Month: April 2018

Less is Not Enough

~ Kristin Tolle ~ Leave a comment

You know the saying, less is more? Well with yarn, more is still not enough.

It’s got to be stress, because another big box of yarn just arrived. I’m like “What???”

IMG_7262And yes, I ordered it. Between developing an online class on machine learning and keeping up with my busy work, and busier husband, I’m definitely on a retail therapy kick. I’ve begun to hate Amazon for showing me exactly what I cannot resist. ‘If you buy one more pair of funky leggings, young lady…’

I’ve expounded, at great length, the copious amounts of yarn I’ve got, but it was hard not to smile when this sunny box of brightly colored cottons arrived. Ever since I won a knitalong drawing for my George Hancock sweater from Woolful, Knit Picks has become my online standard when I’m not buying local. Cheap and high quality, what’s not to love.

Sublime in So Many Ways!
Shaped to fit me

These are for bathmats for here there and everywhere—including my parents house in Idaho.

But until I get around to knitting it up, I’d better find a place to store it.

UFO Sister- and Brotherhood

~ Kristin Tolle ~ 2 Comments

Aliens? No. Not that kind of UFO. There is, sadly, no abduction involved. Though sometimes I feel like my ever increasing stash of wool might carry me off.

Last time I talked about giving myself permission to have more than one project going at the same time. And I’ve done it—gotten over my head in projects. And as I look around at these works in progress (WIPs), I feel a little weighed down. It is as if they are all staring down at me saying, “Do you really think you’ll get back to me?”

If it isn’t obvious, I’m a perfectionist. Everyone that knows me, knows this is true. Whether I’m preparing a lecture or I’m knitting a pair of socks, I can literarily give myself an ulcer worrying if it isn’t just so. And this is, by and large, the only source of unhappiness for me, given my life is busy, full, and downright good!

Body image, learning new skills, investment for retirement, these are all sources of my endless frustration of coming up short of an unrealistic ideal—heaven forbid I read the news! And Nick, my dearest love, even posted a photo of me and my parents (the Joneses) with the tagline “Are you keeping up?” for most people that wouldn’t be an accusation. For me…? Hmm.

Unless it is a competition to have more WIPs than anyone else, I’m just keeping my head above water. And you know? I like it that way. That jolt of tension? It’s a good thing.

IMG_7267

My little surprise of joy today was finding that I’m just a couple of inches of easy knitting away from Nick having another pair of socks. The trip to Santa Fe with my parents, well, I must have gotten in more knitting time than I remember. If all goes well, he’ll be taking two pairs of my “lurid” hand knit hoof covers on his UK trip to “inspect” Margaret and Peter (his parents).

And with a glass of house Chardonnay from the Lower Tavern—I raise my glass in a toast to all of you with UFOs (unfinished objects) of all crafts and kinds.