A non Poll Poll

Ok.. so I have a poll-type question to ask but I don't feel like building an actual poll so I'm just going to ask the question and hope for comments.

I'm one of those knitters that never actually finishes anything... like ever. And this is why..

I cast on for something, anything, and i'm going along nicely and then I'll glance down at what Im doing and see a mistake. The mistake isn't huge, and its like 10 rows back, and I think "noone will notice that" and I knit another 10 rows. At which point I can't stop seeing it.

Now I'm 20 loooong rows away from the problem (or some insurmountable difference) and its something like lace, or somethign else with a ton of decreases and whatnot and I really really don't want to go back and undo and fix it. But I also don't feel like I can go forward either. So I put it down while I contemplate the problem. A month later I pickthe project up, can't remember where I left off, but I see exactly where the error is, I have a little panic and put it away, often for good.

This is a problem. Its an expensive problem, and its resulted in a gazillion, slightly irregular, unfinished, projects that I don't recall where I left off so I can't even resume, all over the damned place.

Which brings us to today.

I'm knitting a pair of socks and somewhere at the very beginning of the stitch pattern (below the 1 inch cuff about 3 rows in, I got off the pattern by 1 stitch, creating a skew. The pattern is fine below there, but there is this glaring (to me, anyway, I mean how glaring can something be that is in little tiny yarn on little tiny needles) mistake at the top and i'm now 20 rounds below it.

So what do I do?

Do I keep going/ I mean its a sock. socks get worn, and worn out, and a small mistake on a couple of rows under the cuff arent going to make or break the thing?

Do I fix it, knowing I will keep noticing it?

How do I force myself to do one or the other?

How do I jump this hurdle so I don't end up with another project that is in the "why the hell did I stop knitting that" pile?

So I still remember how to knit.. who knew..

I love long weekends.

And I've been in dire need of a break.
Never content to have one thing going on at a time, I was seduced into picking up a second project heading into my long weekend.

To backtrack a little - my husband and I never seem to have time to work on the stuff we enjoy.. life tends to interfere. So we committed to spending this weekend doing the things we never seem to get to - in my case its knittng and blog stuff.

I started the weekend in Katonah Yarn where I picked up some Artyarns Cashmere 5 in a blend of purply colors to make this Cashmere neckwarmer  (note: links to a pdf).

I'm enjoying this so far, and its looking pretty good...

The only real complaint I have, is that the two projects I have going at the moment are this, and the baby raglan sweater made from the yak/marino blend, and both yarns are stranded rather than plyed so I'm constantly splitting stitches, which is starting to drive me a little nuts.

Make that two complaints - or one and a half really, this scarf has a psso 2 purl stitches on the purl side, and with the splittiness of the yarn it gets a little wearing. 

Still, its yummy, soft, and easy and fast, exactly what I needed for this weekend.

Oh yeah.. went to Stew Leonards today too - forget the Disney folk, this is truly the happiest place on earth

Give me a Y... Give me an A...

I'm knitting I'm knitting!!

It has been ages since I've picked up the needles to do anything.  Partly because I've been so hideously busy, and partly because I just have too many hobbies  to devote enough time to any of them.  But I've missed my yarn so much and I'm happy that I finally broke into the stash and looked around.

Of course the stash is like a museum visit,  but I'm not doing stash knitting.  I felt like I had to buy something new.

Just like I always do. I'm facilitating economic recovery, don't judge ;)

I went to School Products yesterday where I picked up some yummy 50/50 Yak/Merino blend in a textured looking brown (with rust tones blended in, much more nuanced than it appears here It is is color #4.  I also picked up my eleventeenth size 8 Addis.  I don't know where any of the others are.  I suspect they are in the same vortex occupied by the cat's toy mice and most of my odd socks.

And I will be knitting the house pattern - a ribbed baby raglan turtleneck. 

Which is cute and squishy and probably won't fit any children I actually know but its small and has more than a 50 percent chance of being finished so i'm knitting it anyway.

I've come to understand that most knitters have completion issues on projects, and that it is often caused by the desire to start the next new wonderful thing, but mine are more often than not caused by the following:

1. I make a mistake, and spend the next 3 inches of the project wondering if I should ignore it or go back and fix it. 

2. I decide to ignore it, after all noone will likely notice it but me.

3. I change my mind and decide can no longer ignore said mistake because in my mind it has grown to be a giant angry blemish on the face of my otherwise happy garment.

4. I procrastinate un-knitting because that isn't nearly as much fun and put the project aside.

5. I lose the row counter that tells me how far along I was on this project so that..

6. When I pick it up again, it seems too confusing to go back and deal with it.

So it sits, with the needles in it.

Which is how i end up with 15 million row counters I can't find, a lifetime supply of duplicate needles and a list of unfinished projects.

But I'm an optimist.

I've already cast on this sweater.

And I've already made my first mistake (in 2x2 ribbing no less.. how is that even possible?!)

We'll see how far I make it.