Am I Losing My Knitting Jones?

I don't know what's the matter with me. I can't seem to get enthused about any knitting projects. If I have a flicker of enthusiasm it burns out as soon as I have the yarn. I'm not jonesing anymore!

I began to feel my addiction slipping away right after Sally's Favorite Summer Sweater (SFSS) kicked my butt again this year and I decided to frog it and put the yarn away once more. I was all pumped up again after Maryland Sheep and Wool when I bought the Stars sweater kit from Philosopher's Wool. I immediately wound the yarn into center pull cakes, studied the instructions, had misgivings,--this was more like Intarsia than Fair Isle wasn't it?--bought the book, had second thoughts, started a practice piece of two-handed Fair Isle that was going well, then stopped.

The Spring 2007 Knitter's Magazine gave me hope. There were many patterns in there that got my juices flowing. Since nothing in my stash, no UFOs were moving me, I ordered the yarn pack for the cover sweater, Sectional Citrus. I watched for the mail in happy anticipation. I was going away on vacation. I needed that yarn pack to take with. Weeks went by. It didn't come. Vacation departure date loomed. I decided to check the site. Lo and behold the yarn was on "backorder." Ooooooh no! Say it isn't so!

Since I didn't have a basic sock on the needles, I grabbed a ball of sock yarn with cotton content from my stash and took it on vacation. That was nothing new since I always take a sock project. I felt empty not having the new sweater to start on, especially since it's a summer sweater of a cotton blend yarn and I'd convinced myself that the weight of the Philosopher's wool in the hot and humid summer was what made me back off that project.

I had also found a battered copy of an old Vogue Knitting for Men from 1965 that gave me a few laughs and had me champing at the bit to make socks, an argyle vest, something, anything! Unfortunately my copy was dog chewed (which is quite different from dog eared). Some crucial words at the edges of the pages were missing. I found a replacement on eBay, mouse nibbled (which is quite a lot smaller than dog chewed), but perfectly legible on every page. I bid. I won. I picked yarn from my stash for men's knee socks. The magazine came and I took it on vacation as well. Then my knitting jones left again. I had no desire to devote all that knitting to a pair of men's knee highs that would not last very long on my man's feet and legs.

I pulled out Nancy Bush's Knitting Vintage Socks thinking I'd rather use my Opal Uni in a subtle darkish purple (more subtle than the purple the flash produces) on long socks for myself, "Ladies Useful Stockings" to be more specific. Not happening. The feeling left me almost before I got the book off the shelf. What . . . is . . . the . . . matter . . . with . . . me?!!! The Summer 2007 issue of Knitter's left me cold, figuratively speaking. (The weather is too hot to be cold physically.) Patternworks, Valley Yarns and Kint Picks have all sent temptation in the form of catalogs to no avail.

The yarn pack for the Sectional Citrus sweater was waiting for me when I returned from vacation, eight balls of Berroco Love It. I cast on and knit a row. I let it sit for a day or two, then frogged. I cast on and knit enough to measure my gauge, but not a true swatch, and let it sit for even longer, then frogged. Late last night I cast on again and knit to the first increase row. I'm liking it. I feel a frisson of my jones returning. Can I hold on to it? Let's hope so.

Bona Fide Knitter