Hat on Top, Coat Below
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Keeping My Hands Busy
April 19, 2020
I finished a bit of knitting the other day, a simple cap that’s a sibling to the one I did last fall to donate to a charity drive. I don’t remember when I started this one, just that I had the pattern and yarn and needles still in a project bag together from doing the other one and decided to use up more of that yarn. I do remember working on it while visiting Joan in her new assisted living apartment, where we haven’t been since January what with winter storms and then the pandemic. Recently I came across the bag and picked it up and finished it while watching stuff off the DVR or streaming, which we’re doing a fair bit of lately, what with not leaving the house very much at all.
After finishing, I did something I hadn’t with the other hat: logged into my Ravelry account for the first time in who knows how long and added it to my projects. I also added the previous hat and what little I knew about the yarn. The Ravelry database let me know that the color name for the grey yarn (that one I did have the ball band for) is Air Force Blue. Okay. Seems strange but someone else had it in their stash, so I’m gonna go with it.
I’m not sure if I’m now on the road to getting my knitting mojo back or if this is a short-lived spark of energy. I’m puzzled about how it’s been nearly five years since I retired and I’ve yet to get my knitting tools and yarn stash in any kind of order where I can easily access them. Sure, I’ve had some big life changes in that time but still, it seems like I could have done something by now. But no, I have not. One of the works in progress I had in Michigan is stuffed in a cabinet up in the guest bedroom Mr. K uses as his office (also known as the pod); the other one is I know not where. My knitting books are on a shelf in the storage room here in the condo, or at least some of them are … I think. My yarn is mostly in boxes in the studio in town, not even grouped together. My needles are various places, some with the WIP, some in the studio, some in a cubby in the hall where where hang our coats (I’m not sure why I put them there, maybe to take them to the studio to join their friends). Getting all this stuff into one or two places where I can work with them seems overwhelming right now. Where would that place be? We don’t have the room in the condo, and the studio feels too full of stuff to carve out a space there right now, so I don’t know. I like to think I’m creative but this seems beyond me, at least right now. I think I’ll start by bringing the knitting things that are up in the pod downstairs so they’re less remote; there is some space in a cupboard in the front hall I can use for at least that quantity of stuff. Maybe I’ll see about picking up that WIP and moving it forward. We’re still gonna be home watching TV for a while, and it would be nice to have something to keep my hands busy to help me focus during these distracting unsettled times.