In 2020 I signed up for Undercover Otter’s Clan of Igor club. This left me with lots of yummy Undercover Otter yarns, but I also received little goodies each month of various types, from gummy worms to rainbow pens. One of those goodies was a little progress keeper in the shape of a honey comb with a bee. At first I was rather confused by it’s purpose. It has a little lobster claw clasp on it, so it’s sort of like a locking stitch marker (and could be used that way), but seemed bulky to use as a stitch marker. Then I noticed a few other websites and Instagram posts talking about progress keepers and I slowly came to figure out how to use it.
If you’re not familiar (as I was not) with a progress keeper – it let’s you track progress in smaller increments. They come with some sort of clasp which allows you to attach it wherever you need on your project. Why would you do this? Well, one reason is to keep track of progress – you could attach it at the start of the day (or week) to see how far you’ve gotten. This can be helpful on those never-ending stockinette sections to see that you have made progress. Or maybe you mark the point at which you need to “work for X inches” so it’s easy to see where you started and measure your progress. I’ve also used it to mark where I did ankle decreases on a sock so I can match the second one. Also, they are just kinda fun…
So earlier this year I bought a couple more as I usually have multiple WIPs going, and one progress keeper is only good for, well, one project at a time. I found a little silver fox and a dragon. TheEnabler was admiring them, so I pulled up Etsy where I bought them from… and fell down a rabbit hole. In short, my progress keeper collection has grown from one to uh… fourteen? And that’s what’s here…
We started looking for specific animals which TheEnabler’s family likes. This is why I have a camel – his mother loves camels. This is not the easiest animal to find, and there were only a few options (also, if I search “camel”, llamas and alpacas will not do!) but LiAnnSchmuck had a rather nice one. So I guess it’ll have to go on any projects I make for her to add some camel essence. We just liked the turtle.
But we also ordered some from a seller in Canada, YarnCandyStudio, because they had a dragon which my husband said reminded him of table top games with his dad, and he wanted to send it to his brother. Yes, we are sending knitting accessories to somebody who does not knit. Don’t judge. His wife does knit, so she can use it when she makes things for him. My husband also wanted a duck, and a bear from the same seller. Never mind that he doesn’t knit either. I think he’s planning to steal my progress keepers as gaming pieces when we’re back home and doing things in person.
We sent it all to my BIL and SIL for them to hold for us. I wasn’t paying international shipping for items that cost only a couple dollars each. Also, I think it’s time for a moratorium on more progress keepers. There is a limit to the number of WIPs I have at one time. At least the ones I have here will be easy to bring home.
I have been making steady progress on the socks too! The first is done (and confirmed a good fit by my husband) and I’m onto the heel flap of the second. I’m really happy I took the time to do the running stitch count markers with thread so that it’s easy for me to count the rounds and make sure the socks match, as I’m doing plain stockinette without any easy way to count rounds.
