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I have such a lovely group of enablers in my life. Some are my beloved Ravelry friends who are stashing away great yarns, creating lovely projects, and finding new patterns. Others are my fellow COTL members whose crochet projects are all so wonderful and inspiring that I’d gladly forego sleep to play with my hooks and yarn. Then there is one of my amazing bosses who is always knitting something terrific, making me want to up my yarn play game. I get to the point where I want to say no to all of life’s responsibilities and make all the things.
Of course, saying no to the chores and the children and work are not in the cards for me, but when I get that itch to pause one project and start another, I’m faced with a difficult choice. Now, the logical person would say to channel that inspiration and finish what I’ve already started. I was hoping that this might be a habit I could develop in 2018, but no such luck. And I’m not the least bit sorry.
For almost every crocheter and knitter I know, their craft is their therapy. It's meditation. It's self-care time. It's reflection and creativity and inspiration and joy and air. We can't always control what life throws at us, but with our tools and our medium, we have the ability to work out the day's stress and turn it into something we love.
A week ago Friday, I found myself frustrated about something completely out of my control, and I turned to my yarn for solace. While I adore the Christmas Technicolor Cowl that I’ve been knitting, the urge to cast on or chain up a new project was just too strong. Just a day or so earlier, my friend, Paula, had mentioned on Ravelry that the Toffee scarf pattern by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne (NCL Knits) was new and free. It looks simple enough being mostly garter, but the off-center cable gives the scarf that special something that makes it exciting. And, I justified to myself, if I did make it, I’d be learning something new as I have never knit cables before (I’ve crocheted them a number of times, but not knit). I could cross that learn something new goal off the to do list early in the year.
(Note: I just checked and learn something new wasn’t one of the goals I set for myself. In years past, though, that has always been part of my goals, so on the goal list it goes and then I can immediately cross it off.)
Before I jumped in to cast on the Toffee scarf, I took a moment to see if I had the right weight of yarn in the right amount for it. If I didn’t, then I would take it as a sign that I should wait to make the pattern another day. That’s when I came across my stash of Kismet Abundant yarn in a striking blue named On Fleek. I bounced the idea off of some of my friends and I could hear their resounding “do it” from all of their many miles away. And just like that, my next WIP had its yarn wound and my needles full of cast on stitches.
Kismet is a discontinued brand (sniff sniff...sob sob) so for me to pull it out to use is something special. This is one of a few sets that I've been saving for a rainy day when I need to treat myself. That Friday night, it was exactly what I needed. I cast on, and over the course of the weekend, I knit up almost half of the pattern.
But that wasn’t the only yarn I wound that weekend.
A friend recently asked for a rather easy yet not boring sock pattern to make. Many of us replied saying Sugarcreek by my friend Jessica K. Larson. A pair have been on my to knit list for some time. Last year...strike that....in September of 2016, Lorna‘s Laces came out with a special color way in honor of the World Series bound Chicago Cubs. The colorway is "Go Cubs Go," and I bought a skein on their Shepherd Sock base (I also bought two other skeins on Shepherd Worsted, but I’m not sure what I’m going to do with those yet). I chose the Sugarcreek pattern for this particular skein because of Jessica‘s love of the Cleveland Indians and in honor of their games with the Cubs during the 2016 World Series. What better way to honor an amazing friend, two incredible teams, and, in my humble opinion, the best World Series to date. So last week, I wound my skein of Shepherd Sock in "Go Cubs Go" in anticipation of casting on my Sugarcreek socks sometime soon. I was hoping to already have them on the needles, but, you know, life…
Let’s see…what am I up to now? I have my Christmas Technicolor cowl on the needles, I have my Toffee scarf on the needles, I have my Sugarcreek socks on deck… I should probably stop there, right?
Come on! What fun would that be?!
I was excited to be asked by KnitCrate to help moderate their January 2018 Membership Crate KAL. Or, in my case for the projects I’ll be working on, it’s more of a CAL. With so much knitting in progress, I needed to feed my crochet addiction at least a little bit.
In this month's membership box, KnitCrate members receive either fingering weight yarn to knit or crochet one of two shawls, or two skeins of worsted weight yarn to either knit a shawlette or crochet a scarf. I couldn’t wait to see which one was going to arrive at my door. The iconic blue package arrived with two skeins of their Audine Wools Worsted in the Classic colorway. They are so yummy and beautiful dyed with long color changes, and I couldn’t wait to start chaining it up! Now I'm working on the Woodsy Scarf by Kayla Rankin. To see where I’m at with my project, head over to the KnitCrate Ravelry page and join our KAL/CAL.
So I’m up to four WIPs between my three knit projects and my one crochet project. And, just maybe, I may start up another crochet project sometime this week. And do a bit of designing. But that might not come in till after I’m finished with my current crochet project. And I just remembered that I have a Phoenix Rising shawl that still has a couple rows left to finish. And a Reyna shawl that I haven’t touched in a long time. And a pair of vanilla socks for my son.
I think that I may have a WIP problem. But I have no regrets. All this wool is keeping me very warm during this cold winter, and I have a project ready whenever a need a pick-me-up.