I finished knitting Skew. Unfortunately I knit the left sock, the second of the pair, on the wrong needle size. Sadly I didn’t realize this fact until I was almost done. Epic fail.

I tried the foot on after I turned the heel and it felt fine. Of course at the time, I didn’t realize I was using the wrong needle. It was only with one inch left I realized my mistake. Who knew a sock could make your ankle numb?

I see frogging in my future, but the sock will need to be put aside for a few weeks. I think I’ll work on a few other projects and try not to burn my Skew socks in the meantime. Gyahhh!

I did it! I finished the heel tonight! I may have screwed it up because something didn’t seem right at the end but I did a little this and a little that and I don’t think it’s noticeable. I have to knit a couple rows before I decide if it’s going to bother  me. I also have to knit a couple rows before I see if the sock really does fit the Husband’s foot or not. I’m a little worried my original math was way off. I should know tomorrow.

I think 2011 will be the year of the small project, like socks or arm warmers. I want to crank out projects and use up yarn. Of course, my simple little socks are taking forever so there goes that plan.

I’m working on a pair of socks using Lorna’s Laces. And can I just say that I’m loving Lorna’s Laces. Very nice yarn. It’s just…a lot of things are colliding for me to take forever on the project. First, I’m using extremely small needles and it’s tiring out my hands quicker than normal. Second, I’m doing my very first short row heel (and toe) and while I’m excited, I’m at the point at the heel and doing my usual procrastination to get my head into the frame of mind for a new and possibly difficult technique. Yadda yadda yadda…bullshit bullshit bullshit. I know. It’s a lame excuse, but it’s mine. Third, I’m getting addicted to Civ III again.

I’m not sure where that Civ addiction came from suddenly. Oh, wait. I do. I installed a free Civ on my phone and played it like mad. That in turn, made me NEED to play it again on my computer. It’s all I can think about now. I want to play. My poor little city of Atlanta isn’t growing as it should and I need to build more workers to develop the land and I need to remember to build a new scout because soon I’ll get to ships (can I do ships now already?) and oh, a warrior then needs to be built so he can go with my settlers, maybe New York will build the warrior or is New York building the Hanging Gardens?  Oh, and workers! I need workers. It’s maddening!

I’m limiting the Civ play. A couple nights a week to 30 minutes (after the child has gone to bed). I took a class yesterday on juggling multiple projects, and while, I wish it really went into it a bit more, it did talk about procrastination. As in, sometimes you get so overwhelmed with everything that you can’t begin or you don’t have the task defined clearly so you procrastinate. And that’s my problem with the heel. I’ve never done it before, so it’s this amorphous concept and I’m just not sure where it’s going to go or how it will look. Thus, big shiny pause button on the sock.

The class says, “Tell others when you’ll complete the project.” and “Focus on the process rather than the results.” to combat procrastination. So here’s what I’m going to do. I’m telling you, my wonderful readers, that by Sunday night, I will have completed the darn heel and have started the foot. Got that? I’m telling people when I’ll complete the project so I have…what’s the word? Accountability. If I do not finish the heel by Sunday night then I will hang my head in shame and you can point and gasp at how I did not finish.

The second idea, “Focus on the process rather than the results.” is so important in knitting. So many times we get overwhelmed with the big picture that we just give up before we start. Rather than worry about the whole heel, I need to just look at the next direction, and once I complete that line the next. It’s the same problem with which I struggle in running. I think about the finish line or how many miles to go and not the step I’m taking or the breath I’m breathing. We need to be more zen and just focus on the moment.

I will let you know how this goes.

It’s like a Christmas miracle around these parts for my loyal 3 readers. After barely posting for the last couple years, this is the fourth post for December AND I have a billion more project posts to add! Of course, if you don’t like project posts, then I’m sorry you were naughty this year and this is your coal.

In the beginning was OBSESSED with knitting. Anyplace I went I bought yarn because it was so very pretty. If I walked into a yarn store I turned into Gollum surrounded by precious rings made from every fiber and color you could possibly imagine. How could I not leave with yarn. Then I hit a point where I fell out of knitting. I still did it, but I didn’t live and breath the stuff. I still bought yarn because it was beautiful, but even that began to taper off eventually.

Now that I have a baby, you would think that I would be knitting even less than I was during my least interested point. Apparently not. I have knit more this year with a baby drooling underfoot than the last two years combined, if you can believe Ravelry and you can.

I don’t know what happened, but the odd thing is even though my knitting rate is increasing, I currently have no interest in buying yarn! I know! It very well may be a sign of the apocolypse, but I’m tired of having enough yarn to knit sweaters for the entire population of Rhode Island. I like using up what I have. I actually want to get rid of my enormous stash, and have a small manageable stash of one or two skeins. What’s wrong with me? I must be ill.

That said, I have bought yarn this year, but for specific patterns and oddly enough I’m using it almost as soon as I buy it. Between you and me, I like not having the yarn hang around too long. There’s much less pressure. Better still, I’ve gone through old yarn in various projects and it feels great! There’s a sort of relief to having the yarn stash decrease.

In the spirit of yarn decluttering, I’ve decided that for 2011, I can’t buy any yarn until our local yarn festival in September and Rhinebeck in October UNLESS I HAVE A SPECIFIC PROJECT I NEED YARN FOR, and I can only buy a specified amount of yarn that I determine in advance of the fests. For example, I can buy yarn for 2 pairs of socks or X skeins of yarn for a sweater with a pattern selected. No more buying sock yarn because it’s pretty or a yarn for a shawl or sweater I want to make some day. I will go in and buy something specific or not at all.

Of course, I am making the Husband come this year so he can help me (and he owes me for all the races I watch). I mean, you can’t expect a former yarn addict to walk into yarnvana and not fall off the wagon a little bit. I just want to continue this yarn purging. It feels good. I think maybe the next step is to inventory what I already own and get it figured out. Hmmmm…I may need spotters. Maybe this time next year I’ll have only 10 skeins of yarn total! Wait, I have a lot of yarn. Maybe this time in 15 years, I’ll have only 10 skeins of yarn total. A girl can dream.