At Loose Ends

I don't know what to knit next. Pretty searing confession for a purported knitting blog.

It's not that I don't have things in progress. I do. In fact, they begin to accumulate rather alarmingly. There's Red Scarf #2. Not to mention #3 (it may still on paper, but I'm holding it out as a reward for finishing the now paralyzingly monotonous RS#2). I have Branching Out #1, which I have to get through because I have plans - the possible BrO#2 in that lovely Jaeger Siena cotton for pillowcases. The Kid Slique doesn't even have a project yet. And, of course, there's always Island Embrace Variation #2, aka, The Garter Stitch Afghan That Never Ends.

The difficulty is that none of them are particularly difficult. Well, admittedly Branching Out is pretty fiddly, and the 7th row and I have a decidedly hostile relationship. But I get it. Now it's a matter of discipline, not discovery. I want the sense of victory I got when I triumphed over the Doctor's Bag. The kind you only get when the project comes with "some assembly required."

My discomfort is caused, in part, because I thought I had such a project ready to go. Fueled by my sister's encouraging email and the way my daughter's face lit up when I mentioned the, at that point nebulous, plan, I expected to be working on a sweater for Clare. It's been simmering away in the back of my brain since October. I've been doing my research. Adding to my library.













When I picked up the winter Interweave Knits, I was sure I had found it.












Mostly stockinette, so I can concentrate on the shaping. Not too tight around the neck (a serious Clare consideration). And that pretty detailing at the shoulder, which would, I hoped, teach me something new. I thought I was cooking with gas.

I dragged Diane out west to look for yarn in Clare's color of choice: brown. I don't much like brown, but it's a good color on Clare. And at least it wasn't gray. If I want to knit with dryer lint, I'll learn to spin.













No, I don't suffer from a peculiar visual disorder. Apparently every knitter in the Chicago area is knitting in brown this Fall and they all got there before me. We are also, it would seem, knitting sweaters, or possibly afghans, or other large projects, because it proved to be quite a challenge to get enough of anything. So I was happy to get something this pretty. It's Rowan Felted Tweed, SH152 "Watery"

So, there I was. Revved up. Ready. Anticipation personified. Sure all was in order for the next great step in my Knitterly Progress. Then I picked Clare up from college. She wants The Perfect Sweater, which, ironically, Anne and Kay posted right about the time I allowed the idea of knitting a sweater to bubble up in the first place.