Is it Possible to "Cheat" on My Book?

I'm taking a little trip at the end of this week and all of next week to go on our annual anniversary trip with Mr. PurlQueen. I don't know why, but packing for 10 days in a totally different climate takes one-tenth the time of packing my knitting projects for the trip.

Because I take really scrupulous notes while I'm working on Deep South Knitting projects, and I sometimes like to block as I go to make sure it's really turning out the way I think it is, and it is really supposed to be a vacation from work, I have to pack something other than my DSK projects. But what will I feel like knitting? That's the really hard choice. Three pairs of jeans and a half dozen tee shirts, 1 sweater and 1 lightweight jacket will get me through a week in Alaska. But with a lot of downtime on the cruise, how can I possibly pack enough projects/yarn to make sure I have whatever I'm in the mood to knit?

It has ocurred to me that my real problem in choosing is that I feel....guilty? For knitting something other than my book projects. Yes, I feel like I'm cheating on a book, for Pete's sake. It's not like I have any understanding with the book that we're exclusive or anything. And hey, I'm working on almost a dozen projects for the book at the same time, so it's not like it doesn't know I'm "playing the field" project-wise. So I'm not sure why I feel so guilty. Damn all those years of Catholic school!

OK, so I'm deciding right now. Yep, right now. Right now while I'm typing this. Uh, huh, right now. Right this very minute. Yes. Now. OK, darn it, now. Hmmmm, maybe it'll be easier if I cover all my book projects with a blanket and then sneak my cruise projects into the luggage where the book projects can't see them. yeah, that'll work. Be right back.....

OK, a lace moebius scarf in deep red Windy Vally Musk Ox and a pair of socks I just cast on (my first real pair) to brush up my skills for an upcoming Cat Bordhi workshop. Neither take up much space, so I still have room for some yarn shopping. Whew. Now I can finally finish packing.....

A Design is Born

We've been working hard on creating a video library for Planet Purl with lots of knitting and crochet skills. These will link to our fabulous new pattern upload section for designers and manufacturers. Thousands and thousands of patterns available, free and for sale, and searchable about ten ways to Sunday. The "Earl of Purl" is directing, shooting and editing the videos. He was here last week in my home video studio (read -- corner of my office totally light blocked and draped in Planet Purl blue)to film another block of how-to's. All well and good, except every time I film something fun or technically interesting, I end up with yet another new design project.

This time, it was double knitting. I taught myself how to do this technique a few months ago when I got a crazy idea involving a felted project. The experiment was a total washout (no pun intended), but I found the technique really interesting. It's one of those things that if you think about it too much it doesn't seem like it should work, so you just have to do it and trust. So while we were filming, it reminded me how much I like making a two-sided design while I can only really see one side. Every time I turn it over, I'm a little surprised the design is still working out!

Hmmmm, so where was I going to use this skill for Deep South Knitting. I've been tumbling that around in my head since we filmed last week. Out of the blue this morning, it struck me that a design I've been tinkering with for my Gilded Age Table Runner (inspired by the beautiful Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina) would be doubly beautiful knitted in a reversible pattern. The runner is going to be knit in gold and silver Berroco Metallic FX, which just may be the softest metallic yarn on the planet. I'm planning a crocheted trim in Berroco Lumina and sparkly faceted Czech glass beads.

Now I'm having a hard time making myself finish up my sections of the August Planet Purl newsletter before I re-chart my table runner design. Patience is definitely not my strongest virtue. Oh, I guess I should probably work on the patience thing...I just doubled the amount of stitches in the Gilded Age Table Runner design!

The Tortoise and the Hare of Knitting

I've always been an "instant gratification" kinda woman. I like to see instant progress when I tackle a task or start a new project. I think that's why, when I was a single Mom on a tight budget, I used to love to mow my lawn. Here in Florida, especially in the summer, the lawn is halfway to your knees a week after cutting it. Especially after a bad day practicing law (and there were LOTS of those), I'd come home and fire up the lawn mower. With the first swipe down the lawn, I could see progress. And with every additional pass, I felt the thrill of coming quite noticeably closer to my goal. My neighbors got used to me coming home after dark, angling my car on the driveway and then mowing my lawn lit by the headlights of my car. And the best part was that 3 or 4 days later, I could do it all over again.

Now I knit to relax and I have to say it's a lot less sweaty an endeavor than yard work. But I still have an instant gratification issue and it really raises its ugly head when I'm deciding which of the Deep South Knitting book projects I choose to work on that day. My Smoky Mountain Afghan is knit from the outside edge in, starting with hundreds and hundreds of cast-on stitches. The first 30 rows were really slow going, but as the rows decrease heading toward the center, each row gets faster and faster. So I'm less than halfway through, "row-wise," but really in the home stretch "stitch-wise."

On the other hand, I'm also working on a felted Mardi Gras hobo bag that is totally seamless and starts with a Turkish cast-on and then goes up and out from there. Every row gets longer and longer but the first 30 rows pretty much flew by. But now I'm 50 rows in and the rows just get longer and longer. Although I'm halfway done if you just count rows, if you count stitches I have a loooong way to go.

So instead of choosing and then knitting, I'm blogging about choosing and knitting hoping that somehow the act of writing it down will help me choose. Hmmmm -- still undecided. Maybe I'll just keep thinking about it until cocktail hour?