Wow, I like to knit!

Last night, I remembered that I like to knit. Before you start assuming that I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, just bear with me.

I've been working on a GORGEOUS garment for Sandi, and I'm making good progress on it. However, it's Obligatory Knitting now, and it has a deadline. Whoosh! The slightest utterance that something has become Obligatory Knitting sucks the joy out of knitting like fire sucks air out of a room.

I could metaphorically suffocate in Obligatory Knitting. Thank heavens life isn't a metaphor.

(Or is it?)

While the OKSandi Sweater (OKSS for short) is truly lovely, it is not all-purpose knitting. While the pattern offers elegant simplicity, the piece has gotten too large to carry around, and the rows are staggeringly long. Are-we-there-yet long, even.

When I've finished two of the impossibly long rows (one pattern repeat), I measure the length. Nothing ever changes. It's Black Hole knitting. (This may be why I don't finish sweaters very often. Just maybe.)

Last night we had guests over to watch the election results. There was eating, drinking, and a good time was had by all. So, I worked on my second Mushroom Caps sock, which is knitting that is much better suited for just such an occasion.

I finished MOST of the foot. (Not pictured above, that's the first sock and the humble beginnings of the second sock.) The whole time, all I could think was how much I love knitting with handspun, and how delightfully short each round was. I started planning my next sock, even. (Given my exhausting work schedule, I haven't been planning much knitting, which is the first sign that I'm starting to lose my knitting mojo.)

Now I am hearing the siren song of some merino/seacell that is telling me it wants to be a pair of aran socks.

Once I finish these socks, of course. And the OKSS.

One if by land and three if by sea

If you read the Purlescence blog, you’ll see that I was swept into the Ariann knitalong. It was the allure of the Butter Peeps. I swear. A great pattern and great yarn are really a deadly combination.

I started working on it, and was thinking to myself, “You know, the ribbi cardi only needs a collar and it will be done. The yellow malabrigo sweater only needs sleeves, and the rugby sweater needs half sleeves. I could finish all three before the cruise.”

Madness, right? But totally manageable. I have short arms, and one of the malabrigo sleeves is already (around) elbow length. On a neck-down raglan, so the top ¼ of each sleeve is done. As an added bonus, I did some KILLER shaping on the Delicious Malabrigo sweater and the rugby sweater, so they’re very flattering.

Right?

Very flattering = finished faster. There is nothing like working on a garment that you know will make you look like a million dollars. Or gold bullion, in this case.

Lust in my heart

That’s right. I have lust in my heart. It’s for the Sunrise Circle jacket, and after seeing it on Patricia, I must knit one. I’m hoping that an interesting construction will trump my sleeve issues.

It’s easily done out of stash yarn- I’m debating between Malacrack- I mean, Malabrigo, or one of the colors of Cascade 220 that I’ve been hoarding. Decisions, decisions.

Patricia promises me that it’s a quick knit- a week, two tops, she says. Be still my heart, I love fast knits. It’s my inner floozy. Ok, maybe not inner floozy. In my magic shoes, I’m overtly floozy-esque. But I digress.

The lust. It is strong.

More Less Is More

In order to actively work towards my goal of “less is more” (or as I like to call it, Jasmin 2008), I have been spinning up a virtual storm of Crown Mountain. I decided to start with the Crown Mountain for two reasons: (1) 11 bumps were being stored on my baby grand piano, and though it is pretty, it looks cluttered (2) I only need half of each bump.

So, the Crown Mountain system goes like this:

Step 1: Weigh out three, 38g bumps.

Step 2: Re-“skein” the remaining 4-4.5 oz, reapply the label.

Step 3: Trade it, give it away, or overdye the remaining “bump”. This works to either (a) get it out of the house and not allow it to become clutter or (b) turn into something new and different to spin.

The plan has been working fairly well, as there are only six bumps remaining on the piano. (This doesn’t include the OTHER ten bumps that are in Space Bags. Those are next on the spinning jihad list.) While I’m spinning up my own sock yarn, Andrew can make a determination early in the process as if he wants some or not.

Jasmin 2008 is also all about finishing things. You wouldn’t think so, based on all of the spinning (which * technically * adds to one stash as it comes out of another), but there is a plan. Three projects that I am planning on finishing before I go on the Sea Socks cruise include:

-The Lady Eleanor Shawl. It’s more than half done, and I started it in Dec. 05-ish.

