Impractical Knitting

There's something lovely about finishing your first project of the year. Even better when that first project is something weather appropriate. Like this hat from Knitting Nature.

Just last week as I wandered down the hall at work to my cubicle, someone shouted: "When are you going to make me a hat?" To which I could only respond: "I don't even have a hat." (This is selective memory. I have two hats in the work-to-be-unprocessed bin that were tragic concepts and must be undone.) But now I have a hat I can wear in public. Next up: gloves. And maybe even some legwarmers. I'm perpetually embarrassed about being the underdressed knitter in winter. Gloveless. Hatless. Legwarmerless. Bumbling through the frozen urban landscape, freezing while knitting. People must think I'm nuts. But I have a horrible attraction for working on weather-inappropriate projects. Like double-knit blankets in the middle of August or like, well . . .

Exhibit A:



I couldn't help but dive right into Victorian Lace Today. Everyone seems to be starting with a shawl or scarf. I wonder if I'm making a huge mistake. I also wonder if I remember where I am in the pattern. I fully believe I didn't set this aside because something had gone horribly awry in the last row. No. I put it aside for Exhibit B.

Exhibit B:



I desperately need this jacket to be finished. I bought my "winter" jacket at Target. In California. While I do love it, it is not East Coast appropriate. Did I mention this is meant to reach my calves? And this is the first piece? And that I will need to either knit a lining or undertake hand sewing one in? But who needs to work on a jacket when you have Exhibit C to while away the time.

Exhibit C:



One day I saw Alchemy Bamboo online for $28 a skein, not even an awfully large amount of yarn there. Who would pay $28 for a skein of bamboo when SWTC bamboo is far more practically priced? Then I touched it. For real. In a store. Let's just say the texture is unbelievable. This one I actually could finish by tomorrow. It is meant to be a shell. It is meant to be 18 degrees here tomorrow. Why don't I have any gloves this close to finished? I don't even think I could finish gloves between now and tomorrow.

I'm already starting to wonder if I could finish legwarmers tonight (and still get up and pretend to work out in the morning and get to work on time). This is how I end up with too many WIP's.