Squeaker

It turns out that I didn’t run out of yarn on that last trip.  It was close though. Darned close.  I finished my March socks on my flight…

Pattern: Giotto, Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Spring Tickle.

and turned my attention to a little sweater I’d started while you weren’t looking.  On a trip into Lettuce Knit last Wednesday Megan had all the yarn to make Tulip baby sweaters kits up, and I felt something in me start to give way.  After the last time I went on a wicked jag with those sweaters I thought that I was alright. I thought that I’d knit the urge make a million of them right out of me – but there I was, standing in the shop and there they were, and I barely escaped with my bank account balance intact.  By Sunday, the feelings were overwhelming, and I found myself back in the shop, and before I could even stop it from happening, I’d bought a few of the kits – and to be completely honest, the only reason I only bought a few was because that’s all that was left in the store. I cleaned them out. If there had been ten kits I can’t say what I might have done. I really can’t.

I started one almost the minute I got home, and the very second my socks were done, all I could think of was the baby sweater. The stripes. The colour changes. The little seed stitch borders and the tiny attached i-cord edges and… it’s the same as before. I was charmed again. Entirely, and sitting on the plane watching it grow on my needles, I remembered that half of their charm – at least half, is how fast they go.  Worsted weight yarn on 4.5mm needles, all for someone who’s chest size is only about 40cm? (16") Shazam.  By the time I’d landed here I was almost done a sweater, except for the attached i-cord, which I think we can all agree is a bit of a pain in the arse.  That got done in the evening, and by yesterday, the thing had gone for a bath and was blocking by the fire here at Port Ludlow, and then sitting amongst the grass and flowers, finished and lovely.


I felt a little better then, but apparently – not quite all the way better, because now there’s another one on the needles, and I thought this morning about phoning Megan at Lettuce Knit and seeing how much it would jack up the price for her to overnight me a few more. 

I can’t believe I’m here again. These sweaters are like my kryptonite. I’ve never met a pattern/yarn combo that was so disarming to me. Sure, I’ve been on knitting jags before – there’s nothing weird about that, but twice, with the same sweater? Multiple incarnations of the same sweater? I’m a little worried, especially since I’m already making plans for stopping knitting them not because I’m through with them and it’s run its course, but because I’m not sure it’s healthy to continue.

Anyone else? Not with this sweater (although I would like to hear about that too) but an enduring knit obsession with one pattern – something more than a simple jag? Anyone?