Where Does the Time Go?

Okay, so I posted right after the Knitting Olympics. And I look up and it's already March 20th. How did that happen? Maybe I've been immersed in my job. Maybe I've been heads down trying to get the baby blanket done before next weekend. Maybe I've just been lazy. It's probably a combination of all three.

I usually get home from work between 7:00 and 8:00 in the evening and after having worked on a computer all day, I don't quite feel like logging on at home. That means I'm woefully behind with reading my favorite blogs. But I have been managing to knit about an hour or so before I go to bed, which is wonderfully relaxing.

The baby blanket is almost finished. I've got about 40 rows of seed and stockinette stitch to go, then it's on to weaving in the ends and blocking. I'll post a picture of the blanket after I've finished it.

I've come to realize that I'm a process knitter, not a product knitter. There times, however, when the process drives me batty. I get bored easily, so doing row after long row of stockinette stitch has a tendency to be painful, at least initially. I feel like I'm fighting the knitting. What I found, though, is that at some point something else kicks in and I become fascinated with the way the yarn moves through my hands or the way the light catches and changes the colors. When that happens, the "conflict" goes away and the knitting just flows. My hands are more relaxed; my self is more relaxed. And I hate to see the project end.

Maybe it's because I'm a process knitter that I can't be faithful to only one project. It's taking every ounce of my self-control to not cast on yet another pair of socks (I've got two pairs going now) or the Debbie Bliss sweaters that I want to knit for my little nieces. A little voice in my head says "Just do a gauge swatch. You've got to do one anyway. It won't hurt." Ha! I know me. Once I feel the new yarn and start working on a new pattern, it's all over. The current project(s) will languish indefinitely (see the sidebar of WIPs...they've all been deserted for new projects). The feeling of waiting to start a new project is not unlike having a crush on someone unattainable. The anticipation is bittersweet because I know I can't knit it now. And when the "relationship" does start, there's a good chance it will be fraught with frustration and disappointment.

But then that's part of the process too, isn't it?