Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Drive-Thru

Lately I find myself spending lots of time thinking about yarn. I've been knitting for about 6 years and I go through phases where I knit nonstop and then other times when I don't pick up the needles for months. Usually the winter is knitting season and the summer is for sewing. This spring though, the knitting bug seems to have no interest in departing. That's ok by me. I could spend hours clicking through Ravelry, flipping through books, dreaming and planning.The problem is, I just don't have time right now to get much done. I content myself with a few rows before bedtime or while I'm cooking meals but would really like to have uninterrupted hours in my favorite chair with my feet up and a project in my lap. A girl can dream can't she? All that said, I don't have anything new finished but I thought I'd share another project I finished over the winter. I knit this sweater in just a week in January. Granted, I was recovering from a minor surgery at the time and was able to just lay in bed and knit.

The pattern is one of my favorites and one I'll use over and over. It's the Drive -Thru sweater by Wendy Bernard. It's knit with Cascasde 220 so it's fast and the resulting fabric is soft and durable. There are truly endless ways you could customize this pattern and that's one of the reasons I love it! I'd knit it once before in the wide faux-isle stripes but this time wanted to challenge myself. I've kept this sweater in my favorites for years, wanting to make something similar. I adapted some of her beautiful charts from here wanting to incorporate more purple. I still find colorwork a challenge but I felt like I made definite improvements working on this. Even though the kiddo picked out the colors and declared it "awesome!" I don't think she's worn it once. Ah well, I made a larger size so it'll fit her next year hopefully too. Sometimes the best part of knitting is the journey and not the end result.

I've really reached a point in my life where I'm craving simplicity and quiet. Our days are so incredibly hectic, I'm constantly frazzled and stressed trying to fit everything in. I guess I'm afraid of life passing me by, so I want to do as much as I can, to fill each day to the brim. But am I enjoying it? Not so much. I feel that a lot of things are being left out, like reading with my kids, playing games, cooking healthy wholesome meals, knitting, sewing, reading my own books, all things that are so incredibly important to me. There's just no time these days. I know that everyone struggles with these things, how do you all juggle it?