-The seed stitch Jo Sharp sweater that I started for Zak in 2000. I have less than a handspan of knitting to do on the sleeves, and to seam it up. Maybe 15 hours of work. [No, I’m not giving it to Zak. We’re not in a knitwear-exchanging place.]

-My Ribbi Cardi. It’s still at the Ribbi Halter state, and I have an evening of knitting to finish the back. The sleeves require a little pre-planning- in part because I’m anal retentive, and partly because my previous experience has lead me to the fact that knitting sleeves top-down is always the best way of making sure that cap/raglan/not drop shoulder sleeves fit both the sleeve holes and the subsized wearer (me). Feel free to disagree.

All three of these projects are in my living room, queued up to be worked on. I wouldn’t be surprised to see these all finished in rapid succession of each other.

I can be goal-oriented sometimes. I swear!

Panic

So, life has been a little tumultuous since the beginning of 2007, and I was hit by this overwhelming panic about all of my UFOs.

"What if I died? I would have an entire room full of UFOs."

For the record, I'm not planning for imminent death; if you look at the current size of my stash as a measure of how long I think I'm going to live, it's at least another 120 years.

The honest truth is that it was a more than a little shaming to reveal a * fraction * of my UFOs to Ally when we [she] rearranged the furniture in my office/guest bedroom/yarn room. Normally, I would just be defiant and state that UFOs show that I am a process-not-product knitter.

Which is garbage. I am totally a product knitter. Sure, I enjoy the process, but I also really like zooming around town in my FOs. I also feel a certain swell of joy when I see others sporting my duds, if you will, but only in those rare occasions where I deign to knit for others. ("Others" not being Andrew or Mom.)

So now, I feel this odd panic about finishing my UFOs so that they're not haunting me, and all I really want to do is start new stuff and pretend the old stuff doesn't exist and isn't taking up valuable California real estate. Getting rid of some of the UFOs will also alleviate some of my stash guilt/ Andrew sighing when I buy new things.

Example:

Me: Oooh! [XXX company] has new [XXX yarn]!
Andrew: * sighs deeply *
Me: [Unhappy feeling in stomach, realizing that I have more yarn in my office * alone * than some stores I have shopped at.] Ok, I'll order some. [Retail therapy gets rid of unhappy stomach.]

So here it is, in print. I'm going to finish some UFOs. I'm going to get it together and get it done. If you see me working on something new, feel free to mock/abuse/[insert your verb of choice here] me.

Unless it's socks, then leave me alone. Those are transitory projects and thus, necessary.

Growth

I decided that I needed a red ribbon top to go with my sexy red shoes. I'm hoping to have it done soon, so I've dedicated all of my "downstairs" knitting time to this top.

Keep in mind, I am making the same top out of yellow ribbon, but I couldn't meet my MS&W deadline, so I gave up. It's now in the UFO pile.

I looked at my red top, and I realized that the yellow top was even closer to completion. Once I finish my red top, the yellow one is the next one on my list to clean out of the UFO pile and absolve this "finishing" issue.

It's not that I have a problem with the knitting itself, usually. It's usually a focus thing. Everyone gets bored with their knitting occasionally, and wanders to a new, more exciting project.

There's the fun part- the creativity, the beginning, the possibilities. But then, like the original project, the Mistress Project that I originally found much more fun and exciting becomes just another UFO.

I've been working through the UFO pile steadily, though. Finish one new thing, one old thing. Come to terms with my inability to really commit to finishing things that I start.

I've ripped out projects that don't thrill me; save the yarn, use the needles elsewhere. Why have another UFO hanging over my head that I never really intend to finish? More often than not, the yarn turns into something twice as good the second time around.

On the Yarn Diet front, I haven't had a real temptation since the Regia Silk, but KnitPicks has a dye-your-own superwash wool that I think I'm going to purchase at some point for baby blankets. Once I've knit up the dedicated "baby blanket" yarn in my stash.

Yes, I've been inspired to knit baby blankets. No, I am not pregnant, despite what everyone in the world thinks/wants.

Just wait. It'll happen.