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Arm Warmers of Indecision

When I first started knitting, my mom rolled her eyes at me a lot because I was too stubborn to knit mittens from a pattern.  I wanted her to show me how to increase and decrease and let me figure it out myself.  After a bunch of horrible, disastrous, misshapen attempts, I made mittens.  I still knit them to this day (except now I’ve adapted them for working in the round.)  I don’t think I’ve ever knit mittens from a pattern.

So you see, I have a history of this.  Enter the arm warmers for my sister-in-law.  I want them to be just right for her, and I want to design them myself.  I also want to get them done quickly so she can wear them.  Well, three (no, four.  Drat.) weeks after she requested them, I think we can all agree they’re not getting done quickly.  In sad fact, they are in their third incarnation at this point in time.  But I’m finally feeling optimistic about them.

I was really encouraged on Monday night at my knitting guild.  Natalie Servant was our speaker, and she is so great.  (She showed me how to use my drop spindle!  And lent me a book about drop spindles!  I’ll have to ask her to explain plying to me again, though…)  Anyway, her presentation was great all around, but my absolute favourite part was when she told us about her pile of swatches at home that just didn’t work out.  Thanks goodness!  I thought, I’m not the only one.

And that’s the thing that I often forget, I think, and the reason I get discouraged sometimes:  I’m not the only one whose ideas don’t work out the first time around.  In fact, instant perfection seems to be pretty rare.

So I’ll keep going with these arm warmers, and maybe someday soon, I’ll have a new pattern to show you.  Then again, maybe not.

On another note, Fibrefest was last weekend in Almonte, and I told myself I wasn’t allowed to buy more yarn, since I’m at the point of being years behind in knitting up my stash.   (I blame that on my new favourite place in the world, Unraveled, and her incredible collection of Fleece Artist sock yarns.)  I almost caved in when fondling the yarn in the Turtlepurl booth, especially the sparkly ones, but, in the end, I persevered… and bought myself a yarn bowl instead.  I love pottery.  (Besides, I imagine Turtlepurl will have a booth at my knitting guild’s Vendors’ Night, and I’ll have to get something then.)

Here’s my new clay friend, made by Laura Sheppard of sheppardhandmade, holding the luscious Misti Alpaca that was being magically transformed into an adult-sized Impunity hat.  Isn’t it a pretty shape?

So, in spite of my indecisiveness when it comes to those arm warmers, it’s been a good knitting week.