Looky-Loo!

Look at all of that Lopi! I want to cast on for Aran Tree Skirt right now! I always get so excited at the thought of casting on for a new project. Looking at my “works in progress” list could tell you that. But I can’t concentrate on just one project at a time. And I think that if I tried to knit just one thing from start to finish without working on other things along the way, I would probably not knit as much as I do. I need that variety or else I would probably honestly not enjoy knitting!

But I do envy those “monogamous” knitters who can start a sweater on the 1st of the month and have it finished by the end of the month (if not before). They seem to get to experience the joys of finished projects more often than I do. My finished projects come in fits and spurts as things on my list get finished in close proximity to each other. Of course, this means that some projects seem forgotten because I don’t post about them for months at a time. This doesn’t always mean I’m not working on them (although sometimes that is the case).

Take for instance the Fiery Bolero. I started this project back in September. (Ack!) If you go back to my September ’05 archives you will see two progress pics. These are the only progress pics of it. I put it away in October to concentrate on knitting a birthday gift. Then there were the holidays and before I knew it, it was February before I picked it up again. It probably took three days of knitting in February to finish the entire body and get to the ribbing. Then without the right needles for the ribbing, back it went into the pile of unfinished things.

When I finally bought the necessary needles a couple of weeks ago, I sat down and cranked out the ribbing in two days and seamed it up! But I was disappointed with the fit and I threw it in an empty laundry basket. I guess I was punishing it for betraying me after being a part of my knitting life for so many months. But I put it on again the other day and was actually happier with the fit and I think that once I weave in the ends and block it, we will be good friends again. By the way, Veronique (and others who may be interested in the specs), I didn’t use the Cathay it called for. I used some Cashmerino Aran that I had in my stash.

So here she is (with her unmentionables dangling for everyone to see):

So if I were a monogamous knitter, this bolero would have been finished by then end of September and I would have been wearing it last fall. But I’m not a monogamous knitter and I have to make peace with that. Sometimes I beat myself up for caving into my “startitis” because I think “no one is going to want to read post after post about new project after new project.” But hopefully you don’t mind too much. I rarely leave things completely unfinished so if you stick with me I promise you will see everything finished at some point, maybe.