Thursday, April 23, 2015

Well, what else was I supposed to do?

I deleted this blog about two months ago.  I thought that it was useless trying to keep it up when I never wrote in here and I didn't think I would because I had nothing interesting to say.  I don't know what's changed, whether I'm just looking for new ways to procrastinate writing my thesis or I just need to write about something other than poetry for awhile, but the memory of this blog came back to haunt me.  I don't expect people to be reading this religiously, or become famous, or whatever other reasons people blog for.  I guess what I need is a visual knitting diary similar to the Ravelry project pages, but with more space so I can expound on a bit.  Maybe this will be a space for the stuff that doesn't make it onto the project page or really doesn't belong there in the first place.  You know, some of the life stuff that affects knitting.  I don't plan on this being a spill-the-beans confessional, but sometimes life intersects with knitting.  So here goes.

Lately, I've been tired.  I've got a lot of gift knitting on at the moment and it's sapping my knitting mojo.  Don't get me wrong, nobody on the gift list is demanding handknit presents, but because I'm in grad school and can't afford to buy really nice presents, I knit something instead.  This all came to a head a few weeks ago when I had two fine-gauge projects on the go at the same time with a long line of knits for other people coming after them.  I felt . . . resentful?  Not quite because I didn't want to give the recipients their gifts, but because so much of my time was being taken up by things for other people.  It got to the point that I didn't want to knit anymore.  I have learned in the past that my mojo goes haywire after four or six projects for other people, but generally I would just attempt something crazy, like knit a 1,600 detailed lace cardigan in a month.  I've never had my mojo completely disappear, though.  I knew drastic measures had to be taken.  So I did three things:

1) I rewrote my gift list.  I went through my list and cut out some things.  Did that person really need that handknit item right now or if I could go buy something nice instead?  How many hats did a baby need if I also gave x?  Could this project be scaled down, say from a large blanket to a stroller-sized one?  Not everything got cut because the gifts will help me get rid of stash yarn, but it made my list more manageable.

2) I took the space I had and filled it with knits for me.  This is my hobby, so I need to start putting myself first.  I started this off by knitting a laceweight Color Affection shawl, which shows you how much crazy had built up.  After it, though, I planned out four or five projects and then scheduled a knit for myself.  It will help with the crazy buildup.  I also scheduled my birth month (August) off so I could work on knits for myself.

3) I scheduled 2016 as a year-off.  Yes, that's right, I'm taking the whole year off from gift-knitting.  Okay, I might do a few, but it will be small, small things, like a cowl or a small hat or toy for my little nephews, but, again, this is my hobby and I need to start putting myself first.  I'll still be stashing down because I built up quite a bit of stash before going back to the convent and I'm certain knitting for me will make me buy less yarn.  I'm already planning what I will knit.  It will be glorious my friends, absolutely glorious.

Until then, it's on with the gift knits!

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