Thursday, September 3, 2009

Adventure over

I've been knitting at a fever pitch for most of the summer, in case you hadn't noticed, and I think I burned out this week. Also I'm clearing up at the moment - that back-to-school habit dies hard, and even now I do my big spring cleaning in the fall - and had to face down a closet full of totally organized yarn with random skeins of totally unorganized yarn on top.

Overall, a rather depressing environment.

I got most of it sorted

(irony: in the throes of cleaning I discovered three rattan totes I had been hoarding - very basic with two short handles, that I picked up for $1 each at the end of summer once to use for wrapping presents - and they are the perfect match for my office storage baskets, and would look awesome hanging from the wall on hooks and allow me to grab-and-go three different knitting projects
BUT
I don't have wall space anywhere for said hooks.
ARRGGHHHH.)

and then checked the Shelf Of Doom where swatches and ball bands and bits of string got shoved and at the very back I found

The Adventure Sweater.

Which I set aside in May because it's knitting I have to work out as I go and I didn't have time for that. And I looked at it and thought... I could find another shelf for it, or I could frog it, which would make it a lot easier to store. And probably would get it more quickly into service, because I love knitting with that yarn - The Black Lamb house brand sock weight hand-dyed yarns are unlike anything else in my stash (and significantly cheaper too, btw). Not to mention that the very long, very narrow needles would be back in circulation.

And let's face it: I don't have much brown in my wardrobe - enough to justify socks or a shawl, but not for a whole vest.

So I sat down and frogged it all.

I did feel a bit empty after, and still burned out even after the cupboard was all tidy again, but last night I also cleared off my kitchen windowsill and the bit of counter that gets dumped on daily, which was very mentally freeing. And this morning I woke up with a pattern for a shawl in my head, so I guess I didn't completely lose my knitting mojo. I did lose the sweater though*.



*Actually, as I typed all that, I remembered some super comfy funky brown wool cropped pants my sister gave me that match the two yarns perfectly, and thought of an even easier way to do the Adventure Sweater - more brainless, less shaping, fewer seams. So maybe...

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