Half-Charged

Sometimes it's important to work for that pot of gold. But other times it's essential to take time off and to make sure that your most important decision in the day simply consists of choosing which colour to slide down on the rainbow. --Douglas Pagels

I had a goal this year to write one post a week each week for the whole year. Six weeks into 2021, I missed the first post last week. I felt pretty crap about it, but I truly didn't have the energy for it. I hit a kind of wall of weariness that I haven't felt for a long time. I only recognized it when I hit it and when I did I knew I had to take a break from all things that would not contribute to recovering from it: no workouts, no blogposts, no journalling, no caffeine... just sleep and quiet and more sleep. A week on and I feel better: rested, but not quite myself. I'm hoping I will again sometime soon.

Meanwhile, we seem to have come out of the "winter" season here on Vancouver Island. We went out for a walk yesterday and the trees and the river seemed to be getting ready to start trying out some spring stuff. I am not so naive as to think that we won't get a dump of snow out of nowhere yet (it is really only the end of February) but I'm trying to give myself things to look forward to, however small or unlikely:

One thing I did not take a break from was knitting, which is probably not a huge surprise. There has always been something restorative about my projects. Perhaps it is a distraction or the chance to use a different part of my brain. Whatever it is, I did not stop, even though this project is bringing up its own set of challenges.

I'm knitting the Midsummer Aran by Ginerva Martin. It's something I've wanted to knit for a while and I finally decided to start it while I was looking for something to knit with my stash of Scheepjes Skies Light. Since I have two colourways of this yarn I’m knitting it by holding two strands of this indigo-dyed cotton together so that I could both achieve the gauge required for this pattern and to minimize any striping from working with two different shades of this denim blue. This seemed like a good idea in my mind, but I forgot how easily cotton yarn splits. Dealing with two strands of it whilst working lace and cables is not what I would call mindless, relaxing knitting. What’s more, after every knitting session, my fingers are tinged with blue. This makes me wonder how in the world I’m going to wear this thing without turning myself into a smurf. Still, many people have made garments from it, so it either all works out in the wash or there are a bunch of people with blue torsos out there after wearing their garments.

I'm also slightly worried that it's turning out too large. I knit a gauge swatch (like you're supposed to) and I chose the size with the finished measurements I desired (like you're supposed to) but I slipped it on the other day and I can't help but think I should have followed my gut and worked some waist-shaping in. I dunno. I guess it'll work out. I've MacGyvered my way out of enough yarn messes. Why would I expect that this won't be one of them?

Luckily, I've decided to do something outside of my character and give myself a break from it to knit something for a friend of mine. If you've read this blog for any period of time, you'll know that I am a self-proclaimed Selfish Knitter. Every so often (I'd say once every five years) someone asks me to knit something for them and I say "yes" without hesitation. I think it's because she approached it as a collaboration, and I am so hungry for connecting with someone that the thought of it nearly made me salivate.

Anyway, I'm working on a matching slouchy hat and fingerless gloves set for a good friend of mine who is exploring a simple life living on the road in her van (follow her on Instagram as @gotthatwanderlust). I'm using the colours of the van to create something for her:

Since she is sensitive to wool and out of respect for her plant-based lifestyle I made sure I looked for yarn that would be warm and comfortable and easy to wash. I settled on Scheepjes Softfun, which is a cotton/acrylic blend. I've never worked with it before, but it comes in a wide array of colours and is lovely and soft: nearly a chenille kind of finish, but with the durability of cotton:

I have cast on for a simple, textured slouchy hat that I will be working in stripes of varying thicknesses. I think that will work up reasonably quickly. For the gloves, I am playing around with the idea of copying the pyramid image onto the back of each hand. I think I can achieve that by knitting it using intarsia knitting, but it will require me to do it in the round, which I wasn't even really sure was possible. I discovered some great video tutorials on YouTube that proved me wrong. It's funny: I consider myself an advanced knitter, but you really never, ever stop learning in your craft. Someone always comes up with new, exciting stuff.

It feels strange to type "new, exciting stuff" because quite honestly, I feel very little new-ness or excitement at the moment. I don't know who is out there actually reading these words, but if you are I'd really appreciate a bit of connection with a comment or something just so I know you're alive out there. I hope you are well. I hope you are safe.

Have a good week.