Maybe Not

I swear, on every scrap of yarn in this house, that I thought the baby sweater I’m working on would be finished today.  I really did. It was sheer delusion. I see that now.  I thought that I was going to knit the heck out of it yesterday.  I thought that the whole time that I was running errands and knitting on something else.

sockstreetcar 2016-02-05

I thought that when I accepted an invitation to dinner (though we did knit at dinner – the upside of teaching so many of my friends to knit is that they now figure it into the schedule) and I thought that even as I went to bed without it anywhere near finished.  I thought that when I had to work at my desk this morning instead of knitting. I thought that this afternoon, as I worked on my class prep for Madrona instead of knitting.  I thought that as I did Bike Rally work, I thought that as I cleaned the bathroom. I thought that as I sat down to write this to you.  The only time the reality of the situation hit me, was as I sauntered over to take a picture of what was in my head “an almost finished sweater.”

sweaternotdone 2016-02-05

That sweater’s nowhere near finished. The body is barely started, the sleeves?  There’s no sleeves. There’s just a yoke, and a few pathetic rows of the body, and in my head, it was “almost finished.” Now, it gets better, because as the reality of the situation washed over me, as the delusion I’d created cleared like a mist, I didn’t think “Oh man – that’s not going to be finished today. You’re a lunatic.” I thought “Oh man. I’m really going to have to hustle (after I make dinner, serve dinner, do laundry, and finish at least two hours of desk work that should really be nine hours of desk work if I could stand it) to finish this by tonight.”

I might need to revise my plan a bit.

 

70 thoughts on “Maybe Not

  1. Oh well, happens to the best of us. You made progress on the socks, so that is something. The sweater will be done eventually. Enjoy your evening.

  2. You are the ultimate Time Optimistic. I suggest you make a VERY simple dinner, use paper plates, and sort/fold laundry with your toes while you knit. I don’t know what to do about the desk work. Maybe stare it down until it cowers and goes away?

  3. Open the window and let some fresh air in, before you pass out. The wool fumes (and those from other fibers) are getting to you! Not only did you not finish a postage-stamp-sized baby sweater, but you cleaned the bathroom!

  4. The sweater is gorgeous, and will be worth every minute of knitting and delusions. 😉

    Do you want to hear about my baby sweater, the Dale of Norway sweater with steeks that I started last spring and constantly just needs “one more good knitting day”? It has needed one more good knitting day (which, with two small kiddos, doesn’t occur too often) since August… and has had about eight or so good knitting days, and it just doesn’t get finished. Each button band ate an entire knitting day, for instance.

    I’d say you’re doing great!! 🙂

  5. LOL – my problem is I finish the work, leave it out to gift and then forget about actually GIVING it to the people it is made for. Witness, the bags of presents next to me at this time. Then, I wonder why I haven’t heard applause/thanks from the recipients, until I realize I have only given them in my mind!!

  6. Sorry to ask in case you have already mentioned it (how Canadian of me) but what is the pattern for the baby sweater. looks so sweet and I have 3 (!) grand nieces to knit for…..
    Cheers, Barbie O.

  7. I’m a newbie compared to many of you. I also, constantly juggle my desire to complete knitting projects with daily tasks. Seriously putting off even using the restroom to “just finish this row”. I have projects, patterns and yarn lined up well into next year. I sometimes feel this crazy addition will soon be halted by a intevention aired on T.V.

    • It is unlikely that a knitter would be part of an intervention, unless of course you have some fabulous stash that we might . . . no, we still wouldn’t do that to another knitter.
      Chris S in Canada

    • Nah. Those TV people think of knitting as a harmless sweet hobby pursued by old ladies. Except for the ones that knit, who know better but would never give us away.

  8. The sweater is beautiful. I think and plan to knit more than I do actually knit. I don’t know why that is? I’m trying to knit a least an hour a day.

  9. Welcome to “what was I thinking?” moments. I have ’em all the time. Beautiful sweater and it will be finished “all in good time” as my grandmother used to say.

  10. But I always think that ,once the yoke of a top down sweater is done ,that the sweater IS almost done. Of course, I also think of the yoke as the fun part….

  11. I don’t know if this will affect your plan but…I had a strange experience recently. I went to finish a hat that I’d started a while back, and when I went through my knitting bag, I found that it was already done. Ends woven in and everything. I swear I don’t know how that happened. It’s never happened before that a WIP finished itself when I wasn’t looking. Maybe the bag is magic?

  12. Of course it’s almost done. You just need a few more rows on the body and then do the sleeves. And those sleeves are small.

  13. Are you going to tell us the name of the sweater you are knitting, it is as cute as can be! As for finishing, I have a sweater that I am working on and think maybe soon! But soon is a relative description in the time warp of reality.

  14. I operate under the same delusion constantly! After all these years of knitting, I really should know better.
    #lifeexperiences

  15. Thanks for showing the wrong side of the work. My never-ending pet peeve is pattern pictures that don’t at least give a glimpse of the wrong side….the wrong side matters.

    So thanks, and by the way, I love the sweater.

  16. See, now this is exactly why I don’t like making things on a deadline. It makes me nuts and I wind up overestimating everything and the next thing you know, the deadline is looming and I don’t have squat finished. ::sigh::

    • Hi Cynthia, Barb here,
      Thanks so much for your words of wisdom, really puts a smile on my face. It reminds me of a glorious italian man i once got to intimately in one of those canal boats back in 69′. We certainly did break reality together. Anyway thanks for bringing back such lovely memories.
      XOXO,
      Barb

  17. Hey Steph,

    Good luck with the psychic knitting! I hope it works out.

    Also, a fan request, if I may. Would you be willing to post a short video of yourself knitting color work? I’m curious how you hold and position everything. I know you don’t usually do videos and I’m not asking for anything fancy – I’m curious what technique YOU use (I realize there are a lot of instructional videos on the web).

    Cheers!
    Sarah

  18. Hi, Barb here.
    I was reading your blog today in between my doctors appointment and my late fourth husbands funeral and I’ll admit this post made me very emotional. I used to live in Bolivia where alpaca wool, my favorite wool, is in abundace. There I feel in love with a dark brutting manand we made passionate love in the coca fields. I soon discovered I was pregnant so I went out to La Concha that evening and bought 3,000 bolivianos worth of yarn. For the next 9 months i knit little sweaters, like the one you posted today, tiny bonnets, and baby booties. I was so excited, the father wasn’t. It was around this time i discovered he was a cocaine dealer and was in very deep. He slept with me because he thought because I’m white that I would also be very rich. He wanted desperately for me to abort the child and proceeded to make my life a living hell. At the end of 9 very long months I was ready to deliver but the baby was a still born. The next day i burned all of my yard creations in the coca field my unborn child was conceived in and then got on the next flight to europe. Anyway good luck on the sweater.
    Si a la coca, no a la cocaina,
    -Barb

      • Hi Barb here,
        Sure is Maryjosie, beautiful name by the way. Seems like everyother tiem i pick up my needles I remember something new about the Barbara G. Oseman I was. Knitting is a great way to find yourself.
        Needlin’ since 57′
        -Barb

  19. Is there a Mercury Retrograde for knitting? I’m not into astrology, but I’ve a friend swears that it messes up everything electronic. You’re complaining about this baby sweater, there’s the Mystery of RobinH’s hat, and I’ve a shawl that is refusing to grow no matter how much I keep knitting on it. If there isn’t, we need to make one up – perhaps something involving Aries, the (presumably woolly) Ram.

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