Blah...blah blah blah

Hey there.

What does a knitblogger do when she's not really knitting?  This isn't a riddle (I'm not feeling nearly clever enough for that).  I think the answer is not really blog.  Which is what I'm not really doing.

But despite appearances, I do still value this here knitblog community, so I will whine at you in an unfocused sort of way.  If you like that sort of thing, feel free to read on; if you don't, I fully understand. 

I'll try to do things with wool again at some point.  I trust that I haven't completely given up on this stuff, I'm just in the doldrums.  Call it the winter blues.  Call it a January blah.  Call it an under-treated thyroid disorder.  (I swear I didn't write that email in the link.)  Whatever.  I have all these unfinished projects and none of them make me happy.  Elizabeth I.  A self-designed sweater gift project.  An almost-finished garter-stitch jacket that will look like ass but will keep Rhys warm and very happy since she doesn't care if her sweaters are ugly when she just wears them around the house.  That's not even close to being all of it.  I could be knitting an already-started hourglass, a handspun shetland triangle, a handsome pair of mittens, an ancient fair isle, or a no-longer-mysterious mystery stole.  I could even fix the damn Autumn Rose (which I wore again last week in hopes that I would decide I didn't need to fix it anymore, which didn't exactly happen).  And socks.  Myriad single and half-knitted socks longing for companionship.  Yet I knit not.

So everyone knows the answer to this problem.  Cast on, right?  A kid sweater.  Quick, easy, low-stress, high-reward.  Eh.  Didn't last.  How about a summery sweater for me to wear to the Caymans?  Again with the quick (no sleeves!), plus it keeps me focused on the fact that I will experience sunlight again the future.  I cast on, and am no longer interested.  It doesn't help that, as a fellow raveler pointed out, the yarn rather resembles a potscrubber when knit up.  I caught some whiff of some re-design of the yarn and that the new version is lovely but I have the potscrubber version.  Insert heavy sigh here.  Why knit it if you already know the project is doomed?  Doooooooomed I tell you.  Doomed.

Yes, friends, it's a case of knitting dysfunction (also known as "KD").  A terrible syndrome characterized by proliferation of UFOs, acts of sudden frogging, inability to obtain buttons for completed projects, and the loss of interest in fibers that you have traditionally enjoyed (a more severe, but related disease is knitting psychosis which involves an aversion to yarn shops and immunity to luxury fibers).  Assuming the disease has not progressed to the psychosis stage, we have only one solution, the  first-line treatment of choice:  Chocolate, Wine, and Cashmere.

I predict a full recovery.

Comments

[PumpkinMama]

I gotta get me some KD, if only as an excuse for the cure.

[Sara]

oooooohhhhh that fiber is totally yummy. Spin away - spin away the doldrums.

[claudia]

I predict you survive this dread disease.

[Jenni]

Yum, chocolate and summer berries. Good combo :-) Good luck getting back the mojo!

[no-blog-rachel]

It's good to see you're fighting back againts KD.

You know, I did the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer last summer. Is there a Yarn Crawl For KD? Because I'd be glad to sacrifice my time and feet for that one. We must find a cure - and look - you may be onto one!

[Catherine]

Umm, that treatment would help me recover from almost anything. For the KD, I find some judicious ripping and recycling gets me out of the doldrums.

[Laurie]

'Happiness runs in a circular motion' -Donovan

There is always a bottom to the circle. Then it leads to the top again. There is no implicit timeline in the metaphor. It happens when it does. I think your intended therapy is perfect.

[Danielle]

Chocolate, wine, and cashmere, while not widely-acknowledged in the medical community, do seem to have highly beneficial effects for sufferers of KD. Here's hoping that they bring about the desired change.

[Marcy]

You shoulda been a doctor!

[Jody]

I love how the fiber color-coordinates with the wine and the chocolate. Yum.

Good luck. I keep starting new projects myself, and then realizing I am irritated by all the unfinished projects lying about. Maybe it's a January thing?

[Lucia]

Maybe some nice soothing cashmere socks?

[Cynthia]

It took me 14 months to pull myself out of a bad case of KD. had I thought of the wine/cashmere/chocolate combo my recovery would have been a bit easier, I think! Here's to your case clearing up soon.

[Manise]

I think a trip to the Caymans is what the doctor ordered! As well as a good dose of chocolate, cashmere and wine. Seriously, some time out of Dodge will probably do wonders-sunshine, warmth and sea breezes. I'm not accomplishing much either in the knitting department.

[Jackie]

Ahhh, a time tested remedy.

One that I've found that works, more drastic perhaps, but effective, is to go through the WIPs and rip out the doomed and reclaim stash.

For me, it's like removing piles of guilt from my shoulders - the feeling I should be working on something else, the feeling that those projects are doomed anyway, etc.

Anyway, good luck, and I hope the chocolate, wine and cashmere works! (It should, that's pretty strong stuff :)

[Carrie]

Ah yes. That is the medically-established cure. It looks like you may run out, though - you'd best get more of each to make sure you're completely healed.

[Jody]

Chocolate cures everthing! And I don't see how cashmere could be a bad thing either - you'll be up and running in no time flat!

[Beth S.]

I hear this is going around. But the cure seems worth the affliction!

Spinning is an excellent idea. Cassie was just self-medicating that way too, the other day. ;-)

[Kat with a K]

Hope it passes soon! I have the related disorder of "This stupid thing is on a deadline and therefore I don't want to knit it."

[Sneaksleep]

I am sooo with you on the KD. I just posted about my first FO in literally months, and now that it's done drying, I think I might need to make the brim longer. On a bottom-up hat. Yay. Good luck conquering the doldrums!

[Abby Franquemont]

I knew I was forgetting something. Chocolate, wine and cashmere all around.

I've named you one of the bloggers who makes my day, btw -- see my blog for more info if you haven't already seen it a jillion times. Should you feel so inclined, pass it on! And someday, I'll finish my postponed mail to you. I swear.

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