Knitting is really a wonderful form of procrastination. I suppose that’s why I do it so much. It initially started as a way to keep my hands busy while watching TV. But it’s also a wonderful way to avoid more pressing matters, like studying, cleaning the bathroom, or nanowrimo, while still fooling myself into thinking I’m being productive. I mean, I could just play Chuzzle for an hour or two, but what would I have to show for it besides a few new Lost character names on the hall of fame? (Don’t ask). Whereas if I knit, I at least have some new gloves, socks, or a hat to show for it, right?
Now that the debacle that was the leg warmers from hale is finally, mercifully complete, you’d think I’d like, relax my poor, fatigued mind by embarking on something straightforward, relatively simple, and short-term (you must understand that by my ADD standards, leg warmers are long-term). Perhaps a new pair of socks, or a hat, or some fingerless gloves for those freezing Hawaiian nights (hey, the AC in the building where I have one of my classes is brutal… don’t judge me!) But no. Instead, having conquered the evil leg warmers and not become the Yarn Strangler as a result, I decided to celebrate my strength of character by embarking on the Anne Elliott Spencer.
It’s a beautiful pattern–cute, complex enough to keep me occupied but not so much so I contemplate stabbing myself to death with my own Japanese metal size-1 dpns (those things look like part of some exotic torture method you’d see on Alias, I swear it), and manageable. I should have just enough pink sport weight yarn in the stash. I’ve done so many socks, hats, and gloves, I think my head and extremities will never be lacking in garments to keep them warm. I can handle a little sweater. Even if the pattern reads more like notes than an actual pattern, and comes in only one size (not mine), and, going by the reports of the brave souls on ravelry who knitted this, would require heavy customization and is admitted to be flawed even by the pattern designer, I can totally handle this, right?
So I sit down, knit a small swatch to get the gauge right, bust out my calculator, and start customizing. About an hour, several sheets of scratch paper, and a very, very muddled mind later (there is a reason I did not major in math), I think I’ve got it down. I knit a few rows. It seems small, really small. I rip it out and recalculate, thankful I thought to check up before I got much farther in. I see where I went wrong and re-do it.
So last night I sit down with the laptop to do some hardcore nano-ing. But instead I end up marathoning four more eps of Criminal Minds while knitting approximately one inch of the sweater (I’m doing a seamless version). I already botched the buttonhole but fortunately, caught it before I got too far and only had to tink one row. I hold up the narrow band I’ve got so far and it looks to be the right size. So far, so good. I can totally handle this.
I really never learn.
