And Then, I Let It Go

The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward. -- Steve Maraboli

So... I've officially given up on the Never-Ending Thingy Thing. I believe this is the first project I've ever just given up on. I can't say I'm happy about it, especially after I've spent four months of my life trudging through it... but then The Day came.

It was a day like any other: got up, went to the gym, went to work, came home, walked the dog, made dinner, then settled down for an hour of knitting. It was going well. I looked down at the piece and could see it was going to be a "something," long enough to go around my neck and shoulders.... someday...

And then, while moving the stitches along my needles, I tugged a little too hard...

And I yanked off about ten stitches...

Which started to unravel...

I gasped. Then I tried for the rest of the night to get them all back on the needles, but I could tell I was missing stitches, missing decreases, missing yarn overs. I thought I could just fudge my way through it, but the next day, it was bothering me so much that I decided to rip back a few rows and see if I could correct it all.

Long story short: no. No, I couldn't fix it. It's a freaking mess.

So, I made a bird. His name is Peepity.

It felt good to finish something, even if it was a tiny wee project:

Seymour seemed to like it, anyway:

Yesterday, I spent most of the day dreaming about how I could make a top out of two 385 skeins of fingering weight yarn, one red and one dark grey. I had plans of colourwork, somehow incorpating one colour on each side. I came up with some interesting ideas.

And then, I changed my mind and started a shawl with some variegated yarn... because really, I just to make something pretty. The yarn is a skein gifted to me by my friend Tara a few years ago, in a colourway called "The Experiment." So far, the experiment looks promising:

The sunshine has come to Vancouver Island, so I took Seymour down to the marina with me for sunbathing and knitting. I picked up a small coffee and spilled it on me as I walked down. It's these days when I remember that no one can drink coffee and walk a dog at the same time. At least the scenery was nice:

It's interesting that, now that I've put away that silly project, I all of a sudden feel so much more creative and inspired. I guess this is a lesson for me. Sometimes, fighting your way through something that just isn't working really does cost you more than you think. I thought I'd figured that out already, but I guess I still need to learn more about it.

Time make dinner. Have a great week.