I follow the Yarn Harlot, amongst other blogs, and she really nailed it with her last post. She's had a craptastic few months - read back a bit for the full story - even more than most of us.
Today I had grand plans to start work on a simple stocking stitch raglan sweater for myself, in a lovely cranberry-coloured 4ply lambswool. Started a bit on the late side, because I was making foccacia (a packet mix) downstairs.
I swatched and prepared a few days ago, and entered the figures into Knitware today. For my bust size - I'm somewhat plump - the Passap doesn't actually have quite enough needles. I rechecked my figures, and cast it on, thinking I'd maybe just knit the back and see how it went. Of course, being wool, the swatch has been washed, which is kind of a one way thing for wool swatches. Well, I managed to knit part of the welt, and then Mum called for a chat, so that was thirty minutes. Part way into the call, the secretary for the Leicester MK club had called on my mobile, so then I had to call her back, another thirty minutes. Poor Leicesterites, they've been on almost total lockdown since March. I don't begrudge either call - contact with humans other than my sweetie are rare jewels in my day. Anyway, I was convinced I was knitting a cape, not a sweater, so after a brief panicked jam where I'd left an empty needle in work on the back bed which jammed perfectly around a black stripper, I stripped off the rib to see what width it shrank to. And do you know, it looks like it might actually be correct? I may have to modify my plans to a short-sleeve raglan though, if there's not enough yarn. No wonder most Passap fabrics seem to be tuck stitch - it's wider and shorter, and extends the machine's range. Yes, I do need to lose weight - I had grand plans in January 2020. No thanks to you, dratted Covid-19!
Somewhat disheartened, I decided to knit some swatches on the chunky machine in some unlabelled fancy yarns I picked up at Fairfield many moons ago. I couldn't locate one of them (a black boucle with fancy slubs), so had a bit of a yarn sort out. I've now got one bin for weaving yarns, one for fancies, one for "full cones" and projects in progress, and another bin for misc yarns. I seperated out some part cones that will do for waste yarns and small items. The large box that lives next to the tumble dryer now contains mostly full cones, so that can be my stash diving bin. During the sort out I found the rest of the blue 4ply I was using a few weeks ago - pretty sure it's Yeoman Cashmilon - and decided to use it up knitting two of my easy 2x2 ribbed hat pattern. Whilst doing that, I decided to video my doing the cast on, as it's not a programmable cast off (will upload that later after editing).
So - part of me is peeved that I'm not now sewing up a finished lambswool sweater - though that's the work of a full day really, even by machine. But another part of me is pleased I made two hats, prepped a swatch for something else, and reacquainted myself with most of my yarn stash. Oh, and put all my swatches together. Sorting them out is a job for another day.
I hope you are all being kind to yourself in these difficult times. Sometimes it's actually fine to have a grumpy day, or a lazy day when all you do is read or watch tv. I'm trying to teach myself that it's not all about finished product, even though that is the best thing! :)
What things do you do, to keep yourself on an even keel and keep yourself motivated?
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