Voodoo Sweater: Completed

It's done. The Sweater That Shall Not Be Named is finally done.

I didn't particularly enjoy knitting it and I'm not over the moon about the results, but at least I can say it's done. I'm sure the person for whom this is intended will like it and use it and that's all the pay-off I need. I am most certainly throwing the pattern away and making a voodoo doll of the pattern's designer. That aside, I'm ready to move on.

The problem is that I've found myself in something of a Knit Slump. I've just finished two baby sweaters that I didn't love knitting. I made myself finish them so that they wouldn't languish at the bottom of the Project Pile and I held off starting a newer, more loved project. I wanted to begin the new project, the Dale of Norway lace shawl, like I would begin a New Year. I wanted to begin with a clean slate and without any of the old projects clinging on to me, holding me back.

However, now that I've arrived at the cusp of this new project, I simply can't get the knitting mojo going again. I think about the shawl, but I can't feel that gentle pull of desire that usually propels me head-first into the wool and charts that begin a new work. I've gotten out the pattern, even, started reading the beginning instructions to cast on, skimmed over the chart and symbol key, and found the needles. I've gazed at the picture, trying to imagine wearing the finished project. This is, actually, the first thing I've knitted for myself in about a year and certainly the only thing I've knit for myself larger than a pair of mittens.

There is only one recourse left at this point and that is to bring out The Wool. It may take some knitter-on-wool time to get me ready to spring into action. I may need to sniff the skein and inhale the Dale of Norway fumes before I'm really there, ready to go. In a lot of ways, it seems like getting ready to knit a big project is like getting ready to go on a big date. The difference, of course, is that instead of rubbing perfume between your wrists, you rub a little wool between your fingers.

Ah, yes. Soon I'll be ready. And I'll scrounge up some pictures to introduce you to my Date.