Helpful Hiint #12: UFOs…frog or finish!

Okay, this is clearly a case of “Do as I say, not as I do.” Seriously, though, UFOs (Unfinished Objects) are a sad reality in craft-dom. We start out a project with the best of intentions. We spend oodles of money on the yarn (the LYS was having a sale—$100—a bargain!), we scour the earth for the perfect pattern, we spend MORE money on just the right needles, we cast on or make the starting chain, and then—   

Well, there are many reasons why a project becomes a UFO. It could be that:

1. You suddenly needed to make something else for someone’s shower (people always seem to be breeding), tossed this project aside, and just never got around to it again.
2. You quickly discovered that the stitch pattern is almost impossible for you to master, short of an advanced degree from MIT.
3. Partway through, you discovered that the item is just NOT going to be quite what was advertised—that model looked WAY better in that sweater than you ever will, even if you go on a crash diet.
4. You ran out of yarn and not only can’t you find the same dye lot again—you can’t find the same COLOR period because it’s been discontinued! 

This (d) happened to me recently (okay, months ago) with the Granny Stripe Afghan. Patons no longer makes one of the colors I was using. So, I’m faced with my own helpful hint. I need to either find the other yarn colors and at least crochet up to the point of the missing color, and just have the item be a Granny Stripe Shawl instead of an afghan; or I need to just rip out the whole thing and use the yarn for something else.

I need to do this soon as UFOs do have a tendency to haunt you…and they DO attract MORE UFOs!