A while back, I said that I was starting multiple things at once, but it was okay. Well, I have to admit that I've started so many projects recently that maybe I'm just getting a little bit of this and a little bit of that knitted and not much progress on any one thing. It still seems okay because usually when I'm stuck on one project, I can still work on another. Or when I need some mindless kniting, I work on easy projects such as the bag. When I need something portable, it's usually Freeform. I am also learning crochet and trying to find a shawl pattern that is doable for me long-term without driving me crazy.
A case of severe Startitis seems to be spreading in the knitting world with the coming of Fall. What is it about Fall that makes us want to start new things? I think my recent exploration of Ravelry hasn't helped me stay focused, either. But hopefully I'll get something done pretty soon.
My large bag project - a modified Hariett from Two Old Bags is more than halfway there. It's going to be carpet bag size, so it's taken quite a while. It's growing slowly but surely. I still haven't found the dowels Bob painted for the bag, so there are new ones now (replacements) to be painted.
In compiling projects on Ravelry, I've noticed that I have a few of what I would call true Unfinished Objects (those I've started and may be temporarily hibernating because I want to eventually get back to them). But then there are many projects this year that I've started and made a conscious decision to either frog or permanently ditch. The Jane Thornley Not a Poncho immediately comes to mind. There are others . . . too. Like the Jaywalker socks - great for some people, but they were by design just too narrow for my average-sized feet, so I immediately and non-guiltily ditched them.
Growing up as an avid bookworm kid, I used to think I had to finish every single book I started, no matter how boring. I recall slogging my way through LONG boring books, James Joyce's Ulysses immediately springs to mind. Now I wonder, WHY? What purpose did that serve? As I've drifted into middle age, I've released a lot of things that just don't make sense to force myself to complete. Books - if they don't grab me in the first 50 pages, sorry but they are given, loaned, returned or passed along to someone else. Knitting projects are getting like that too. I usually just rip them out without a second thought and move on. That makes the ones I keep and perservere with all the more precious.
4 comments:
Amen on the releasing things that don't serve us. I slogged through Beowulf for the same reason. Now I read what I love and don't feel the need to justify it. Nice thing about knitting, if you unravel, it's still nice yarn : )
Couldn't agree with you more!! I don't have time for stuff I don't enjoy and I want to enjoy every single second! :-)
Oh my goodness, I've been that way about recent romances. If they don't capture me in the first 10 pages or the heroine is hideously annoying, the book is literally trashed. There's too many other fun things in life to do without enduring self-inflicted torture.
Without being too snarky, the Not-a-poncho has soured me on knitalongs for a while. Jane IS an artist, but has so many irons in the fire, she's left us hanging. I'd commented something on her site, she said she'd continue with the poncho, then nothing for two MONTHS. I'm going ahead and finishing the darn thing, just because I loathe unfinished projects.
I was required to slog through Ulysses in a high school honors English class, and I swear I don't remember a thing about it. I'm also a ruthless ripper - if it doesn't satisfy me, if knitting it doesn't make me happy, I rip it and move on. There are enough things in life that we have to do even if they are unpleasant, but knitting isn't one of them!
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