The Knitting Blahs

I have a confession. I've got no knitting mojo. After I finished my mini creature and baby bunnies I've been completely uninspired with my knitting. It started with my complete unwillingness to work on my beatnik sweater, which, frankly, was understandable. I don't like staring at charts, and I had been working on it for ages. I also felt a lot of pressure to finish it before the Tour de Fleece (even though I fail at participating) and Ravelympics Ravhellenic Games. That pressure was entirely self induced and entirely stupid because it's knitting: an enjoyable hobby. So for a few weeks all I did was stress about how holy crap that sweater was never going to get finished. But then... I did. I finished it! I could move on to more appealing knitting!

Except, that's when I lost it. Nothing is appealing to me right now. I'm trying, I really am. I tried mindless knitting on my hexipuff blanket. That ended disastrously when I added a puff and used each edge to pick up stitches for more puffs that I placed it in the wrong spot. Yeah. That means I would have to rip out five puffs. It wasn't going to happen, so I just set it aside and tried to not cry.

Then I thought, well, maybe I just want to knit on something a little more complicated and larger! So I pulled out my Saroyan. Nope. I hate the yarn. H-A-T-E it. I don't get any stitch definition and it creeps me out to no end that it feels like hair. I'm going to finish this shawl, but I'm not sure how much use it's going to get. Actually, that's a lie. It will get exactly the same amount of wear as my other shawls: none. Remind me again why I keep knitting them?

Finally, I decide, forget it! I'll stash dive and knit a baby hat and matching booties! The hat was ridiculously fast and cute and adorable and then it came time to knit the booties... and I just can't force myself to do something that fiddly.

So... Basically, I'm stuck. I've gone through cycles of this before, where I hate all my knitting and I have zero motivation. Usually, I suffer through whatever projects I have on the needles and snap out of it with a giant case of startitis. Unfortunately, startitis seems a long way off, so I tried to jump start it with a little shopping.



If time, beads, and pretty yarn can't cure me, nothing will, right?

I had bought the skein on the left at the 2012 DFW Fiber Fest. The first year I had attended, I fell in love with the Brooks Farm yarn that eventually became my Multnomah. I figured I might as well continue the tradition and after some serious deliberation, I opted for the deliciously awesome skein of Solo Silk. The colors remind me of steampunk and 10,000 Leagues Under the Sea in the most awesome of ways, so naturally, I thought of The Age of Brass and Steam. After spotting a few amazing examples using beads, I knew that I was a goner.

 Once I got to the store, however, I had some serious issues picking out fabulous beads. In fact, I'm still not 100% certain those are going to make it. I know for sure that the little vial of beads will happen, but I'm going to have to see what the multicolored pack looks like on the shawl before I decide whether to use them. Though, the colorway is called "seabreeze", which is utterly perfect with my submarine inspiration.

The other skein came from a venture into a new LYS. Despite the lack of prices on, well, everything, I did find something I really loved. That skein of Baruffa Cashwool absolutely sang out to me. The fact that it was something like 50% off certainly didn't help, though the absolutely ridiculous tangled mess it was certainly gave me pause.

A few podcast episodes later, I tidied it up into this happy ball and decided that  a Laminaria would be just the ticket. After knitting my Haruni, I knew some pretty coordinating beads would make me happy as clam.

You know, apart from the fact that I hate knitting hugely complicated things. That's why about 75% of my stash is laceweight yarn that I intend for pretty but complicated and charted shawls. I'm nothing if not practical.

In any case, the beads certainly did inspire me. I can't stop staring at them and petting my yarn. I'm in lurrrrve with the idea of those projects. I cannot wait to cast on both. But am I? Nope! I'd rather go the masochistic route. I'm saving my Laminaria (which I cannot spell to save my life) for the Ravhellenic Games, and the Solo Silk for after I finish my hairy Saroyan. Hopefully, by the time I finish, I'll be so happy to have gotten it off the needles that I'll explode with a bunch of WIPS. Or something.