Thursday, September 20, 2007

Motivation

The robe worked so well to get me through, I was tempted to start another one. I started researching wool-silk blends (Cascade's Venezia). I had even added it to my online shopping cart, then had second thoughts (I hate those). Did I want another robe? And if the answer was not really, what was it about the robe that I crave? Obviously, it's not the Pima Tencel.

I want something reasonably straight-forward, with enough plain knitting to allow for day-dreaming and enough fiddly bits to occupy the front of my mind when I don't want to pay attention to what I'm thinking. Like those stretches of stockinette and 1x1 ribbing combined with the short rows and non-assembly construction provided by the clever details of the robe.

I want something with rapid, visible progress - I could almost see the robe grow stitch by stitch.

I don't want to knit for myself right now.

Soft and beautiful as it is, the blue Red Scarf is out. The OFA has asked for machine washable scarves. Blue Sky Alpaca Melange is not. I could use this as an excuse to indulge in retail therapy - my stash is lacking in super-wash and wool/acrylic blends -- but not today. Besides, I've figured out the pattern, so it's become mindless knitting, which I don't want. I do need to get cracking, but, thank heavens, Norma is asking us to think quality instead of quantity this year.

I'm a little surprised by my choice. The parish Christmas Market has asked for hand-knits (among other things). Hence Clare's starfish colony.

I figure anything baby-oriented has got to sell, right? So, ta-da and all that.

Do you think they'll qualify as socks? I think it's as close as I'm ever going to get. Motivation only gets me so far.

2 comments:

Diane H said...

The bootie really is very cute - I don't think there is such a thing as second bootie syndrome. ;-)

Susan Luni said...

Thanks for the link. I've been wondering about the red scarfs. How could there be so many teenage foster children going off to college? I think the 'quality' issue is often lost in the rush to finish a project. There is a lot of emphasis on speed. Must be the old American production ethic.
Thanks also for the inspiration to devote time to small things and details. I think I'll go swatch.
The robe is gorgeous. I should have told you sooner, but I guess I was somehow expecting a modeled shot. Never mind, it is beautiful and will last for years.