New Year's Resolution Update

Now that I've been knitting whatever I want, having eliminated deadlines and intentions from my knitting, there has been some positive and negative outcomes to my knitting habits.

The Positives

1. No deadlines. I don't stress about finishing something in time for birthdays, holidays, and arbitrary deadlines.
2. Freedom of pattern choice. I can knit what I want just because I want to.
   
3. No expectations. This is like no deadlines, but it also applies to sizing, yarn choice and intended recipients.

The Negatives

1. No deadlines. Even though I still knit all the time, it seems like everything is taking longer to finish.
2. Freedom of pattern choice. It's hard to narrow down my queue of 286 patterns into something I want to make.
3. No expectations. I miss the feeling of giving something away that I made with someone special in mind.

I like this new approach to knitting. It's working for me, but I need to allow myself some exceptions.

The Exceptions

1. No deadlines. I will not set strict deadlines, but I will allow myself to aim to finish something by a certain date.
2. Freedom of pattern choice. If I need to decide on a size or a yarn because otherwise I won't knit something, I will allow myself to imagine the pattern on someone special.
3. No expectations. If I know someone will love something I want to make, I will allow myself to make it for that specific person.

All that said, I'm working on Laccaria. I'm using the recommended yarn and the 34" size. If it fits me, I might keep it. If not, I'll give it to someone else. I'm only on the back, so I can't comment on the pattern just yet. The yarn is splitty, though. I took it with me to my recent trip to Colorado and North Dakota, but I seem to have lost one of my size six straight needles. All I could work on was the ribbing. It's moving at a clip now, though. I will never take straight needles on a trip again. Circulars only.

I knit Daybreak because I was waiting for the Pure Pima and needed a quick project. I don't normally knit shawls or scarves, but I enjoyed working on this one. I still haven't blocked it because it's in the "someday someone will need this" basket, which is one of the side effects of my resolution.


I did pick up the shorts I had made for Chris Sand, since I went to North Dakota. I was at a cowboy poetry gathering, where I saw some of my friends from the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering. The best part was hanging out with Chris and Hana for part of a day. But I couldn't remedy the shorts situation easily, so I gave Hana Pasha. She'll look adorable in it. They treated me so nicely, and I got to see the good parts of North Dakota.


Since I flew out of Denver, Brian and I decided to explore some of Colorado early in the week. Here's a photo of me with my new friend Esme. I was also lucky enough to get to spend some time with good friends Matt, Emily and Mike and Emily and Mike's Great Dane. Ivy and I were fast friends. It was a great trip.