Start-itis

Uh-oh. Apparently, starting my Jaywalker socks on Saturday was a Bad Idea. Now I have a really bad case of start-itis. So far I’ve managed to channel it into just making a dishcloth:

This is a pattern called “garterlac” which I ran across last week and was charmed by. I love entrelac, and garter stitch entrelac is super easy!

In order to make progress on the ever-tedious second sock, I’ve been “bargaining” with myself – as in I can work on the dishcloth or my socks after I knit 15 rows on the gift socks. This is working so far, and I’m only 15 or so rows away from the cuff on that second sock.

And last week I picked up a UFO from my craft room, one I’d never actually documented. Remember the orange laceweight yarn I purchased at Rhinebeck three years ago? Six months later I started making a lace shawl out of that while we were in Italy. Then it ended up in the pile of UFOs when I started all the baby knitting.

(Sorry for the terrible picture. I guess orange knitting on my cedar-colored deck doesn’t work so well!)

I’ve decided that instead of beating myself up over my inability to focus on one project at the moment, I’ll cut myself some slack and keep four projects in my current rotation:

1. one gift project
2. one project for me
3. something small and portable like socks or a dishcloth
4. a UFO from my craft room

(Note that this only applies to knitting. Any sewing projects are over and above this list, and always have been.)