The art of procrastination

I am bringing procrastination to an art.

First, I have about 1,000 pictures of different crafts that I took in Transylvania this summer and that I would like to share here, but it's just too much for me right now, so you might see them in December when I have a few days to go through them during my holidays.

I'm also looking at my sad loom as I write these lines. It is still covered so it won't get dusty, and I didn't get event close to it for the past 3 months.

But, really, my procrastination masterpiece has to be that red cardigan. Started in April 2010. My first piece, the one I was so excited about, the one that made me work so hard, the one that taught me everything I know about knitting right now, the one I just can't wait to wear in public. The one I had promised to finish before I boarded the plane for Budapest this summer.

It's still not finished.

It is almost finished. I know I have been saying this since I finished the body, but I have a good excuse: I didn't know sleeves took so long to knit!(and were so boring...)

So, here is what it looks like now. Almost finished, right? (Well. at least, it looks like a cardigan).

Wrong. That little part in the back around the neck that is obviously not finished is giving me mathematical nightmares. I mean, I know I can figure it out, but I feel that I need the peace and quiet of a lab to truly study it and figure out exactly what to do. I can't do it here at home, there are too many stimuli.

My problem is that I finished my back (a while ago) with a bunch of decrease, but the sleeves are too long for it, so I have to undo those last decreased rows, add a few regular ones, decrease again, and sew to the sleeves, while also finishing the lacy part that goes around the neck. Not too difficult. I can do it. I'm just too coward to start it. I might uncover more problems, who knows? I'm a little bit exhausted by all the drama this cardigan keeps creating for me. (But at the same time, I'm very grateful to have learn to knit on this pattern, because even after all these months (18 of them), I still love it, so that's probably why I keep going back to it, and keep knitting all together.)

This blog post from one of my knitting idols made me feel ssooo good about my knitting problems this week. I felt guilty about it, but it is just what I needed.  The fact that everything was fixed the day after when she posted again did not make me feel as good, though.

But we were talking about procrastinating. Since I started this cardigan, I knitted at least 6 or 7 other smaller things that kept me from frogging this thing. Very conveniently, I remembered last week that I friend of mine, an ex-colleague, is very, very pregnant. Like, she is delivering in the next few days. I really like her, and I didn't know how to knit the first time she had a baby, so she definitively deserves something this time around. I found what I think is going to be a perfect little outfit for the upcoming holidays (although I am not sure if there is any Jewish holiday coming up? oh well...): Presto Chango. I love that the front panel can be changed in case it gets dirty. And it is very easy to make, so far. And, I can knit it with my favourite yarn.

This is what it looks like after 1½ day. I hope to finish it tomorrow!

I had another good excuse for starting this new knitting. I had a "Tricot-Martini" (Knitting-Martini") to attend, and needed something easy to knit and easy to carry. The tricot-martini was a happy-hour event organised by the craft organisation I belong to: we met in a nice bar, had martinis and tapas, and chatted for a few hours while knitting. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one! From what I heard, the owners and staff of the bar thought we were very cute and are looking forward for us to come back.