Over the years, (this afghan was cast on in March 00), I have intentionally forgotten about the afghan. I have denied its very existence. I have written it out of my knitting history. (We knitters never like to acknowledge how many unfinished objects (UFO's) lurk under our beds, in bottom drawers and in our closets. "I won't admit it, therefore it does not exist. Or something like that.) But it resurfaced on a recent closet cleaning. Unable to resist, I pulled it out and spread it out on the bed. I was more than a little disappointed to see how small it actually was. I really thought I was further along. I like the colours and I still like the pattern, but it just seems insurmountable. You can see from the pic that I'm just starting the 2nd pattern repeat. If my memory serves me correctly, there are 7 pattern repeats. 7!!! It's like the Robert Frost poem, "and miles to go before I sleep". Now some people are marathon runners. Some people are afghan knitters. I am not a marathon runner. Afghans are marathon knitting. 26 miles of knitting. I have no desire to run or knit 26 miles. But I also have no desire to harbour unfinished things lurking in my closets. One of my secret fears is that I'll die and someone will find out how many unfinished projects I have. So I have resolved to finish this thing. I'm kind of trying to commit to a motto of "Clear the needles", which means that I have to finish all projects on the needles. (Can I say "kind of trying to" and "commit" in the same sentence???) This means some skeletons in my closets will be coming out. I guess I'll just run a mile a day until it's finished. I may need a support group or a cheer leading section.
Sunday, July 05, 2009
Skeletons in my closet
Once upon a time, shortly after I learned to knit, but not before I had knit countless scarves and numberless beanie baby blankets, I decided I would knit an afghan to solidify my knitting prowess and really nail down my technique. I bought a book of patterns, selected one, and purchased cheap acrylic wool at Wal-mart. I decided a little afghan would be nice, but a bigger one would be nicer still. So after exponentially increasing the stitch count and pattern repeats by some astronomical number (not sure what giant I was planning to knit this afghan for), I started knitting. After about 20 rows, my technique was glued down, nailed down and screwed down and I was bored out of my tree. Into the closet it went and I went on to knit many, many more exciting and less time-consuming projects.Over the years, (this afghan was cast on in March 00), I have intentionally forgotten about the afghan. I have denied its very existence. I have written it out of my knitting history. (We knitters never like to acknowledge how many unfinished objects (UFO's) lurk under our beds, in bottom drawers and in our closets. "I won't admit it, therefore it does not exist. Or something like that.) But it resurfaced on a recent closet cleaning. Unable to resist, I pulled it out and spread it out on the bed. I was more than a little disappointed to see how small it actually was. I really thought I was further along. I like the colours and I still like the pattern, but it just seems insurmountable. You can see from the pic that I'm just starting the 2nd pattern repeat. If my memory serves me correctly, there are 7 pattern repeats. 7!!! It's like the Robert Frost poem, "and miles to go before I sleep". Now some people are marathon runners. Some people are afghan knitters. I am not a marathon runner. Afghans are marathon knitting. 26 miles of knitting. I have no desire to run or knit 26 miles. But I also have no desire to harbour unfinished things lurking in my closets. One of my secret fears is that I'll die and someone will find out how many unfinished projects I have. So I have resolved to finish this thing. I'm kind of trying to commit to a motto of "Clear the needles", which means that I have to finish all projects on the needles. (Can I say "kind of trying to" and "commit" in the same sentence???) This means some skeletons in my closets will be coming out. I guess I'll just run a mile a day until it's finished. I may need a support group or a cheer leading section.
Over the years, (this afghan was cast on in March 00), I have intentionally forgotten about the afghan. I have denied its very existence. I have written it out of my knitting history. (We knitters never like to acknowledge how many unfinished objects (UFO's) lurk under our beds, in bottom drawers and in our closets. "I won't admit it, therefore it does not exist. Or something like that.) But it resurfaced on a recent closet cleaning. Unable to resist, I pulled it out and spread it out on the bed. I was more than a little disappointed to see how small it actually was. I really thought I was further along. I like the colours and I still like the pattern, but it just seems insurmountable. You can see from the pic that I'm just starting the 2nd pattern repeat. If my memory serves me correctly, there are 7 pattern repeats. 7!!! It's like the Robert Frost poem, "and miles to go before I sleep". Now some people are marathon runners. Some people are afghan knitters. I am not a marathon runner. Afghans are marathon knitting. 26 miles of knitting. I have no desire to run or knit 26 miles. But I also have no desire to harbour unfinished things lurking in my closets. One of my secret fears is that I'll die and someone will find out how many unfinished projects I have. So I have resolved to finish this thing. I'm kind of trying to commit to a motto of "Clear the needles", which means that I have to finish all projects on the needles. (Can I say "kind of trying to" and "commit" in the same sentence???) This means some skeletons in my closets will be coming out. I guess I'll just run a mile a day until it's finished. I may need a support group or a cheer leading section.
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3 comments:
Its pretty! Knit knit knit! You can do it!!! (how's that for cheerleading?)
Is it too late to become a cute little knit skirt?? I think it's beautiful and skirts are shorter than big afghans! Don't commit to finish it...commit to 10 rows a day. Before the summer's over, it will be finished! Gooooooo Jacquie!!!
it'll be awesome once it's done. It's so cute right now!
I have a blanket like that. Half-finished. Huge. And exhausting to even LOOK at or think about finishing!
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