoulders and determine the correct length more easily. The problem was this involved translating the whole pattern as it was written from the cuff upwards! It was difficult, I procrastinated, I persevered, I made mistakes, but I never gave up!

I got some new yarn in January which gave me the impetus to crack on and get this cardigan finished as I would NOT allow myself to cast on without finishing this first. I fixed the mistake I’d made in the sleeve and began to make much faster progress than I had in years. By the time I came back from Mull at the end of March I had almost finished the first sleeve, I had even attached it so that I could work in the round again.

At various points I had run out of one or other colour of yarn so instead of knitting I had set about sewing in the ends so it wouldn’t be too traumatic at the end. Finally, when I started the 100 days project I was able to get both sleeves were done, the neckband added, the button band attached and I found the cutest ceramic buttons at Potfest which were the perfect match. I got some beautiful ribbon from Mokshatrim to cover the steek and, Voila! It was done.

I’m absolutely thrilled with it (we just won’t mention the navy cardigan - that can be a tale for another day). Seriously though I WILL get it done too, in a world of fast fashion and endless consumption, there's something truly satisfying, and maybe even radical and rebellious, about taking the time to finish what you've started, giving new life to forgotten materials, and creating pieces that will be cherished for years.

Do you have any WIPS that have been haunting you for years? What would it take to get them finished? Let me know in the comments below…

Maybe you need an accountability buddy, or it could help to break it down into smaller steps? Celebrate each small win - finishing one row or one square counts! And remember, progress is more important than perfection!