Knitter's block

Over the past two days, I have started and frogged the same project a whopping 8 times. Yes, really. It's not really all that difficult, either, but for some reason, my hands did not want to cooperate. Or maybe it's that my brain didn't want to interpret the pattern properly. Either way, it's a super-secret project that I really want to make perfect for the recipient, so knit and frog I did. And finally, about ready to just throw my hands up in despair, I set aside the project, grabbed some waste yarn from my stash and practiced the pattern over and over again, analyzing each and every stitch until I figured out what my mistake was. When I finally got it, I think I actually yelled a triumphant "YES!", because J came running from his room to see what was going on.

So, now that I've "got it" I've cast on for the 9th time, and have completeled the part that had me near tears. It should be smooth sailing from here on.

Friday, when I went to JoAnn's, I picked up some super bright and funky sport weight yarn. It's the closest think to sock yarn I can get my hand on around here without a trip far to the north. It is destined to become a pair of socks for Granny because she is a bright and funky person and she's managed to wear holes in the mystery socks which were gifted to her not so long ago. Maybe the heavier yarn will last a little longer. Besides, she doesn't wear them with shoes, but around the house where the thermostat seems to be stuck on "arctic." Hopefully I'll finish them before her birthday at the end of the month.

I'm also working on a pair of socks for myself, but haven't gotten very far on them. For some reason things for myself always seem to get set on the back burner.

And finally, there's the saga of the little hat. It's another one of those projects that, while quite simple, doesn't seem to mesh with my knitting mojo right now. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get it to come out the way that I want it to- too big, too small. And while it is the perfect yarn for the project, I absolutely despise knitting with the yarn I'm using for it, which makes it an easy project to set aside.

So, four projects stalled in the needles over the past week, and none of it progressing. It's almost depressing. But I have faith that eventually whatever kink I have in my karma will smooth itself out and I'll be back to blissfully zipping along before I know it.

In other news, J-man officially has the cold I had last week. He's handling it like a trooper, but he's whiney and his nose is like a faucet. On the brighter side, my non-napping kid is now interested in 2-3 hour naps, which is heaven for me, despite how terribly bad I feel that he is sick. And the cuddly, snuggly time together isn't bad, either.

School is creeping along more slowly than the knitting. I have no idea why it is taking me so long to complete it, and I wonder if maybe I've chosen the wrong thing to invest my time and money into. I mean, there's potential for great earning, but I'm so burnt out on the repitition already, and this is what I think I'm going to do for the rest of my life?! It's a bit scary.

Maybe it'll be different when I'm actually getting paid to try and decipher doctorese ad nauseum instead of just doing it as a very long and tedius exercise that must be complete before I take my final exam.

I've always been a pretty good and quick test-taker, catching on to key elements much faster than everyone else. Not bragging, just stating a fact. It's a great thing, but it also sucks because long after I understand everything I need, I still have miles and miles of repetition to complete before I can actually "complete" whatever it is I'm doing. In other words, I understood the formatting and language nuances and how to edit subject/verb agreement long before the 200th report. Now it's almost punishment, and I don't see where anything new is being introduced with each report. I'm nearly tempted to skip ahead, but in order to be able to take the final I have to have submitted each and every report through the grader. Blech.

I originally had next week off of work, so my plan was to send J to grandma's for the 2 days that I usually work, and simply sit here and bang out the reports, but then something fell apart, and long story short, I'm working again. Ugh. So, I'll have to make the best of the incredibly small amount of time I have, and get as much done as possible. I feel like there's no way I'll ever complete it, though.

Ok, rambling post over. You are now free to go about your day.