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I’m not saying I’m this obsessed or anything…

I’ve been starting tons of little projects in the past week or so. I seem to have no patience to finish anything.

This is the state my second sock has been in for days and days and days. It would be laughably easy to finish it. But no. There it sits, broken-hearted.

My feet are all, like, “What’s up? When are we gonna feel the warm softy goodness?” And I’m all like, “Dude, I don’t know, get off my back!”

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This is a pattern you may be familiar with: “Backyard Leaves” from Scarf Style. Except I’m knitting it in smaller, cotton yarn (size US5 needles). Ooo, this lace pattern is fun.

(Yarn is prettier than it appears in these pictures - the light is dreary today.)

The only downside is you have to follow the chart because the pattern is impossible to memorize. Which, of course, is enough of a pain in the ass that I’ll probably not finish it for weeks and weeks. So… yeah.

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Last, and definitely not least, are the Norwegian Stockings. I got this yarn which is actually sport weight, and adjusted the pattern to deal with the bigger gauge. That way they will go much faster. Because I *definitely* would never finish them if I were knitting with 7 or 8 stitches to the inch. (Actually, I did start these with a smaller gauge - you can see them under my “Works in Progress.” And, well, I haven’t finished them yet).

I have two more projects started, but now I’m embarrassed, so I’m not taking any more pictures. At least then there will be no physical evidence (on-line, anyway) of my craziness.

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Congratulations to Sophia, who correctly guessed the name of the comedy sketch program, Mr. Show! She will be receiving a lovely yarn prize for her effort.

Thanks to all of you who commented on my last post. I feel not-so-alone now about these yarns with many colors. Apparently I had been reading the wrong blogs, and was starting to feel like a freak for not loving the various-colored stuff. On a more positive note, I have decided what my favorite kind of yarn is (I think) - and I’ll have pictures of some of it next post…

I’ve mentioned before that I’m not crazy about the idea of knitting socks. This is mainly because socks in general don’t excite me. They do the opposite of excite me. (I guess that would be “bore.”) The idea of socks drives me to apathy. I was raised in a warm climate so I have no fond associations of nice warm socks by the fire, that kind of thing.

Now, I’ve made a pair of socks. I got this yarn as a prize, and my dad told me he wanted some, so I made them. And it was exciting, finishing that first sock - mostly because I wasn’t sure if I would ever get the thing to fit or look right. And then it did, so I was happy. My first sock! Yay.

However, I have found, since then, that my general apathy toward the sock continues. I no longer have actively *negative* feelings about knitting socks (as I did while attempting the ill-advised “blue-sock project” on Size Negative Three needles or whatever - that’s never going to happen, by the way). But I’m still not converted. I probably have similar feelings about the subject as Eunny - in other words, I say I don’t like to make socks but will ocassionally do so, anyway.

Case in point:

Um, yeah. I’m making another pair of socks.

So here are the two great things about hand-knitted socks: they are super comfortable, and they make wonderful knitted gifts (for people that like socks, that is). After trying on my dad’s socks, I decided I wanted something super-comfy, too, man! And I know a few people who would appreciate having some soft hand-knit socks for their vewy ownz.

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But here’s my next complaint: what is up with this self-patterning, self-striping, multi-color whatever yarn?! This sh*t is crazy! I mean, about 95% of the time, the colors look amazing, gorgeous, or even just really pretty, when they are in a ball or skein. Observe:

Isn’t this nice? I received this in the mail, and thought: oh, so pretty! I want to make something with it! Those colors *are* just like a spring garden!

But then *this* is the result:

!!! That’s just wacko. To the point that it’s approaching circus-clown-style. Maybe I’m weird, because I’ve never seen anyone else complaining about this. But I do not like how multi-color yarn looks all knit up in rows together. The self-striping yarn is okay, I guess, but I still think that stripes you make yourself look way better.

End of rant-thing. I don’t even know if that qualifies as a rant. So. I’ll let you know when I finish the other sock.

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No one has of yet correctly answered the prize-winning question I posed in my last post. That really doesn’t surprise me, because it is fairly tricky. But I wanted to see if anyone could get it, regardless. The prize is still up for grabs, and I’m going to put another clue in my next post, so stay tuned!

One of the most clear-cut “lessons” (for lack of a better word - anyone have a better word?) I’ve learned from knitting has been persistence. A lack of patience, fear of failure, and simple boredom can all lead to me giving up on a project at the first sign of trouble. Frankly, I can usually get by pretty easily without having to work too hard at things. I may not always excel, but I can get by. Because of this, I never HAD to be persistent at anything.

So unlike projects I procrastinate doing because I’m afraid of being bad at them, there are things that I’m happy to start, because at least at the beginning, I don’t have major expectations for myself. I go along my merry way, glueing that model spaceship together (or whatever), until, um, I mess up. I glued the wing to the bottom of the fuselage or something. I’ve messed up bad enough that I’ll have to start over, or trash the whole thing, or at the very least spend hours fixing it while swearing to myself.

