Tension

“You never will be the person you can be if pressure, tension and discipline are taken out of your life.”

--James G. Bilkey

"Life begins at the end of your comfort zone."

-- Neale Donald Walsch

Sometimes when I start a project I leave my brain somewhere else…my Mom likes to say it goes off to Hawaii…ah, Hawaii…

See, like that.

First of all, this project is Halloween themed, so my main color is black. As a punk in the ’80s (now they would call what I was Goth) I loved black. As a knitter in 2006, I really dislike it. I can’t see my stitches as clearly and I can’t knit in a dark room. So, only bright cheery days for knitting on this cowl… *cue the thunderclap*

Secondly, when I started on the cowl yesterday, I accounted for the fact that 2X2 ribbing should be in multiples of 4 + 2. I checked my gauge and cast on 182 stitches…the problem is that I’m knitting in the round so that means that one round counts as a knit row and the next as a purl…which basically made a HUGE mess. :(

So I ripped out and recast on 180 stitches and now I have wonderful, beautiful ribbing. *yeah* :)

I am really pushing to get this sweater done but I realize that I probably have a lot more woes coming my way…my Aries self has been talking to my yarn again…

Aries self: “Hey why don’t we change the design at the last minute because one cat over and over is pretty boring don’t you think?”

Yarn colored a shade of Halloween spice answers, “Cccccould there be pumpkins?”

Aries self: “Sure; pumpkins, bats, cats, ghosts and whatever you want. I’ll get busy graphing all of them so Ruinwen can swatch them while she’s stopped at lights in traffic.”

Yarn: “Er, didn’t she want the slip-stitch done by the time she got to the LYS.”

Aries self: “Do you want pumpkins or not?!?”

Yarn: “A swatching we will go…”

So, I’ve been working with a scene that could be on the front and back and…what was the lesson of the day again…oh yeah, tension…causing tension to me and my knitting. Graphing a ghost is much harder then it seems…but everything that pushes me (not to the point of insanity) actually makes me a better knitter.

I have found the projects I enjoyed making the most are the ones that I learned something new while making them. I’m hoping this cowl will be one of those projects…since I get to remake it for each and every month of the year (what was I thinking?!?...must have let an Aries self moment slip by again)...

Well, I must get a move on there are only so many hours of light in the day ya’know!

Happy crafting,

Ruinwen
:)