Every field of human endeavor has its own vocabulary. Football fans have to learn about offside penalties and safeties; woodworkers learn about grain and burl; airplane pilots have to balance drag and lift. Fiber crafters are no different. Spinners have to make choices about draft and draw; crocheters learn how to make front post half double crochet stitches and popcorns, and knitters decide whether to be pickers or throwers. And because we knitters and crocheters often work with patterns that are full of abbreviations, we eventually begin to think in abbreviations. There is a difference between working S2KP and SK2P - and the pattern won't look right if you mix them up.

So when we talk about our projects, we talk about UFO's, WIP's, PIG's and PIMM's. UFO's are Unfinished Objects, usually used in reference to a project that has been abandoned for some reason. WIP's are Works in Progress; these are things we are actually working on and trying to complete in a timely fashion. (PIG's are Projects in Grocery Sacks and PIMM's are Projects in My Mind; they are too scary to talk about here.) Since it's Wednesday, I thought I would talk about one of my WIP's. [Note: quilters do the same kind of thing, but it's too scary for me to talk about my quilting UFO's so I won't for now.]

A couple years ago I had a cat who liked to play with my yarn, especially if it was orange, or close to orange, or smelled like it wanted to be orange but got dyed wrong. So I started keeping my projects in bags and hanging them on a coat tree, out of reach of Mr. Snoopypaws. 

I still do it, because it allows other people to sit on the furniture, and it sort of puts a lid on the number of unfinished projects I can have at one time; when there's no more room on the tree I have to finish something before I can start something new. 

This summer I decided that it was time to use up some of my vast accumulation of sock yarn leftovers. I had a bin full, with no room for more. So I started several projects - a couple of scarves, a stuffed animal, and this blanket:

 The pattern is called Bandwagon Blanket (click here to go to the Ravelry page for this pattern). It's worked in Tunisian crochet, which I especially like for this type of blanket because you never have to turn the work; you always work from the front side. Here's another picture showing the detail:

It's been a fun project, and it has used a boatload of yarn. There's still a way to go; I think it's more than half finished, but I won't know until it gets a little longer. The best part is I can use every last inch of yarn; if I run out in the middle of a square I just tie on a new ball and keep going. Since I can't stand to throw away anything I can conceive a use for, this works for me. I've been told there are knitters who throw away their leftovers when they finish a project. I don't know who they are, and frankly, I'm not sure I want to know. 

If you're looking for projects to use up some of your scraps but don't want to get into something as big as a blanket, go to Ravelry and put the word "scrap" in the search box on the pattern page. You'll find more than enough ideas to help you empty your scrap bins.