Re-engaging my knitting mojo

I reached a point recently – half way through two pairs of socks for Finn – where I suddenly lost all interest in knitting. I’d knitted a few pairs of socks in a row and started a couple of jumpers that I didn’t have enough yarn for and felt horribly dissatisfied. I did want to knit, but I didn’t know what to knit or what I had enough yarn to knit. It was very deflating.

I thought about having a break from the needles, but I found it very hard to sit still of an evening without some in my hands. Besides, I realised, I didn’t even know what I had in my stash anymore, so how could I decide what to knit? So I did an inventory.

I pulled out every ball of yarn I own and made a note of it’s weight, the quantity I have, the type of fibre and the colour and put it all in a spreadsheet. It was quite exciting. A certain amount of stuff that I couldn’t imagine using went into bags to go to the op shop (which I must get around to taking there), but I kept the bulk of it and went on a quest to find suitable patterns for it all. This is where Ravelry came in.

Thanks to the site’s excellent advanced search I was able to put in the type of yarn I have, including the quantity and get back a selection of patterns to choose from. One lot of yarn that I had almost tossed out consisted of 14, 25 gram balls of 4 ply wool in a mustard-ish colour. A search for something to knit it into returned Tora Froseth’s Little Sister’s dress/tunic , which I promptly cast on for Leila. It’s gorgeous and easy and, even better, the pattern was free and a great introduction to Froseth’s designs. I’m now smitten with most of them.

I’d love to knit Angle and Sweetheart for Leila, but she’s probably too big for them now. Truck is definitely on the list for Finn and I can see Magda in Leila’s future, or Big Sister’s dress when she outgrows Little Sister’s. And, if I ever get around to knitting for myself, Glaze and All dressed up for me.

Of course, there’s a distinct possibility that I’ll never knit any of them. Best laid plans and all that. But it’s nice to be excited all over again by knitting and have lots of things to look forward to.