Permission to Putter

I putter. I nurse old grudges. I fold origami while nursing old grudges. I think about the past. I wonder if there are any grudges I should start. --Roz Chast

Something funny happens to me when I'm in between projects. From the time that I complete a knitted project to the time I cast on for the next, I find myself with a need to just... putter. I pick up things that I haven't worked on in a while and nudge them forward, or I try out recipes I've been wanting to make for a while, or I spend time leaving through magazines or scrolling through Instagram pages looking at patterns, painting ideas, pens, flowers... I just wander around waiting for my brain to be ready to start knitting again.

Recently, I've felt the pull to get some spinning done. I mean really: it shouldn't take several months to spin a skein of yarn, should it? Well, in this house it does. Spinning requires a similar commitment to sit down and do repetitive motions, but I really need to be in the mood to do it. I forget that once I start spinning, it's really such a lot of fun.

And LOOK what I have created!

This is a skein of yarn spun from a merino/alpaca/camel/silk blend i.e. ALL the nice squishy things spun into one. I was really not sure how well it would turn out, given that per the earlier paragraph it has taken me absolutely ages from the spinning of the singles to the plying to the soaking to the skeining... but it is WONDERFUL. I am so happy with it, and I am even happier that I have more of it to spin so that I can get more of this lovely stuff. It is destined for a soft, squishy for my neck or hands because it is a delight to sink my fingers into:

Seriously: I can't stop groping it. Get me some help.

I also decided to try my hand at making a round challah loaf. I've been wanting to give it a go for a while, and the in-between-time of projects somehow gave my brain the permission to do it. Look at that impressive thing of beauty. We've been demolishing the thing since it came out of the oven and I'll be surprised if it makes it through the weekend:

But I suppose you want to see the result of my latest knitting experiment. I am very pleased with it, despite the fact that it is absolutely nothing like the image I originally had in my head when I first cast on for it:

The variegated yarn is a 50/50 wool/silk blend hand dyed by someone who is no longer in business, so I had to be sure that I didn't run out mid-way through the project. The gold yarn was always in the back of my mind to be its partner, but it wasn't until I actually started knitting it that I knew it was a perfect choice.

The original concept in my head was going to be a crossover blouse with varying thicknesses of stripes. The yarn had different ideas, however. I am glad I listened. I had plans to knit a gold neckline into it, but after trying and failing a few times to knit one on, I finally tried it on and found that I was much happier just leaving the neckline as it was:

I like how cool and funky and unusual it is. I'm not usually funky, but I'm thinking that funky is actually ok in my forties. The Funky Forties? Sure. Let's say that.

 So I've been puttering since I finished it, but I finally sat down to try out a new experiment, which has had a few false starts already. I might need to eat some more bread before I get it right. These are the necessary steps in the course of creation... 

Off to putter some more. Later, y'all.