Bored

Another day, another ball of beige yarn. I'm knitting a sweater sleeve and clearly I've reached the long slogging middle of the sweater, where only determination sees you through. About the only bit that knitters-at-large might find interesting is that I've been using Karen's incredibly handy chain of markers technique for counting rows two different ways. The two marker chain is a simple right side/wrong side marker. Because after spending way too much time squinting at cables trying to decide if it had been three rows or four since the last cross, I concluded I needed an aide memoire. I don't need this for the flat parts of the sweater (I know that all the interesting bits of the pattern happen on the right side, and I can easily tell the difference between two rows and four rows), but for the circular bits, it's a lifesaver. And I'm decreasing every three rows, which is kind of a pain, but using the markers as counters, I can put the sweater down without losing track of where I am.


So, I got to thinking the other day, what's different from December? When I was last working intensively on this sweater, the sleeves just seemed to zip by. I don't think my knitting has gotten slower. So I cast my mind back:

December: Knits frantically in every possible free moment. Denies that this will not be done for Christmas.

March*: Picks up knitting. Cat wants to get in lap. Pets cat. Picks up knitting. Remembers cup of tea on kitchen counter. Calls husband to get tea to avoid disturbing cat. Cat perks up. "Something Interesting may be happening!" Cat jumps off lap. Husband laughs. Get own tea. Pick up knitting.
*There's also been a general attack of Real Life, especially work, which interferes confoundedly with crafting. Funny, that.

I think I see a pattern, here. More knitting makes knitting go faster. (It's a radical concept, I'm sure you'll agree.) Now mind you, it's still knitting, and as an activity, knitting is always enjoyable. It just lacks the zip and excitement of a brand new pair of socks out of the new sock yarn I got a couple of weeks ago gray wool sweater stranded colorwork mitts silk lace scarf project.

Let's just say, while I may be a project knitter? I certainly understand the impulse to start nifty new projects, even when other things aren't done. (I simply can't call it 'start-itis', however...grammatically that would mean 'inflammation of the start' ?!! I'm open to other suggested names for the syndrome, however.)

Even Woats isn't interested in this sweater anymore.


And my walking-around blocks have hit a small snag- specifically, I apparently didn't have two entire balls of yarn of each color. Nope. Apparently I had two lavendar and *almost* two white skeins. So I have five and a half blocks, which isn't enough for much of anything. And the only remotely plausible stash buddy for this yarn is a full skein of navy blue, which makes the lavendar look gray. If this yarn weren't so darn sticky, I'd be tempted to frog the lot and try another idea. We'll just have to see what I come up with.