On the Fence

Usually, I'm a love-it-or-hate-it kinda gal. There's not a whole lot of middle ground in my opinions. And usually, this attitude extends to my knitting. Start a project, love it and keep going, hate it and rip it (or bury it in the bottom of the yarn closet and pretend I have no idea how it got there--"That superbulky blood-red acrylic chenille bikini? No idea. Maybe the knitting fairy left it behind.")

But this time, I am truly undecided. After the Spring Fever Cami (and thank you for the kind comments--I've tried to respond to you individually, but generally I can't seem to figure out how to get email out to you), I was really riding high on the euphoria of the three-day project, so I started this:


Yes, I realize some explanation is in order. I needed a new project . I really don't like having multiple projects on the needles at once. I find it stressful, because I'm a little compulsive about finishing things, and knitting is supposed to be relaxing. So usually I just have one bigger project, to work on at home, and one pair of socks, to carry around in my purse for all those waiting times that are so ubiquitous in a mom's life.

Anyway, I really wanted to start this (from the RYC Cafe book):


because the last four projects I've done were my own designs (which take a fair bit of effort) and I wanted a simple pattern of with lots of boring stockinette and soft, smooth yarn to just veg out with. But the yarn hadn't arrived. So, I headed to the stash. Now, there is a lot of good yarn in the stash. But there's also some yarn that's been there so long, you start to feel sorry for it. This plain white cotton has been languishing for years. I don't really like knitting with cotton, because it makes my wrists hurt, and I don't really like white because it's so...white. So I found another reject in this outlandish blue-teal-gold sparkly, fuzzy novelty yarn, and I thought, what the heck.


Summer is almost here in Southern California, and since summer lasts for nine months, I can always use another sleeveless cotton top. I was going for a fitted, ribbed, stand-up collar polo sort of thing. But you know, I'm just not feeling it. The size is good, the shape is good, the funky eyelash with the classic cotton is the sort of quirky knitting joke that makes me chuckle every time I see it...but I'm not in love. Still, it is half done. It would only take a few hours to whip up the back, sew them together, and make up a collar.

But of course, the yarn for the Rowan sweater arrived today. And I hear the siren's song...