Sometimes there are so many pattern options on Ravelry that you’ll spend hours combing through them instead of working on your projects. If you’ve got the winter blues (or you’re just feeling poorly) this can be even more apparent. This week I’ve been struggling to figure out what I want to work on next. Since I’m such a new knitter (I’ve been knitting since September 2015) there are lots of techniques that I haven’t mastered and lots of projects that are still too difficult for me. I’ve been feeling my way around trying to find the ‘best for me’ learning path, but it can be a frustrating experience. Take double knitting as an example. No matter how many times I practice I seem to get all wrapped up in the technicalities of it and by row 19 I’ve messed up so much that the original image is too hard to figure out. Frustrating, right?
I’ve got three WIP on the go right now. One is my second BKAL sock, the ones that are rainbow. I finished the first one last week and I adore it. The second is my baby blanket that I’ve been working off and on for the past few months. It’s an easy pattern but I get bored of it. The third project is my 2016 Sherwood MKAL which I love, but I have been feeling a bit lethargic so I put it aside in order to prevent mistakes. I’m almost up to the chart knitting portion and I’m excited for it but I’m also scared. It will be the first time I’ve attempted to read a lace chart pattern, and while they don’t look that complicated, I’m sure it’s very easy to make mistakes.
My queue is pretty barren too. I’ve got a newborn vertebrae in there that I’d like to knit with felici, along with the hue shift afghan but I don’t want to start that until my baby blanket is done. I’ve never knit mitered squares before, and I know I have a learning process to go through. I also have a simple shawl on there in the hopes of using up my Cascade Yarn kid seta, and I have the skywalker shawl in there which I’m hoping to do with a new batch of shadow lace from knitpicks that I bought from someone who was destashing – if it ever gets here. Mail has been a bit persnickety lately.
I also found someone who was destashing some hiyahiya interchangeable bamboo needles in the small size, and I decided to snag those while I could. I don’t expect that they’ll get here for some time yet (I’m not even sure if they’ve been sent at the time of this post) but I know I just need to learn some patience.
In the meantime I completed a quick headband this week while I took a short break from everything else. What inspires you when you’re feeling under the weather? What motivates you to pick up the needles and keep going on a project that may be putting you to sleep? Do you spend more time browsing patterns and FO on Ravelry and Instagram or do you discipline yourself into getting those projects done? Let me know!