Starting Over?

So I'm still working on the dress from hell. Everyone who has witnessed the pained expression on my face as I knit this dress for my darling daughter has told me to stop, make the dress a cute babydoll top, and move on. I've compromised: I am working on other projects, but I am still determined to finish this stupid dress.

But on Saturday, as I got the yarn for my new project (Fitted Knits wraparound sweater), I couldn't help but notice how happy I was as I began to start a new project...even though I had unfinished business in my wake.

And at the risk of sounding too deep (which I NEVER want to do), I think that the joy I find in starting a brand new project mirrors my enthusiasm at having some sort of change in my life: I am a thirtysomething. soontobeexwife, and motheroftwokids. I don't get many
"do-overs," so when the opportunity presents itself, I leap at it. There's something WONDERFUL about starting the new project, with the new yarn, and the new pattern. Continuing to work on the old project to the exclusion of the new projects is what got you in this boat in the first place.

can anyone relate????

Am I Done Yet?

I love knitting. When I'm not knitting, I'm thinking about when I will be able to knit. I dream about knitting. I'm obsessed with knitting. And, with the exception of my darling children, knitting is my favorite thing in the world (and, as an added bonus, my knitting never whines, hits my other knitting projects for no reason, throws food on the floor, or draws on the walls).

Anyway, have any of you experienced what I call "knitting malaise?"

I'm working on this baby dress. I got some beautiful yarn for the project: Rowan Handknit DK Cotton. It's bright pink, which is going to look terrific on my gorgeous daughter. I LOVE pink - I never get sick of looking at it. The pattern is so cute: feather and fan skirt, picot edged sleeves.




Yum. You knit it from the top down on circular needles. It's supposed to knit up quickly and you can actually see your knitting becoming a dress! And, because it knits up quickly and my daughter is growing quickly, I decided not to work on any other projects while I'm working on this one. That's how dedicated I am to completing this project.

Am I done yet?

I've worked on this dress forever. For at least the past two weeks, anyway.

I have so many other things I want to be working on - do I really have to work on this project to the exclusion of my other 7 projects?

And did I tell you how loud this yarn is? Pink is an understatement: this looks like Pepto Bismol. My poor daughter is going to be laughed at.

The pattern was way cuter than the way the dress is actually coming out.

I am sick of looking at this project.

And my daughter will only wear it for a spit second before it's too small.

That's the malaise. When I feel myself beginning to think that way, I try to make my fingers go faster. I put those negative thoughts out of my head and imagine how cute my daughter is going to look, however briefly, in the dress. And the color is going to be terrific on her, and I love little girls in bright colors. Plus, it's cotton, so when she spills something on it, I can just wash it! These thoughts make me go faster, and faster, and faster! Slip 1, Knit 1, PSSO...I am so fast! I am a master knitter! I am amazing - everyone is going to see this dress and demand that I make one for the little girls in their lives. And that will be fine because I can make them so quickly! They will pay me to make these dresses. And they'll tell a friend about my knitting, and that friend will tell a friend, and so on, and so on, and so on. Yea, me! I can go at the speed of lightning when I think this way.

Except I was so super fast that I skipped over various parts of the pattern. I don't have feather or fan. I have a big mess. Which is why I will have to rip this sucker out...again. Yeah, I am a master knitter.

AAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH.

Am I done yet?

The Inaugural Post

Hi, I'm Andrea, and I am a compulsive knitter.
now you say: "HI, ANDREA!"

My mom taught me how to knit when I was a teen, but I was not at all interested. I suspect that it was because taking knitting lessons from my mother required me to listen to her, and what teenaged girl wants to do that?????

I came back to knitting in September 2005 - what a different experience! Initially, I was a bit embarrassed that I was so taken with something that seemed so fundamentally "uncool." I got over that quickly, though. I became obsessed with knitting, with feeling the yarn, contemplating new projects, mastering (or at least learning) new skills.

One of the most rewarding things I found about knitting, however, was that by being a knitter, I became a part of a community of people who share the same passion for yarn and creation. I've met the most interesting people through knitting at my local knit shops and I can't begin to describe how much I have learned from them, how much I admire them, how much I care about them. And what's amazing about being a part of this local community is that there is a larger knitting community all over the world! I hope this blog becomes a place where members of that community will share their wisdom, insight, frustration, and secrets...

I'll post as I can, and hope that you will do the same. Until then, knit on, baby, knit on!