{"id":619,"date":"2015-09-09T13:39:53","date_gmt":"2015-09-09T20:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.tangledstrands.com\/?p=619"},"modified":"2015-09-09T13:39:53","modified_gmt":"2015-09-09T20:39:53","slug":"near-instant-gratification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.tangledstrands.com\/?p=619","title":{"rendered":"Near Instant Gratification"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve been following along for any length of time, it’s fairly obvious that I’m not what anyone would call a monogamous knitter.\u00c2\u00a0 This is my happy state, in all areas of my life.\u00c2\u00a0 Every professional position I’ve ever held has also been filled with multiple projects going on at once.\u00c2\u00a0 Likewise, several areas of the house are in various states of improvement (Husband and I are similar in this particular space – he’s got several in progress around the house too).\u00c2\u00a0 I will go for short spurts of monogamy to bring a project in under deadline or to ride a creative “flow” state, but then I head right back into the deep end of the project pool.<\/p>\n

I try to keep the quantity of projects in actual work within a reasonable number, however.\u00c2\u00a0 More than a handful, and some of them are going to be so neglected that they fall off the list altogether.\u00c2\u00a0 Not enough, and my interest starts to wander.<\/p>\n

The equilibrium state typically lays out like this: one large project, a couple of medium sized projects, and a sprinkling of small projects.\u00c2\u00a0 I might have a couple of large projects on the needles, but typically that means that one of them was prioritized above the other and the less important one at the time was pushed to an on-hold status.\u00c2\u00a0 Ditto for the medium sized projects.\u00c2\u00a0 Simultaneously, I like to have at least one project that is “mindless” – meaning that I don’t have to think particularly hard while I’m working it – and at least one that is portable – meaning that it fits in my purse for handy wherever-I-am knitting.\u00c2\u00a0 Husband thinks it’s funny that I have a special compartment in my purse that perfectly fits a sock or shawl project, and that I have no qualms about pulling my knitting out to get in a few rows while waiting for dinner to be served at a restaurant.\u00c2\u00a0 (Or while I’m sitting at the bar sipping a good beer.\u00c2\u00a0 You’d be surprised to hear the number of times I’ve been told by the guy sitting down the bar that he’d love for his wife to come to the pub with him, but she thought it would be too weird to bring her knitting.)<\/p>\n

Since the small projects nearly always fit into the mindless or portable categories, or both, they are perfect for fitting in here and there when I need a break from the heavier stuff.\u00c2\u00a0 And because they’re small, I get nearly instant gratification when working them.<\/p>\n

For example…<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20150819_163650_clr_trm_sm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This cheerful little snippet took longer than it needed to, for the simple reason that I made it up.\u00c2\u00a0 I was nearly finished with it, decided that I didn’t like how the sections were turning out, and ripped it back to the start of the lacework.\u00c2\u00a0 The second time through was much better.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_20150819_163948_clr_trm_sm\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It falls into both the mindless and portable categories.\u00c2\u00a0 Mindless, because the lace row is the same on both sides (there is no right or wrong side) and very easily memorized.\u00c2\u00a0 Portable, because it used just one skein of sock yarn.\u00c2\u00a0 I literally had just one yard left after finishing the bind-off.\u00c2\u00a0 Perfect!\u00c2\u00a0 I will very likely be making more of these.<\/p>\n

For the knitters:<\/p>\n