The Hippo in the Backyard

Remember that hair care commercial, where the airbrushed model came on and said, "Don't hate me because I'm beautiful?" and you just kind of said, yeah, whatever, get over yourself - at the t.v. - well, I did anyway. With that said, Robin, please don't hate me because I finished something (Robin's in a knitting funk, more on that in a moment) . . . from the yarn I bought last night.

I don't know why Noro Iro a wool/silk blend, about 120 yards,
caught my eye last night, and even though I was perfectly content ribbing along with my Silver Thaw snake (yes, it is reminiscent of the garter snake, but it's so much prettier, and softer, and . . . well, it's Noro of course). I touched it. Walked away. Came back to it. Carried it around the store for awhile. I can't buy it, I can't buy it . . . I repeated this to myself. And, then I thought, why can't I buy it? I went to work today, I deserve it. As a compromise with my rationalizing self, I decided to only buy one skein. What's another $20 in the knitting stash? I've bought lipsticks for more than $20. Yeah . . . ok, so I really didn't need the $20 lipstick -- well, yes, I did, damn it!

I thought I would make the gauntlets from Last Minute Knitted Gifts, but when I pulled out the book when I got home, drat, the pattern called for
Cash Iroha not Iro. I don't know how I could have ever gotten that one confused-- its almost as bad as their colors only having numbers for names, so Ayn Rand.

Anyway, I tossed the skein from hand to hand, you will become . . . you will become . . . and, then I thought about the angora neck cozy that I just ripped out. I remembered that clever little pocket. I thought about why do you really need a long scarf - that's all just decoration, I've practically strangled myself on several occasions with my long ass Kersti scarf - once your neck is all bundled up, you're toasty. And, tonight, of course, is about economy. So, I went totally freeform baby - no swatching, no calculating, I just cast on, confident that the skein would cut it, and the pattern written for Koigu would bloom like angora (are we all singing Edelweis?)

Pefect - nice tidy, and economical - of course, now I need a hat to go with it!

Now, to Robin's world. Robin is in a knitting funk. Dr. Wendy had originally diagnosed the problem as follows - Robin is a finisher. In fact, she was the best finisher in the group. Never bought a new project until the old one was finished. And, not just finished as in the knitting was completed - finished as in blocked, sewn, and even modeled at the store. Then, and only then, was she ready for a new project. But, things started to unravel. It began when she cast on the Koigu baby blanket at the same time she had a Rowan slip stitch sweater already underway. And then, monster Robin emerged -- there she was, at knitting circle, knitting away on her baby blanket, when she announced, I think I need a wrap for my cruise. My head did a 180, nearly giving me whiplash. What? Your cruise is, what, three weeks away? Yeah, well, I was thinking . . . and the next thing we knew, that thought had taken her racing to her apartment to check her stash, a quick sprint back at the store to buy KidSilk Haze, off to Cathy's in the dead of the night (well, 8:00 p.m. Philly, I am known a bit for my exaggeration), to retrieve the Rowan 39 which gave birth to River, which she owns but had at work, but couldn't wait until the next day to cast on. She had to cast on NOW. She even called me around 10:00 p.m. with a gauge question (silly girl asking me about gauge).

And, now, it's the New Year. The baby has been born. The blanket is not complete. The cruise is over. River is not flowing. And the slip stitch sweater - oh please. And, the bamboo shawl (but that of course was always going to be a forever project), and the Lurex shimmer tank (ok, well, that one she ran out of yarn). She has hit the proverbial knitting wall.

So, to make a long story short (don't people always say that when they've actually just told the long story?) - the cure for my diagnosis, for the finisher who can't finish? Why, buy new wool, and cast on a new project! My new theory is that she just doesn't love any of her projects enough at this point to finish them. So, after mulling over the Boyfriend Curse, Marian and I convinced her that she should knit the scarf for the new man, and Robin is now on her way to knitting a yakety yak scarf.

Of course, my theory could be flawed. For instance, if she breaks up with the new man, and the scarf is still on needles, that could be the end of her knitting career altoghether. Or, a friend of mine once commented on my string of lousy boyfriends, none of whom I would dump until I had the next one lined up. He said, Wendy, it's like you bought a hamster, hated the hamster, bought a cat to get rid of the hamster, hated the cat, so you bought a dog -- next thing you know, you're going to have a hippopatamus in your backyard!

Robin, I hope you don't end up with a hippo in your backyard!