Sometimes you start things with vim and gusto…. and then life happens. Worse still work happens. The same happened with a project I began in December 2021.
After purchasing pretty yarn, I decided to wing it. Let’s make a sweater scarf, I said. Let’s not use a pattern. My 1 years 3 months of experience as a knitter should do, shouldn’t it?
That’s where the vim and gusto paid off. I threw myself into the project. Started, tinked, restarted and finally got a sleeve done.
Then came the interminable, let’s find a pattern. Several days of searching for knitting patterns resulted in a fabulous stitch that showed the variegated yarn off the way it was meant to be.
10 rows in, work happened. Before I knew it, it was time to return to Europe. More than half complete, I slipped my WIP to spare yarn and carried my needles back home.
2022 didn’t give me a chance to visit…. so the next time another stitch was knit was December 2023. It was also my first brush with the reality of my non-note-taking self. I couldn’t remember the stitch. Most of my trip went in trial and error, but I finally found it.
2 years in, measurements were taken. That’s when I realised I had to keep going on and on and on. Weeks of taunts inspired me to keep at it and I was on the final stretch. On the way to the airport… a good 2 inches short, I decided to bind-off and hand over the Christmas gift. Unfinished… well, almost finished. I surrendered the work to my dad and flew back.
Fast forward to December 2024 and I figured a surprise trip to hand over a 2021 Christmas gift might be in order. I should have known it wouldn’t be accepted in that state. A needle-less me decided I wasn’t going to end the year with this still a WIP. Needles procured. WIP procured on the 2nd last day of the year… I was finally able to finish and deliver this.
Imagine my joy when the recipient wore it to a party a few days later.
Some things are worth it.
