Sep 24, 2012

Falling


If September 22 and the Autumnal Equinox isn’t enough to let folks know that fall is here, I had to put on wool socks yesterday.  That makes it official.  That plus the fall knitting.

I realized a few weeks ago that while my summer was productive, it didn’t contain a lot of knitting projects.  I cleaned my crafting room and found SIX sweaters in progress.  Two of these are vests that just need a front, a couple are sweaters waiting for a sleeve or two, and one is a hope of a sweater that I’ve only knit a few inches on.  (That one may end up in the frog pond soon, I’m not sure I love the pattern enough to keep going and the yarn is too nice to spend knitting something I don’t love.)  One is a KAL that I was talked into, and the pattern is a hot mess.  I’ve been frustrated with it from about the fourth row, but I still kept knitting.  It’s only about a 150 yards from completion, but it’s annoying me.  Another one of the UFO sweaters has been a UFO for over two years. . .what is wrong with me?  I really love it, and want to wear it soon, why am I not finishing it?

So I made a plan.  I was going to knock out some UFOs.  And then I was shown this.  How cute is that little sweater?  Two coworkers are expecting, surely I could knit a wee sweater for them, right?  They sit in a bag now, one awaiting sleeves, the other needing some ends woven in and buttons to call them gifts instead of UFOs.

And then I received Wool Gathering in the mail. . .a vest on large needles using unspun Icelandic yarn would knit up fast, right?  I cast on almost immediately.  It only needs some icord to call it done.
This weekend I spent some time working on the UFOs and hope to have some FOs to show soon.  After all, if wool sock weather is here, sweater weather isn’t far behind, right?

My school district is progressive, and we have the day off of school to celebrate Yom Kippur on Wednesday.  I may be atoning by completing a few of these pesky little projects so that I can get excited about new projects without guilt in the coming weeks.  I need to fall in line (get the pun?  I crack myself up. . .) and become serious about finishing up some of these loose ends soon!

Also ahead for me this week is the American SewingExpo.  You know those friends who you can talk into just about any challenge?  I have a friend like that, and she’s jumped blindly into a lot of fun things with me,  has felt pushed and stretched a few times, but is always up for the fun.  Last August she challenged me to stretch myself and sign up for a CraftWars like sewing contest.  Never thinking I’d be selected, I said, “Sure!” and submitted the form without thinking much about it.  Guess who was picked?  If you’re near Novi on Saturday morning stop on by the Expo center and cheer me on. . .I’ll be turbo crafting for prizes, hope to see you there!