You can guess what happens next. Yeah, nothing. I give up, and tell myself “Oh, it’s totally not worth it, What am I going to do with a model spaceship, anyway?” or “This is BO-RING!,” or, “I just don’t want to deal with all these fiddle-y little details like ‘wings.’”

However, after a couple of false starts when I tossed a project into the corner in disgust after making a mistake, knitting has been different for me. I actually *fix* mistakes! I will undo rows and rows of knitting just to make something right, even when no one else will even notice! I occasionally make swatches, (one of the most boring and frustrating aspects of knitting)! I am persistent, I finish projects, I keep working even when something is hard and it may never turn out right! I have learned the beauty of persistence and patience, ladies! (And gentleman, if you’re out there). Yay!

Of course, translating that to other aspects of my life is yet another step, it doesn’t necessarily automatically happen. But I do see my attitude changing in small ways. So that’s a good thing.

I’d love to hear if you’ve had similar experiences, or feel like you’ve learned something else from your knitting adventures…

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Thanks so much to those who left nice comments about my pink sweater. It’s definitely one of my favorite FO’s so far.

In other news, The Kitchener Bitch was having a little contest over at the Vintage Knit-Along she hosts. She was offering prizes in different categories, and she picked my picture to win for the “Best Pic from a Vintage Pattern”! So I won three skeins of some lovely yarn:

Thanks, Kitchener Bitch! Now, this yarn I would have never bought myself, because I am not a “sock knitter,” and really don’t have anything else I could use it for. However, it was so soft and lovely, I wanted to make something with it, d*mnit! And I remembered my dad saying something about wanting me to knit him some socks. So… drumroll, please:

My first (finished) sock, ever!! The pic is in B&W because I’m adding a couple of details to it - it’s not actually finished, yet. Man, I never thought I would be this excited about a sock.

For those of you who’ve made it to the end of this post, congratulations! I’m having a little contest of my own. There is a yarn prize in store for the first person who emails me with the name of the sketch comedy TV show from which I got the title of this post (Placate, Posture, Pomp and Circumstance). I’m prepared to give hints if no one gets the answer right away. You can use the contact form on this website to send me an email. Good luck!

Lace Blouse

Pattern by: Teva Durham

Found in: Loop-d-Loop

Yarn: Frog Tree Fingering Weight Alpaca Wool (Color #95)

Needle: Size US1

Gauge: roughly 42 stitches/4 inches in rib, 30 stitches/4 inches in lace pattern - my row gauge was different from the pattern, but I just adjusted my number of rows accordingly.

Modificatons: I mentioned before that I had to adapt the short row shaping in the lower front of the sweater, because my row gauge was different from what the pattern stated. Basically I needed to make more short rows so that the rib section would be high enough in the front.

Note: There is a error in this pattern, so if you make it be sure to check Teva’s error page on her website (loop-d-loop.com), or you can email me.

I love this sweater. It’s pink, it’s super soft. It was lots of fun to make. I mean, look how excited I am!

I just realized that I didn’t take any pictures of the back. You can probably imagine what it looks like, but let me know if you want to see a pic.

Click here to see all entries on Lace Blouse.

Teaser:

So you can kind of see it in this picture, but I want to save the full shots for when there is better light and I can resolve my tripod issues (or get someone over here to take some pictures of me!) Usually when I get close to finishing a project, I get so excited I stay up late and work really hard to get the last little bit done. Not so for the pink sweater; the last sleeve went slower than a really slow thing (molasses? dial-up internet?)

So at any rate, I’ll have better pictures and full details next time…
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I’ve been taking a little break from knitting, and blogging, as you may have noticed I haven’t been around lately. When it starts to feel like I’m forcing myself to knit or do posts, I know I should back off, because this is supposed to be fun, right? I know I’ll probably get back into the swing of things when the weather turns colder. For right now, I’m working on an assignment for my photography class, so I’ve been using my free time towards that end.

BTW - To Sharon: I’m still so excited about SDWL, and I know you’ll have made 5 of them before I get done with mine. But for reasons I will explain, he’s got to go on the back burner for a little while… sorry!

Basically the little time I spend knitting nowadays has to be something I don’t have to think too hard about or concentrate on, really. I just don’t have the patience, and it’s too damn hot, to be counting and reading charts, etc. So I decided to work on another project, slightly less demanding, and come back to Season when I’m *feeling* it a little more. Oh, and another thing: I had been using Addi Turbos, my first time trying them. And I’ve decided they’re no good for fair isle - too slippery, at least for me. So I have to get some bamboo or plastic needles, and then I’ll probably need to start over cause I’m a weird perfectionist (ahem). So there you go. Season will have its season, but apparently that season is *not* summer.

