Knitting Funk Solutions Offered, $.05

Ann,
As your friend and knitting comrade, I have been thinking about your last post, where you blamed your current knitting funk on your beginner status...First of all, I don't think that anyone who knits TWO King Harald Hats qualifies as a beginner anymore. The aran sweater than you designed for the Backyard Boulanger rocketed you right our of the beginner category. Second, I think perhaps it is not a lack of experience, but maybe a surfeit of ambition that tortures you now. You have taken on some of the most complicated, complex projects of anyone I know, with an incredibly steep learning curve. I'm suggesting something a little less complex than say, a self-designed Aran sweater for the BB or a bazillion colored stranded hat.

Third, some serious knit porn has hit the Philly outpost of XRK. And while I have BIG news to report (next post, you won't believe it!), I realized the solution to your knit funk is our KnitBlog ForeMothers, Ann and Kay of Mason Dixon Knitting . Have you bought their new book yet? No? Our inspiration for this humble blog have the answer to your knitting funk:

the Mason-Dixon Solution #1: Stitch Dictionaries + Peaches and Cream
I too have had a knitting funk from time to time. The worst was that horrible, horrible winter of2004, when, well, you know what happened. This is when I discovered stitch dictionaries. They actually have a pretty good one at the old Westover Hills Library. I made a bunch of schmattes, each with a different stitch pattern, really destined for nothing. I think I had in mind that I would sew them up into blankets or something, but that never happened. I think I used some leftover CottonEase (yes, still grieving that too). I knitted my way through it until I could concentrate enough to move onto a simple baby blanket.

Now, combine this with the inspiration from Kay and Ann's book (stop what you are doing and get it. Now). The women extol the virtues of the dishcloths in good ole' Peaches and Cream Yarn. I dare you to read this book and not want to knit a dishcloth when the knitting funk hits. Our fellow blogger Mo is an avowed dishcloth knitter, and I think I am on my way to becoming one too! Really!

So all this solution requires is buying the Mason Dixon book for the sheer fun of it, and it is worth every penny, and then stocking up on a few colors of super-cheap yarn that you can get at the Mega Maxi Craft-O-Rama Mart. And there has to be something that appeals to the crunchy granola, handmade, earth mother in you about knitting dishcloths! And you can knit them to match your new kitchen! Wow!

Mason-Dixon Knitting Solution #2: The Big-Ass Project Destined to Take a Long Time
Is there anything crazier than knitting a bedspread? Try one of their blankets, quilts, or bedspreads, and you have a guaranteed project to get you through a lifetime of knitting funks. Maybe a few mitered squares will give you a breather between big projects when waiting for inspiration to strike, or help you through the bad times when big projects go bad.

Let me tell you, I feel more inspired after reading this book than I have in a long time! And if you don't believe how much I reeeealllly love love love this book, just realize that I have Big. Big. BIG. Knitting. News. for the next blog post. And I postposed posting about it to offer a little knitterly help for you, my dear friend.

Love,
Liz