Evil Genius at Work

I am entering another knitting challenge. One day I will complete one within the specified time frame. I have made this one quite challenging for myself, but I am optimistic.

I seem to find myself entering challenges all the time: knitting, writing, getting in shape, decluttering. Why do I do that? I’ve never really thought about it in depth, but maybe this is something I should explore about myself? Hmm…

I have been a prolific knitter recently, since I found a missing knitting needle in my sofa and have been reinvigorated by my recent trip to Sock Camp. I have also acquired a new hobby, drop spindle spinning, which is fun, productive, and feels more creative than just about any other handicraft I have put my hands to in a while. No pattern, no recipe, just my two hands, my imagination, and my tools. I have to give a huge thanks to fellow Sock Camp attendee, Spindlerose, for showing me the basics and giving me invaluable advice. Thanks to her I found a fabulous spindle and don’t feel like a complete doofus working this wool into real, actual, bona fide yarn.

But it’s not just fibery goodness here at the lair. I’m also feeling excited about decluttering and minimizing again. I have the house to myself for a few days this week, and am enjoying some uninterrupted cleaning up and cleaning out. I have been ruthless with the knick-knacks. Tonight I will slay dust bunnies – there will be no survivors. I need to reorganize my yarn stash. Note I do not say declutter or minimize – yarn is not clutter. And as any knitter will tell you, you will never have enough. Okay, I say that, but I do have a yarn moratorium until the end of the year, with one exception – I have to buy a certain specific yarn for a certain specific project. But that’s it. Everything else, including my Xmas knitting, will have to come from my stash. Wait, how did we wind up on fiber again?

Anyway, the spirit is moving me again towards minimizing my possessions, and I have more to say about this, and the reasons behind it, and I’m sure there will be a lot of introspection and deep thoughts, but not today. Today is for doing.

In knitting news, I have signed up for this:

This will require me to cast on a project during the opening ceremonies and finish it by the end of the Olympic games. I have committed to knitting a sweater (which I hope to wear on my vacation in April).

I think I can do this – I have chosen a simple pattern that should be a quick knit, but it will take a lot of my free time and I will need to knit on my lunch hours. Tonight I will focus on getting my work area organized for maximum efficiency!

Update (May 11): I did not finish for the Olympics, but I did finish the sweater in time for my vacation. It was a big hit with my fellow knitters!

Knitting is not a hobby that lends itself to minimalism. Check out just about any knitting blog or forum and you will see posts and discussions about yarn stash and UFOs (unfinished objects) and yarn diets. I am no exception, although I have tried, truly tried, to limit my purchases over the past year. But knitters are like magpies, attracted not so much to glitter but to color and texture. Most of us have pretty good imaginations, and when we see a new or exciting yarn we immediately start imagining the possibilities, and we want to be the one to realize those possibilities, so we buy the yarn. Oh yes, we buy it even though it might be $20 a skein and we know in our hearts there is no way we’ll be getting to that project anytime soon because there are so many projects we want or need to get done first.

I am sure there are other hobbies that have the same risk. There are also hobbies that require very little space, but I don’t have many of those.

I will be attending a knitting event in April, and there will be yarn purchases involved, but other than that I will not be purchasing any new yarn this year. I am declaring a moratorium on yarn purchases for 2010. I need to knit down my stash, y’all. And how will I do that without getting sidetracked? I’m glad you asked, because that brings me to what’s got me excited today:

Stephanie Pearl-McPhee’s Personal Sock Club. Isn’t it fab? And look at her lovely, organized cabinet. Stephanie is a busy, busy woman with many commitments. I am just a busy woman. How can I make this idea work for me? Hmm…

I don’t want to knit 12 pairs of socks this year – I live in Houston and 12 pairs of wool socks just wouldn’t get worn, even though I belong to that same actual sock club she mentions and I do knit more wool socks than any Houstonian needs. But, I do want to get some projects finished and use up some of the piles of yarn taking up space in my house!

So, I will adapt her idea to my own needs. I have a big drawer and some large clear plastic bags I can use. I will go through my yarn stash and patterns, pull out 11 lovely projects that I think I can finish by the end of the year, and start my own personal knitting club.

This is a great idea for any kind of handiwork hobbyist – needlepoint, beading, crochet, sewing, etc. We all have projects in mind, but the fabric is in one spot, the pattern in another, the thread in a drawer somewhere, the canvas not purchased yet, whatever. So when we have some time to work on something, we run around gathering it all up, then realizing we’re missing something, and by the time we find that thing it’s time to fix dinner and nothing gets done.

With my own personal knitting club, a project will always be ready and waiting for me when I am ready for it.