Eek! I have Startitis!

…and I think it’s incurable.

I had the luxury last weekend of two days with no commitments, and realizing this, I was able to get the housework and chores done before Friday, so I could have a big block of time to work on some of those projects that need that extra time.

On Saturday, I decided to work upstairs, and go through the middle bay of the long closet, and get that organized, and set up for yarn and pattern storage. The right hand bay had been cataloged years ago, but in my haste to clean up this spring, I filled it with boxes that need to come out so I can get to what’s there. These bays are deceptive – it looks like there’s lots of space, but in reality you can’t store too much in there without making many layers. I put most of the boxes around the perimeter of the bay, and have shelves and can stack, but I like to be able to see everything without having to dig too deep.

The middle bay was partially organized, and after pulling out the boxes and bins that weren’t cataloged, I set to work. I had moved a small bookshelf in there, and a filing cabinet filled with patterns, but still had room for several totes. Over the two days, I entered over 300 balls of yarn in my excel spreadsheet. This sounds like a lot, but when they’re purchased in 8 or 10 balls for a project, it’s not so much. Well, ok, it still is a lot, but so what?

The problem with handling all that yarn, is that my fingers get the urge to start new projects. I resisted for most of the first day. After all, I have plenty of projects going, and several that were very close to being finished. That’s what I should be working on. Right?

But temptation was too much, and late Saturday afternoon, I pulled down a cone of cotton yarn and started a baby sweater. The yarn was white, with dots of pastel baby colors. I just wanted to see the colors play off each other. I worked a few inches, and it will be a nice sweater, but I really do need to get those other projects finished. On Sunday, as I continued to sort through boxes, I came across a partial ball of a linen cotton mix. It was one of those odd balls that I bought on clearance, just because it was linen, and just because it was colorful. I see a pattern here – colorful yarn gets me into more trouble where willpower is concerned. This yarn was not the nicest linen, and I was going to toss it into the charity pile, when a tiny voice said “just make a dishcloth”. So I did. Well, I started it, anyway. It’s one of my made up ideas, working from the center out, so I can use up the yarn and make a square that’s big enough, and if I run out of yarn, I can add another yarn, but it doesn’t end up looking like I ran out of yarn. On Monday evening, I don’t even remember why I went upstairs. Do you think maybe yarn sings a siren song? I must have been looking for something. Suddenly, I was pulling wool out of one of the wire storage bins. There were six or seven hanks of natural colored two ply wool, without any tags. I laid them out, and was trying to discern whether or not they were the same color. After some deliberation, I decided that I just couldn’t tell. I pulled more yarn out of the bin. Suddenly, I pulled out several hanks of navy blue wool with flecks of purple. That did it. Before I knew it, I had one on the swift, and was winding it into a ball. I had wanted to make a simple wool cardigan that I could pull on when it got chilly this fall. I swatched, and started a top-down raglan even before the swatch was dry. And yesterday, because I wasn’t sure I had enough knitting to make it through the baseball game, I had to start a pumpkin cap. I would have had plenty without it, as it turned out, but you just never know… So that’s four new projects in four days. Did I finish any of those that were so close to being done? No. Did I make any progress on any other projects? Well, yes. I worked on the baby blanket, and I worked on my current pair of socks. I made a few catnip toys. But really, I didn’t need to start any more projects. Especially since, in sorting through boxes, I found a number of other unfinished projects. This is where startitis becomes a serious problem!

I have another commitment-free weekend coming up, and if I can, I’m going to try to apply some “finishitis” to the startitis condition, and see what happens. I’m hoping to get at least three items done. And not start any more new ones. Really.

And finally, here’s Lily, happily dozing in the force field which keeps her immune from Startitis. Move over Lily!