Lots of THINKING, Not Much Knitting

(I am REALLY bad at titles for posts. I am really bad, actually, at titles for anything... This is an odd thing for a story writer to be bad at, huh?)

I've been thinking and thinking about the problem of not finishing projects and the prospect of either locking down and knitting it all in the manner of a work deadline (Not fun at all, and knitting is supposed to be fun, right? Tell me it is supposed to be fun...didn't someone say it would be fun?) OR setting the projects aside indefinitely and just telling the recipients too bad, I just don't feel like knitting on that right now (this seems much, much worse, and potentially hurtful to some non-knitting audience members, who don't understand the organic nature of making knitting fun). And the more I thought about this problem, the more I felt like the Universe is really like the end of Dogma when God is asked the meaning of life and she smiles, pushes the nose of the main character and says, "Boop!"

So maybe I was being a teeeeeeeensy bit melodramatic there, but it bothers me sometimes, my non-completing nature, and it embarrasses me to post that I've spent all day on a bracelet for me when, say, there's a red shrug that's been on the needles for gosh, how long has it been my friend? Almost a year? A simple red SHRUG? That the recipient PURCHASED the yarn for? That is embarrassing. WAY embarrassing, and it makes me feel a bit like a schmuck. And that makes me feel bad for blogging, for sleeping, for eating, for going to work, for doing anything but knitting on the damn shrug. And this is not a good mood for knitting... not a good mood for anything at all...

BUT THEN, just now, on a fellow knitter's blog, I saw something. Go back, click on it, now look at the left side... Do you see it, the section marked "On Hold For Now"? Why, that is non-threatening! Look, there's even a little thing that shows how far she's gotten on each of them. Why, she is close to finishing some of them, LIKE ME! But does she stress? Oh no. Does she worry about the non-knitting public criticizing her for her lack of productivity? No. Does she feel like God is touching her nose and saying "Boop!"? Why, NO. (Actually I don't know this for sure, but it makes me feel better to think that way, so, that's how I'll think until I'm told otherwise. And, according to her blog she is working on stash projects, which makes my point a bit moot, but let's not get hung up on details in my moment of enlightenment.) What she does is file the little (big) projects away, not under "In Progress" which would give the false impression that they are under production, but under "On Hold For Now" where she is still thinking about them, they are still there, but they are being filed for a little while while they move from being not-really-in-the-mood-for-this to now-I'm-fun-again. I like it.

So, after that rant, I am adding a new little section (it's on the right over there now, go ahead and look), and proudly announcing that I have started a NEW PROJECT!!! I am making my first two-color-knitting thingies. They are Knitty's Manly Mitts and they are for the manly man whose black cable socks I still haven't finished even though his birthday was many many weeks ago (so maybe they count as knitting from the stash? Not sure... but I think it makes them more fun). SO I am embarking on this journey guilt-free (maybe) and fun-filled (double maybe).

And if you have a project that I am, ahem, supposed to be finishing that isn't on the "On Hold For Now" list and you are concerned, just let me know. I'll add it to the list and we'll just go along happy together until I decide to put away a few files. Boop!