The Knitting Olympics, part 5
It’s all going so well, really. The sleeve I was worried about? It and its mate seem more-or-less OK now.
And here:
Those are the front sections seamed to the back section at the shoulders. Stitches have been picked up, and the hood has been started. The hood is 11 inches of stockinette stitch with a simple cable at each edge. That’s easy knitting. Then there’s just the buttonband and the finishing.
So why do I have this fidgety feeling of unease? Of wrongness? I finally put my finger on it today. It’s all happening too fast. Other knitters might be meant to finish a sweater in 17 days, but me? No. I’m supposed to take a minimum of six months to knit any project bigger than a hat. When something problematic looms, like picking up 308 stitches for a buttonband, that’s my cue to stop, put down the project, and turn my attention to something else, like learning to play the violin. (That’s just an example. I’m not really learning to play the violin.)
Then, for the next five months, I’ll saw away at the violin until the day when I get enormously frustrated because: why did I ever think I could learn violin?! I’ve never been musical! Never! And in the midst of berating myself for my lack-of-violin-playing skills, something will stir in the back of my brain. 308 stitches! Buttonband! And I’ll drop the violin and return to the knitting.
The problem with the 17 day timeframe of the Knitting Olympics is that it does not allow me enough time to 1) decide to learn to play the violin, and 2) decide that I’m never going to learn to play the violin. These two steps are critical to my knitting success.