I'm Off

In less than an hour I'll be headed to the airport for a 12 hour flight followed by a three hour layover and another hour flight. In preparation, I have two knits and one book to keep me sane.
First off we have my Mum's annual birthday scarf, Strathcona. This is the last pattern I need to knit from Jane Richmond's ISLAND book. Once this is complete (and the buttons arrive for the Grace cardi) I will have knit everything in the book. I've never knit an entire book before, so this is pretty exciting. The yarn is Tosh Lace in the Spectrum colorway.

I also cast on for a pair of Sleepy Hollow Socks in Miss Babs' now discontinued Windsor Sock. The colorway is Flourite. 

I've printed up the TSA's stance on knitting needles. (Which states that it is fine to have them.) But on the off chance that my needles are taken away. I have an extra project stashed in my check-in luggage. This is the Prairie Shawl in Sweet Fiber Yarns' Cashmere Lace. The colorway is Tea Leaves. 

I almost didn't end up with this skein. When I was at the yarn shop, I saw it and wanted it. But after going through all sorts of patterns on Tyler's ipad, I couldn't match it up to a project. I do my best not to buy yarn without having a project in mind. Two days later The Prairie Shawl was released. I queued it, thinking about how I hoped the skein would still be at the shop. A few hours I got a pm from Tyler stating that he had put the yarn on hold for me after seeing that I queued the perfect project. What an enabler.

Actually, in the interest of full disclosure, I have an extra skein in my check-in luggage as well. And maybe some extra needles too. Just in case.

Letting Go

Over time, it seems like I've become a bit of a project horder. I like to add new hobbies without really giving up any. But I think it is time to let go. This month I decided to stop drawing my daily comic. Actually, I hadn't drawn it for a few months, but this month I finally admitted to myself that I wasn't ever going to catch up. I started this comic in college to help me feel like I'd accomplished something every day. A little 3 panel comic reminded me that even though I had a mound of school work, I still could do a little something for myself.

After I graduated it got more and more difficult to keep up. Soon this little project that was suppose to make me feel accomplished started doing the opposite. I felt crushing amounts of guilt that I wasn't able to keep up and I started to punish myself creatively. Little rules would pop up in my head such as, "If you don't make up 3 missed comics, you aren't allowed to draw anything else." I've spent over a year putting myself down because I can't keep up with it. So I'm finally giving it up. There hasn't been an instant feeling of relief though. It's like a break-up. You know it's for the better, but you still look at it with fond memories. Does anyone else have a project that they might need to give up?

(On a side note, I've had another setback with wisdom tooth recovery and am now on antibiotics a third time. I think at this point I'll just let you all know when I'm better. The minute I am, I plan to have a week-long food orgy involving steak, pizza, sandwiches, and casadias.)