Insanity Brings Variety

I'm Bi-Polar. It's under control with medication and therapy, but it still shows itself in my work. When I'm in the depressed phase, I don't feel like knitting, so the projects sit around and collect dust. When I'm in the manic phase, I get a lot of work done, but I can't focus on one particular project for very long. This means that I have half a dozen projects sitting around, and I only manage a few rows on each before feeling the need to go do something else. Add to that my naturally-slow knitting, and you get... not a lot of FOs.

What you do get, though, is variety. I get sick of doing one type of project, so when I need a diversion, I try something completely different. Well, maybe not completely different, but different enough that it doesn't feel like the same old thing. For example, this is my current WIP list:

• toe-up, short-row, fitted-leg, knee-high stockings in Nature Spun Sport ("Ash") on US #1 DPNs
• toe-up, short-row, ankle-length socks in Plymouth Encore Worsted ("Fiesta/7132") on US #3 DPNs (I'm on a sock kick.)
• cabled shrug in Lion Brand Jiffy ("Pearl Grey") on Brittany US #10 straights (I think I've frogged the equivalent of half of this project so far, in four- or six-row sections, because I keep getting distracted and forgetting to increase or cable.)
• baby blanket for Project Linus in Red Heart Super Saver ("Victoria") and random cheap white acrylic (tag missing) on a US #8 circ
• a hat that looks like it's knit, but isn't (I'll tell you more about this in a later post.)

As if this weren't enough, I keep feeling the urge to cast on something new. I have some very pretty sock yarn that's just begging to be used, there's another big ball of the Encore Worsted that's crying out for... something, there are a few old projects that need to be frogged and turned into things I'll actually use... so much to do! It's taking a lot of self-control (and switching projects several times a day) to keep me from starting something new.

At times like this, I hear my mother's voice in my head. In my second year of 4-H, I entered over 200 projects in the fair. Most were little ten-minute arts-and-crafts doodads, but it was still an impressive collection. At the awards banquet, the Fair Association President, a teenager I had a massive crush on, brought me up to the microphone and asked me how I'd done it. I was so flustered by the fact that he was talking to me, I just stood there with my mouth open... until my mother piped up, "finish what you start!" My, "yeah, what she said," response convinced him to congratulate me and send me back to the safety of my table, but I felt everyone staring at me for the rest of the night. I did my best to hide behind my seven Grand Champion trophies. To this day, whenever I think about putting down a project and starting something new, my mother's, "finish what you start!", echoes in my head.

And I still think the guy is a dreamboat, even though he's married, with kids now. I had good taste in guys when I was 8 years old, I guess. ;)