Four Weeks

The observant among you may have noticed something. I finished two items this week, the Ranco socks and the halter vest. And according to a vow I made recently, I wasn't going to cast on anything new until I finished two items. So I woke up this morning thinking that I could cast on something new.

And I had already picked out the project, an oversized purple sweater made out of that silk and mohair blend I got in San Francisco. I bought the needles for that project on Thursday when I was at Nana’s for open knitting. I stuffed them into my red knitting bag at the time, and haven't thought about the needles since.

So this morning, I got up, pulled out the purple yarn, pulled out the correct pattern, and went into my red knitting bag to pull out the needles.

They weren't there.

I emptied the bag and unrolled everything just in case the needles had slipped inside the folds of a work in progress. They weren't there. I know I put them in there -- this isn't a case of paying for something and forgetting to take it home. This is more a case of massive disorganization.

Complicating this problem was the fact that my DSL was out for a couple of days, and I had to tear apart two six shelf bookcases so that the repair man could get to the phone jack behind them. I used this as an opportunity to reorganize those bookcases, which were so vastly overstuffed with books and manuscripts that I have been in almost constant fear of their collapse. This meant that piles of bookshelf material have been scattered all over my house for the last two days. It occurred to me that I might have set the needles on one of the bookshelves, and that they might have gotten moved around with any of the various piles, so by 7:30 this morning, I was deep in the throes of my bookshelf project. That's all but done now.

Still no needles.

I tried to remember every room in the house I've been in since I got home from the knitting shop on Thursday, every possible place that I might have taken the red bag. I have hunted high and low. I have looked under the couch cushions, emptied every single one of my knitting bags, looked behind dressers and under chairs.

They're not gone. I just can't find them. They're here somewhere. Those of you who have been at my house know that I keep a fairly tidy house, and it's unusual for things to go missing. That's probably why this is bugging me so much.

The harder I hunted, and the less success I had, and the more frustrated I became, the more I started to think that this is a sign from the great knitting gods in the sky. I have seven projects on the needles. I would like to finish all of these someday. Adding an eighth project will only delay the completion of these other seven.

So I sat in my favorite chair with a cup of hot tea, and I did some thinking. And here's what I've decided. I'm declaring a moratorium on casting on new projects for the next four weeks. Four weeks is not a long time, especially not in terms of knitting time. I've been itching to start something new, but I can wait four weeks. It's not that long.

But in four weeks of knitting time, it's entirely possible that I could finish Catherine Parr. The first sleeve is almost done, and the second is already cast on. There are still a good handful of inches to be knit on the body, plus the neck band, but it's possible it could do that in a month.

Or, in four weeks of knitting time, I could finish all three pairs of socks currently on the needles.

Or, in four weeks of knitting time, I could finish the felted fair isle bag.

Or, in four weeks of knitting time, I could probably knock out another six or so inches on Fulmar.

Or I could apply the new technique I learned at Stitches last weekend, and knit the sleeves for the cardigan that's been in hibernation for over a year now.

Four weeks. And who knows -- maybe sometime in the next four weeks, I'll find those damn needles.