Where do I start? That’s the thing with a blog, if you don’t update often enough. It starts becoming a daunting task, you keep falling further behind so then you think, where do I start? Do I just pick it up again like I was never gone, or do I do a full update?
For several months after Iceland I had a lull in my knitting. I lost interest, I still knit often, maybe not daily, but somehow the fun had worn off. In fact, I started a post about it:
Predictable.
I tend to have this problem: I get into something (such as a new hobby). And I obsess over it. It engulfs my life and I drop everything else that I have an interest in. It becomes my life. Every free minute is poured into said hobby. And when I can’t be doing the hobby, I spend time online researching it, posting on boards, learning all I can. And then at my pinnacle of my obsession, when I feel like I could spend my whole life just doing this one thing…Something happens. It’s like somebody flipped a switch, and the lights suddenly went off. I loose my drive, my passion quickly evaporates and then my life goes back to normal until I find the next thing to obsess over.
I swore this would not happen with knitting. I want knitting to be part of my every day life, I want it to be a lifelong hobby.
And then I went to stitches west. It must have been the yarn fumes. Or perhaps it was this pattern.
Lovely yak down and cormo sheep. Diagonal opening. Shorter sleeves. A little lace. Whats not to love?
It turned out a little bit on me, unfortunately. (I’m still working the nerve to throw it in the drier for a few minutes to see if it will shrink). It’s alright, I still love it and the most important thing… I got my knitting mojo back. The Monday following stitches west was a holiday; I cast on the sleeves. 2 Mondays after that the cardi made its debut. It went quick, about a week and a half to knit, and a few days to finish up and dry.
I think my “yarn diet” also contributed at my lack of enthusiasm in knitting. I did slim down my stash in the past few months, but after all my stitches west purchases I think it’s close to what it was at its “worst” (and by worst I mean bad in the boyfriend’s book, good in mine!).
Since my last true update I have finished quite a bit of projects, so a quick rundown:
The Ruby Safire (blogged about as WIP)
Dark Red Hederas. (blogged about as WIP)
The urchin that only took me 4 tries (blogged about as WIP)… I’m glad I finished it because it turned out to be the hat I wear the most. I had a near catastrophe almost loosing the hat a few weeks ago. I had no idea it was missing until I saw a crumpled black knitted thing by my car one day… my first thought was that some bum lost his hat by my car, and then I realized it was MY hat. It had been sitting out there for a few days and had been driven over and covered in mud during the rains. A good soak and it was as good as new.
The damn blanket that took me a million years. A month to crochet up all the squares and almost a year to crochet the border all the way around. I love it though!
The clapotis in Uruguyan yarn bought in Iceland. Love this malabrigo silk/merino yarn, but boy does it pill.
Lubov from the Brave new Knits book. Made it skinnier and a little longer. Although the lace stretched quite a bit and it turned out to be about 8 feet long!
OpArt blanket for the dog (destashing the cheap acrylic!). I think this is the most used and loved piece of knitting I have churned out yet.
Bee fingerless gloves I knit up during our disneyland trip. I need to get a completed picture. The black ribbing along the top is extra long so I can have it folded down when its not so cold or unfolded up when I want to cover my fingers.
Monkey socks… I thought I had a finished picture but I need to dig it up. I wanted to get these done to wear to my Cookie A class at stitches (I know, dorky). Reclaimed this yarn from a messy shawl attempt I blogged about a while back, it worked much better with the socks.
Spiral cowl also knit up during my disneyland trip. Cute pattern that I saw a Erica from my knitting group work on, shipped off to mom.
Felted kindle cozy for Mike for the kindle I got him for his birthday. He never asks for anything knitted so I was happy to make it for him, yay!
Hedgerow socks… I needed a simple pattern to take to stitches and I thought they looked cute. I need to stop knitting red socks.
Wheew, quite an update. I have a few WIPs… but I’ll save those for later.
27 Stitches 