Saturday, October 16, 2010

An old story

I feel as if I've written this post many times before. It's the post about the distracted knitter. Any readers who knit know this story well. It's the one about the constant distraction of new and exciting knitting projects - even when you are surrounded by pieces of unfinished knitting that were equally exciting and glittery in their early stages.

I have some much-anticipated knitting time this weekend. I should be blocking my version of Stephen West's Daybreak shawl that I cast off earlier in the week:

daybreak

Or I should be knitting the bands on the Playful Stripes cardigan that I began for the dotee ages ago:

stripey cardi 1

Much as I like this pattern, avoiding this task is understandable - I have to finish the picot hems and darn in all those stripey ends before I can begin the front bands. And anyway, this winter has passed and the urgency for finishing has disappeared.

Perhaps I should be working on the tea cosy - a gift for an old friend - that I began with energy some weeks ago. But it's languishing half-finished:

teacosy

You all know the end of this story. I'm doing none of these worthy and worthwhile things. I've started (yet another) shawl - 'Dawn' from the oh-so-seductive pattern book 'The Fine Line' by Grace Anna Farrow:

isager

The shawls in this book require only the most straight-forward knitting skills - feather-and-fan is about as complicated as the knitting gets. They rely on arrangements of stripes, often on the bias, and on the beautiful soft colours of Isager fine yarn. For me the real temptation of this knitting is the yarn. It's slightly sticky and creates a light, soft, drapey fabric. And the colours...

I'm hoping nothing new and glitzy will distract me from finishing this project - though the endless lengths of i-cord that finish the shawl might slow me down a bit.

9 comments:

Rose Red said...

I love the patterns in that book! Yay for new projects! And the Isager yarn is delicious isn't it.

jp said...

The patterns in that book are wonderful.
Your shawl is looking fabulous

Unknown said...

Such lovely earthy colours in all your projects. I haven't worked with isager yarn but I am looking forward to trying..

Brendaknits said...

I love the colours in your Daybreak.

alison said...

Oh Lynn, you've caught my malaise :). Maybe we can be a support group of two?

The colours is your shawl are lovely too.

Anonymous said...

well i can see why you got distracted. that is just perfect spring/summer knitting, and will of course suit you perfectly. i agree, winter things can wait!

Sandra said...

I know of few knitters taht DON'T do this - I am looking at a pile of things I SHOULD knit on, but am planning something I WANT to knit.

Sel and Poivre said...

It is a familiar tale you tell! Its interesting to me though that since they are your languishing knits rather than my own I find your almost FO collection to be most exciting indeed!

Probably Jane said...

You've made me feel a whole lot better about the 17 pairs of socks I had in progress at the beginning of the month. I have made a dent in them so feel quite virtuous but the itch to cast on something new is upon me now that the weekend is in sight....