Crochet guide
Keeping track of works in progress
A work in progress, or WIP, is a piece you have started and not finished. Give each one a bag of its own with its yarn, its hook and its pattern, and mark the row you reached. Then any piece can be picked up again, or pulled out and its yarn used for something else.
On this page 7 parts
What the word means
WIP is the word makers use for a work in progress: a piece that is started and not yet finished. A piece that has sat untouched for a long time is often called a UFO, an unfinished object. Nearly everyone who crochets has some of each.
How to put a piece down
A piece is simple to pick up again if four things stay with it. Put them in one bag or box, and give every piece a bag of its own.
- Its yarn, with the label. Keep all the yarn the piece still needs in the bag, and keep the label, which says what the yarn is. Storing yarn, hooks and patterns explains why yarn for one piece stays together.
- Its hook. Leave the hook with the piece. You may have changed hook size since you began, and months later you will not remember.
- Its pattern. Keep the pattern, or a copy, in the bag.
- A note. Write the hook size on the pattern, and anything you changed. A slip of paper in the bag does as well.
Then mark where you stopped. Cross off the rows you have finished on the pattern, or note the number of the last row.
To keep the last loop from pulling out while the piece is put away, see using stitch markers, which shows how a marker holds it.
Where to keep them
- Together. Keep all the bags in one place, such as one shelf or one basket.
- In view. A piece you can see is a piece you remember. Clear bags help.
- With one pouch of tools. Scissors, needles and markers can live in one small zipped pouch that moves from bag to bag.
How to find your place in an old piece
- Read your notes first. The marked pattern and the note in the bag say which row comes next and which hook you used.
- No notes? Count. Count the rows you have worked and compare the number with the pattern. How to count stitches and rows shows what a row looks like.
- Check the stitch count. Count the stitches in the last row and compare them with the count the pattern gives for that row. How to read a crochet pattern explains where patterns print it.
Finish it or frog it?
Every so often, take stock. Collect every unfinished piece and lay them all out. For each one, choose.
- Finish it, if you still want the thing. Keep these pieces, in their bags.
- Frog it, if you do not. Frogging means pulling the work out. The yarn can then be used for something else. Frogging shows how.
Two things help the pieces you keep.
- Set a date. A goal or a deadline of your own can get a piece moving again.
- Look at what is left. Some stalled pieces are fully crocheted and wait only for the finishing: seams to sew and ends to weave in. See joining and seaming pieces and weaving in ends.
Questions people ask
What does WIP mean in crochet? Work in progress. A UFO is an unfinished object, usually one that has been set aside for a long time.
How many pieces should I have going at once? There is no rule, and makers differ. Some keep to one, others like several. What matters is that each one can be found and picked up again.
Can I reuse the yarn from a piece I give up on? Yes. Pull the work out and wind the yarn into a ball. Winding yarn into a ball covers the winding.
Where to go next
- Crochet for travel covers pieces that leave the house.
- If a piece stalled because something looked wrong, crochet problems lists the usual causes.