What about the knitting?

It was pointed out to me, by my dear mother no less (likely the only person reading these here words!) that I talk a lot about the “adopt two” part and much less about the “knit one” part.  In actual fact, it is the knitting that helps me survive the adopting… it is a small amount of regularity and calm in an otherwise chaotic and unpredictable world!  So… what’s on the needles?  I very recently sorted out my craft room, where there was approximately 30 unfinished items.  We knitters generally have two terms for these – an item can either be a WIP (work in progress) or a UFO (unfinished object).  There is no clear distinction between the two in terms of time scales, but I class UFOs as the projects that, for one reason or another, I have hidden away in a box never to be seen again.  But of course, boxes in your very own house don’t quite work in that way, and when you hit a certain number of hidden projects in a box, eventually that box will overspill. In my case, the magic number was 30!

I’m not proud of it, so I have duly listed all of the UFOs on my Ravelry notebook, with every intention that they will once again be WIPs soon, and, eventually (or by the end of the year, as that is the deadline I have set myself!) become fully functional knitted items! And so it is that I have started finishing things! 30 has become 25, along with a number of baby cardigans and booties. The problem being, of course, that Norman and Marvin have no use whatsoever for baby cardigans or booties, due to the fact that they continue to grow like weeds!  I fully expect them to be taller than me within the year, two at most.  I must point out that that sounds more impressive than it actually is, given the fact that I am (at 4’11”) decidedly vertically challenged.

I do also seem to have contracted that unfortunate knitterly ailment known as “startitis”.  For any non-knitters, it is an affliction whereby a knitter just can’t stop starting new projects.  “Stop starting” sounds weird, unless you acknowledge the fact that I had, at some point in the not too distant past, started project number 30, despite knowing that projects 1-29 were yet to be completed. Given the UFO status of 1-29, and the fact that I had already completed numerous things already this year, I had actually started (and finished) number 30 many times.  Have a look at Ravelry, you will see what I mean. It should never take a knitted three years to complete a pair of baby booties!

Today, I have mostly been attempting to knit the border of a little baby blanket, again something that my boys will have no use for.  My UFO box is rapidly becoming a “useless but beautiful finished things” box and I am proud!  If I ever figure out a way to share pictures into my post, I shall add some so that you non-knittters can wonder where I find the time (answer: when dealing with two small boys, having sharp, pointy objects to hand can only ever be a good thing) and the knitters amongst you can either a) scour the internet for the patterns; or b) wonder what on Earth possessed me to waste my time knitting such a thing in the first place.

So whilst I don’t talk about it so much, the knitting is really a constant in my life, a source of comfort.  Non-knitters may not understand, but rest assured that if you ever need a cosy pair of baby booties, I do like to share!