Here’s what I’ve come back to:

Yet another Norsk Strikkedesign pattern. This fits the bill - it’s pleasant to knit, minimal counting, and because my mom doesn’t want any, no shaping along the bottom part of the body. Good, mindless stuff. You can’t see it in these pictures, but I had started this cardigan with five steek stitches in the center, even though the pattern doesn’t call for any. But after I made the steeked deep-v argyle vest, I realized that I don’t have to be crazy paranoid about the steeks. It’ll all be fine, I’ll just follow the directions. The center stitches get encased in edge stitching that gets turned over, anyway, so no problem. I am now knitting away with no extra stitches. Whee.

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Thanks to those who responded to my last post about procrastination (I haven’t gotten a chance to reply as of yet - sorry!)

*Edit: I just checked my spam filter and apparently a couple of real comments were put in there for some reason. Since my filter deletes the messages after a few days, there may have been some that got deleted. Sorry about that - I’ll definitely check it more often!

I was actually a little suprised that some of you responded you felt the same way. Well, I don’t know why I would be “surprised,” it’s probably a really common feeling to have. Obviously, many people are afraid of failure and put things off (or don’t try things) as a result. But it’s nice to know that there are others out there who know what I’m talking about. I often feel like a lot of people around me are constantly attempting new projects, achieving goals, and actively pursuing ideas while I’m stuck in one spot. Anyway, like I said in my last post, I have more I want to say about all of this, but I’m going to save that for a later post.

For happy, I’ll just leave you with this:

My friend and I recently had a conversation about procrastination, and the gigantic role it plays in both of our lives. Unfortunately. Of course I’ve read books specifically about this nasty little habit (another great way to procrastinate doing something is to read self-help books about what you should be doing). One of these books (called, aptly, “Procrastination”) explained something that I’m sure I’ve always known in some way for a long time: one reason some people procrastinate is because they are perfectionists. This absolutely applies to me.

Now, contrary to what some of you might think, a perfectionist is *not* necessarily someone who does everything perfectly, or is “anal” about how everything in their lives are arranged. Actually someone who is a perfectionist (like me), is afraid to start many things. She is reluctant to reach out for the things she sincerely wants for herself. Because she might be unsuccessful. And so she puts it off. After all, if you never start a project, it’s impossible to fail.

Since I put things off, and avoid reaching for the things I really want to achieve, I haven’t had a lot of experience pushing myself past novice-hood into a greater understanding and skill level in any particular area. School and work don’t count, because those are things I *have* to do for one reason or another. I’m talking about pushing myself when no one else cares if I continue or not.

This is where knitting comes in. See, the key part of this story is, knitting was never important to me. It wasn’t any kind of life goal of mine to be a successful knitter, and I certainly didn’t identify my abilities as a knitter with any kind of self-worth. Therefore, I was able to keep trying. I didn’t give up, I didn’t procrastinate. It just didn’t matter to me one way or another. If I didn’t feel like knitting one day, it wasn’t because I was avoiding it.

Of course, none of this was anything I thought about consciously. It’s only in retrospect that I realize what was happening. And it is in retrospect that I realize how much I’ve learned through this process. (Like, life-lessons-learned, not three-needle-bind-off-learned. I still don’t know how to do an I-cord. That’s not the point.) The point is, there are life-skills I’ve gained that can actually translate to more things than just knitting. Cool, huh?!

The reason I think it’s relevant to talk about these little bits of understanding here is that, even though they are “life-skills” (or whatever), they are still important skills to have for the task of knitting. And practicing them make knitting even more enjoyable. I’m talking about things like patience, persistence… and others that I won’t get into yet. These are things I’ve been thinking about for a while, especially since I started this blog and put “knitting” at the forefront of my mind for an hour or two when I do a post. Maybe this doesn’t even make sense to anyone else, but hopefully it will as I talk about more specific aspects of it in future posts…

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On to the fun part:

The sleeve is cuter than I even thought it would be. I’m a big fan of 3/4 length sleeves, although these are even a tad shorter than that. Only one more sleeve to go! I bet you thought this would be done by now. I mean, Sharon is *finished* with one side of Season of DWL already, and started the second side!!! (It looks FABULOUS, by the way.) And it has taken me many days/weeks to do one little sleeve. Hee hee. I told you I haven’t been knitting much…

You may not be able to tell from the picture, but I actually didn’t finish this top. I decided I really didn’t like it after putting the other ruffles on. It was good practice, though, and now I know how to do the ruffle thing. I’m going to start on a shirt, which may be similar in some ways, but I’m going to change things about it. I have tons of the black jersey material to play/practice with, yay!

And once I get something going that I like, I’ll plan out some hand-embroidery to add to it. I got lots of thread - all different colors. Again, yay!