Knit This, Not That

SAM_0123,
originally uploaded by labkat02.

The past few months, my knitting output has drastically decreased. Since I am no longer teaching knitting classes, I thought I would have a lot of time to finally focus on my own projects. I was sadly mistaken. It seems that I am now busier than ever! I am a new volunteer writer for the NIH Office of Communication and Education, Cancer Publishing Branch. So I was assigned a short review of a paper that was recently published about a new technology to discover and test autoantibodies as cancer biomarkers. The plan is for this Research Advance article will be published on www.cancer.gov when it is finished. I am hoping that if I'm successful at this assignment, they will have more for me as well. Also in my spare time, I am the volunteer editor for the Montgomery County Story, the bi-annual Montgomery County Historical Society publication. I stumbled upon this as a way to get experience editing and learn something new about the county I work in. From the previous blog posts, I think it is clear that I have been spending more time in the kitchen as well. I love trying new recipes and expanding my culinary palet.

As a result of all of these extra-curricular activities, knitting has not been on the top of my list of priorities. Until a few days ago. I was trying to pick out what sweater pattern to knit for a new baby that is expected at the end of this month (shout out to baby boy Lewis!) and I realized that I had planned on beginning my holiday knitting in July. Somehow, July came and went. I have patterns that I bought last January. I just need to choose the yarn and get it done. It is actually a really cute, but easy and thoughtful gift that I'm giving to everyone in my immediate family. I have failed. So the baby sweater is at the top of the list, along with one for the best big brother ever (Yea Hayden!) because being a big brother is an important job that deserves a special new sweater too. I already am half-way done with H's sweater and I'm excited to send it to him. Then I realized that I have no plans for Izzy's birthday present. I make my neice something special for her birthday and Christmas every year. Her birthday is in early October, so I have time, but I need to budget for the yarn which means I have to pick the project and plan it out. So in summary, I have three little sweaters and about seven holiday gifts to knit. This seems reasonable, right? Of course not! To complicate the matter further, you have the fact that I am neurotic and very task-oriented. I have a shawl/scarf that I began a few weeks ago that is still sitting on the needles taunting me. I hate unfinished projects sitting around in my knitting basket. For example, the pair of slippers I knit last January that still need to be felted. I am ashamed of myself for being too scared to felt them. I've never felted anything and the process is seemingly easy--hot water, a top-loading washer, and lots of friction. I am not even going to mention the insane afghan I decided to make that is going to take me about a year at this pace because I have to make 48 separate blocks that need to then be seemed together to create a blanket that is 72"x54". All of this has left me reeling and unsure of what to knit and what not to knit. I am about to resort to my old system--post-it notes. Lots of post-it notes all over my laptop and coffee table to keep me focused.