It is only Nov 17th but it has become abundantly clear that NaKniSweMo will not be a success story.
I have been mulling this impending failure in my head for the last few days and beating myself up over what that said about me as a knitter. I had set what I thought was a challenging but attainable goal, the yarn was beautiful, the pattern was wonderful, the designer only a phone call away 🙂 yet I neglected to factor in life and all the little banana peels it likes to toss in your path.
I’m not sure how much of it was my inner knitter rebelling against a deadline or just having so many other wonderful projects and tasks to distract me but it took me until last night/today to feel ok with not finishing the Stacy sweater by Nov 30th. Keep in mind I’m not saying I feel good about it, just ok. I finally had to sit down and tell myself that pressuring myself to complete x number of rows a day and feeling guilt over wanting to pull out Daniel for a short spin session was not worth it. I want to enjoy this sweater, I want to love the knitting of it as much as I will love wearing it when it is done.
The world will not end because it takes me a little longer (at least I hope not) and the knitting police will not come and take my needles and stash away because I missed the deadline. Or at least they better not try.
So last night as a way to distract myself from my decision to be ok with not completing NaKniSweMo I opened up the box of personal spinning stash. It really isn’t as big as you think it would be. I swear! Out came a couple of Abby batts, some Dicentra Designs superwash merino, alpaca, llama, moorit and then finally some Great Balls of Fiber superwash colonial. Holy crap I forgot how much I like that last one, the colorway is Old Boyfriend and is a rich chocolate brown, sky/periwinkle blue and dark teal. Oh so pretty.
Before I knew it the roving was out of it’s packaging, laid out on the bed so I could find the color repeat points, broken into 3 bundles and ready to go. I settled in for an evening of spinning while watching Stargate Atlantis (yes I am a geek). I will likely do another 3 ply fractal stripe approach like I used in my Highlighter yarn. I loved how that turned out and this time I’m aiming for a fingering 3 ply.
This time around my spinning shouldn’t make people recoil at the sight of the colors, hopefully this time I will hear “what pretty colors” instead of “wow that IS bright” 🙂
For now I’m off to spend a little bit more time with the sweater, while I’m no longer aiming for completion by month end I do want to see how much can get done.
5 comments
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November 18, 2007 at 8:07 am
babblingbrook
Heh. I could have wrote the same thing about my sweater for NaKniSweMo. I need to stop joining KALs and the like.
November 18, 2007 at 11:54 am
Jennifer
The socks ARE pretty! And I am sure boyfriend will be handsome.
November 18, 2007 at 9:17 pm
Betty
I have knit 2 rows of sweater today, and Navajo plied a full pound of blue/green softness. Mozzy II is happy. I am happy. My sweater can wait. It’s so cool to be able to adjust deadlines and do what’s right, right now!
November 19, 2007 at 8:18 am
Sharon
If that the worst “fail” of your life you’re doin’ pretty good, kid. 🙂
Love you!!
November 23, 2007 at 11:07 pm
minnie
i understand how you feel. i signed up for nanowrimo this year (year #4), and after 5K words, i gave up. i love the story, and the idea, but life got in the way. then of course, life gotin the way of EVERYTHING last saturday, and it ALL went on hold, except for the sock i carry in my bag. my mom went in the hospital, and since she’s deaf, i’m the interpreter. the good news is she’s out now, and doing well (she lives on her own), and the sock is almost done, lol!