I don’t want to startle any knitters, but there’s something strange going on over here and who knows where it will end. I’ve been churning along on a summer sweater – Donner, to be precise, and I’m using Louet Euroflax Linen. Nice stuff – and I was sad that it was discontinued but it turns out that it’s been bought by Lofty Fiber, which is great news.

So I decide to knit this sweater, and I had this bonkers idea that I would knit it sort of quickly – which is just to say that I thought that I might give a completely radical idea a go – I’d knit a summer sweater in time to wear it this summer. I knew it was going to take a little longer than my knitter’s heart thought it should because the style of the thing is oversized, with great gobs of positive ease, and that always means a little extra time, but I saw that coming and I was emotionally prepared. I sat down and started in on it and right from the get go I noticed that it was slow. This seemed reasonable, it’s the yarn’s fault. I always find plant fibres to be slower on the needles than wool – they’re not stretchy, they’re a little stiffer, the whole thing is just… slower and I’m down with that. The transformation that occurs when you wash a linen garment is worth it. So I’m plodding along and that doesn’t seem too bad, totally to be expected for a linen thing this size. Then. something strange happened, which is that I stopped making any progress at all.

It seemed to me that I was knitting and knitting and nothing was happening. The sweater wasn’t getting any longer, none of the yarn seemed to be disappearing and it was starting to bug me. I looked within myself and wondered if (upon honest reflection) I wasn’t working on it as much as I thought? We’ve been very busy with a little project for the back garden (it’s not little, the roof of the shed caved in) and a chunk of my time goes to knitting, filming and editing for the Patreon, I’ve quietly been training for the Bike Rally (more on Team Knit later – but here’s links to our pages – me, Cam, Ken and Pato) and still haven’t made any progress on riding and knitting at the same time. (I’m starting to think it’s not going to work out) and Elliot is… well, I can’t really blame him since he’s only here a few days a week, and we’re working on his tolerance for my time spent knitting rather than playing board games or reading books. Even when I was honest about my time spent knitting, it still seemed like I should be farther along. *

Then a few days ago I decided to really start making some progress. Crack the whip of self discipline and get it done. Go, go, go. I knit in the park.

I knit in another park.

I knit while Ken read Ellie stories (That book is called The Little Wooden Robot and The Log Princess and it’s terrific.)

Another park…

I knit in the car,

While Elliot played lego…

I knit the heck out of that sweater. I knit on it so much that I started to think there must be progress. A shocking amount of progress. The ball of yarn got a bit smaller (though not much, this might be weird yarn) and after a while of trucking this thing around everywhere I went and cashing in on the stupendous magic of a round here and a round there – I have made no progress. Sure, a few centimetres, maybe eight – but eight centimetres is nothing like what I deserve.

Tonight, I’m going to politely announce to my knitting that it is time to move along. That whatever time dilation it has itself stuck in it needs to make a commitment to growth. I am going to tell it the truth, that am not even a little bit of a monogamous knitter, and that it is lucky that I have stood by it this long. I’m going to tell it about how I have been feeling about a certain other knitted top that I saw the other day, and I may even get the yarn for that out of the cupboard so that it may see its competition and know fear. Hell, I may even put it on the counter while I make dinner and put “Jolene” on the stereo. Then I’m going to try again, and if this sweater knows what’s good for it – we’ll be talking about ribbing and some sleeves tomorrow. If it doesn’t, well. I know a nice tank top looking for a start.

PS. It is worth noting that a great deal of time was spent the last few days staring appalled at the news. It goes without saying that my heart breaks for those families and the thousands of other families who’ve lost loved ones and children to firearms. I’m not going to say much more than that. My feelings on guns and violence are well known and if you disagree with me, I doubt that my thoughts presented on the matter will change your mind. For the rest of you, I cannot imagine living in a country where the leading cause of death in children 1-19 is a firearm, and I bet it’s really scary. I hope you can change it. I know that so many of you feel that it’s not changeable – that somehow you’ve been stripped of the power of democracy or public assembly or the ability to rage in the street at the top of your lungs screaming “Not One More Child” as passionately for this as other causes, but it’s not true. The folks you have the power to toss out of their jobs would sure like you to believe that though. Hang in there. Keep trying.