Recycle day

There comes a time in everyone's life when they have to clean out the dirt in their lives.  Sometimes that's literally what is going on but sometimes it's in reference to the dysfunctional relationships hanging around like a grease ball at the prom.  Mine came in the form of those projects I started knitting nearly a year ago, knowing full well I was knitting enough as it was, and they were still sitting in their bags with all the supplies I had desperately needed for other projects (since finished, regardless) no where near completion.

Like the previously blogged conversation, this has been brewing for a while.  It came to a head last night when I was knitting away at the "Amazing Technicolor Dream Cardigan" while watching "Lost in Translation" (she was knitting a scarf in that, briefly!)  I looked at the WIP and started thinking, "you know, this looks way too small to fit an adult."  I slipped the sleeve stitches on ribbon and tried it on.  Guess what.  It was a little too small.  Getting it over my bust was literally a stretch and the bottom with all the cabling had drawn up so much it was barely seen from the front.  This led to me trying to bend my mind around any way to salvage the project (wider button bands...?), sleeping on it (not literally, of course), and an early morning phone call to LMSS to get the knitting shrink's opinion.  She said frog it, frog it, and don't look back, trust your mind and don't resist.  Stop before more time is wasted, time wasn't wasted because you learned so much from the project, rewind the yarn and use that knowledge to find the RIGHT pattern for it.

So I did.  And I feel so good about it.  I loved the cables but HATED the bobbles and the stripes were all off on my body lines that I wanted to accentuate.  Frogging that led to me taking the other long-a-waiting projects out (just 2 more, thank goodness) and looking at them without the rose-colored glasses.  The Calming Wrap was saved (good construction, good quality pattern) but the baby blanket that resembled a Muppet wig was laid to rest.  It took me an hour to frog that thing and rewind the colors (I considered just throwing it away) but I did it and I FEEL SO GOOD.  It's like finally cutting ties with that loser college boyfriend who was only dating you to cheat off your papers:  there's always hurt and regret but once the weight is let go you feel like you can fly.

My list is updated and it's holding less "to-do."  I'm almost finished with one of the paying "to-do"s and that will be crossed off today.  I have nothing to add to the "to-do" and I'm not letting myself find anything either.  Keep it simple, stupid, I keep telling myself.

And I feel so good about it.