In some cases, this is a good thing -- when I get too frazzled or invested in any project, sometimes it's just best to walk away, take a break, breathe.
But I love the simple pleasure of looking at a finished project, even something easy like Jack's ribbed hat, and saying, "I did that." And then to see my family enjoying the item I made for them -- it's like love incarnate, but in woolly form.
I know I said I'd be working on the Year in Colour challenge but it's still early in the month, and I've yet to find some orange wool that inspires me. (Maybe if I got off the farm more, I'd find inspiration. Yes, I'm a winter hermit. A procrastinating winter hermit, at that.)
In the meantime, I loved working with the wool for Jack's hat, so I started a pair of mittens using a pattern from the same book, Judith Durant's One-Skein Wonders, in the green wool that I used for the stripe.
And here's what I've discovered: Knitting mittens is addictive... especially when it's minus 200 degrees outside.
It's small projects like this that grab me, that have me uttering things like, "I can't stop now, I've just started the gusset"...
or "Yes, I know I haven't moved in over an hour and we should really get supper started, but let me just finish the hand!"
(I know this is inside-out. It's a bad habit I've developed when working with DPNs and circular needles. I sought help in YouTube and I'm much better now, thanks.)
or "Yes, I know it's well past my bedtime and I'll be a total troll in the morning, but look at how great this thumb is shaping up!"
At least with a hobby/preoccupation/obsession like this one, I can preserve our matrimonial and family bliss with promises that the next pair will be "just for you."
What inspires you?
Ed. update: Here's a lovely and related post from homesteading/quilting/lady extraordinaire Mama Pea at A Home Grown Journal about the joy of creativity and the challenge of making time for this kind of good-for-the-soul activity...
8 comments:
Ha-ha-ha! Oh, I laughed all the way through this post and can SO relate. Talk about a true addiction! It IS habit forming. Hey, I can think of worse things to be wanting to do! You go, Girl. Lovely mittens they will be.
Funny, as I was writing this I thought of a few blog friends who could relate... and you, lady, were one of them! And yes, there are worse things I could get into... like quilting, lol!
Looks good! Haha, my hubby kept asking me when his hat would be done and I said "I don't know, I just have to weave in the ends"... he picked it up and put it on and rode his bike to work... ends flying in the breeze LOL! And I'm thinking next year I will try to pass of mismatched socks as high fashion, then I won't have to make the 2nd in the pairs - just pass a basket of "1st socks" around the Christmas tree and have everyone pick two..... :)
Erin -- you're a genius! Mismatched socks as high fashion -- love it! Why oh why is knitting that second sock so hard sometimes??? And I love the image of hubbie -- mine would do the same!
Yes. Yes I would! That is what hubbies are for... yes?
Oh, hi honey... what are you doing here? And why do I feel like a kid with her hand caught in the cookie jar??
Honestly, what truly inspires me is seeing people like yourself that have such an amazing talent in crafts that I know so little about. I was looking at that sock monkey of yours too...amazing.
Thanks, Mr. H -- Those are mighty kind words, indeed! It's funny, because I feel the same way about the work that you do in your gardens!
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