Baggage

I have baggage.

Knitting baggage. Crochet baggage too. So much baggage that I feel stranded at the station, unable to go forward or back, unable to carry my baggage onto the train and grab a seat that will take me…. Somewhere else.

Here is some of my baggage:

Quince Chickadee in Glacier, Bark, and Twig and
a hand-dyed skein from the Portland Fiber Gallery & Weaving Studio


Hand Maiden Flaxen (Linen & Silk) in Smoke


Primrose's Long Locks handspun from Dillner Hilside Farm


Earthhues Naturally Dyed Silk Boucle and Prime Alpaca mix


Persimmon Tree Hand Spun and Dyed


Acadia Yarn Festival Hand Spun


Exclusive colourways in Kouigu Mori (Silk & Merino) and Madeline Tosh Cashmere from STRING, NYC


Alisha Goes Around, Panoply of Peacocks fingering in Deciduous, Thrace, and Estuary


Feeling overwhelmed? I am! And that’s just from this year – the year that is rapidly coming to a close. Why is it so much easier to “collect” yarn than it is to use it?

I had plans for every skein I bought. Yes – specific, concrete plans and I even have the patterns for each one and sometimes I put the pattern with the yarn in a little paper carry-bag and place it carefully on top of the bookcase where I can find it when I’m ready for a new project.

But when that exciting way-station of possibilities happens – called “after finishing one project but before another begins”, I always have a Brand New Plan. Sometimes these new plans require new yarn. And so there I am, with more baggage to stack upon the rest.

Now I am happily ensconced in the skeins knitting up little new baby things. Knitting baby projects is like eating chocolates – very little commitment required because they knit up so quickly and each one can be entirely different form the last. So… lots of instant gratification. They are like day trips, not journeys – picnic afternoons.

I am 5 rows from finishing a sherbet-coloured blanket, one half front side and a button from finishing a little coral wrap-sweater, one lace torso from finishing a tiny green vintage vest, a whole skein from finishing a tiny white picot sweater, and a couple of hours away from finishing two pair of STR booties with cunning little pompom ties.

Yup. The colours and the short knitting time lines make baby knitting so, so seductive.

Someday I will settle and unpack my bags. Not today.