– Jimmy Cliff

The girls left yesterday to move to Canada for university and I am officially an empty nester.  Instead of throwing a party, I am feeling rather sad.  As a matter of fact, the very thought of their imminent departure has had me in a state of both melancholy and crankiness all summer, and as a result I have not been getting much productive knitting done.  Regular readers of this blog may have noticed that I interrupted my lovely Exeter jacket to knit a Haruni shawl, which I interrupted to knit a Neon cardigan, which I interrupted to make a Viajante shawl/poncho, which I interrupted to make an Enchanted Rock cardigan.  The only one I have managed to finish was the Neon.  I can’t seem to commit to any one project because I am melancholic and cranky in equal measures.  (Did I mention sad?  I am also sad.)

Over the weekend, I decided (rather foolishly) to continue in this interrupted vein to quickly knit a skirt for Emma in the few days before she hopped on the plane.  The skirt was very cute – Chevrolette by Antonia Price:

I didn’t have the time to source out any yarn for it, however, and we ended up picking out something that didn’t quite work.  It was too tweedy and rough, it hurt my hands to knit with (thus not lending itself to a quick project) and my gauge was too big.  I knit like a mad woman on it for a day and a half before realizing it was a futile pursuit.  I really like the pattern, however, so I will search out some better yarn for it and make it later in the year.

Despite the fact that I have so many projects on the needles, I keep staring at my knitting basket, wanting to knit something but feeling unmotivated by everything.  Now that the girls are gone, I am thinking I need to get my knitting mojo back on track by knitting things that are deeply appealing to me now, even if it means putting some things aside, being selfish or being unproductive.

I realized this morning that I am not enamored of the Enchanted Rock cardigan at the moment.  I think it is the colour, which while it looks lovely in the photograph:

really doesn’t suit me.  I have decided to put it aside for now.  Maybe when I am finished being cranky and out-of-sorts, it will once again appeal to me.  I am also putting away the Haruni shawl.  I am not liking the variegation in the yarn:

I have actually knit it up to the point where the lace pattern begins, so quite a bit more than this photo indicates.  I have realized that all of the Harunis which I like are very simple and plain, with no variegation in the colour.   I think that later I might continue with just a little ruffled border and then end up with a small shawl that I could wear more like a scarf.  Again, I am not in the mood for it now, so into the basket it goes.  I will not feel guilty about putting it aside, even if it is Wollmeise.

This leaves me with the Viajante and the Exeter.  I feel as if I keep knitting and knitting the Viajante but the ball of lace never seems to get any smaller.  It will be beautiful, however, and it is mindless knitting, so I will persevere.  Also, it is purple which is intrinsically pleasing, so it can stay.   Right now, however, I will pull out the Exeter jacket again, which I adore completely, and hopefully it will kickstart my knitting mojo.  For those of you who can’t remember, here is a photo of Exeter, which is designed by Michele Wang:

I have both sleeves finished:

and about six inches of the back.  It is the type of knitting that takes concentration, and I haven’t been in the mood to concentrate on much of anything for a while, but maybe that is what I need right now to keep me distracted.  Besides, I can’t wait to wear this and envision snuggling up in it all winter.

If these two don’t push my buttons, I have some other projects simmering on the back burner.  I have wanted to knit the Maxfield Cardigan by Amy Christoffers for a long time now.  Here is a photo:

I bought the yarn for this months ago. It is Skein Merino Silk Sport, which is 50% silk, 50% merino and 100% lucious:

And if these aren’t enough to keep me happy, I am busy trying to find the perfect sweater to knit for Doug (my options will be the subject of a future post) and I am seriusly considering the Soumak Scarf Wrap from Rowan 54, designed by Lisa Richardson:

In a change of subject, I would like to thank Vi (pronounced Vee) from Girl Meets Yarn who nominated me for a Word Press Family Award.  I hadn’t heard of Vi before, but I went and checked out her blog which is really cute.   It is hard not to like someone who not only knits and writes well, but plays the flute in a marching band!   Thanks, Vi!

And I thank all of you, dear readers, for putting up with my rather distracted and poorly crafted post today.  Hopefully I shall pull myself out of limbo soon, get some knitting done, and remember how to write.