Knitting Malaise

I seem to have lost my knitting mojo lately. I was happily knitting a lovely buttery-coloured stole inspired by MimKNit's Seraphim Shawl, when I saw that MS3 was announced. I'd never done anything like that before. I had seen a couple of Melanie's designs, and whilst not everything is to my taste, I think that she is very talented. I also liked the sense of virtual community that working on the same piece at the same time as 6,000 other people world-wide would bring. So I joined up.

I bought the materials, did a swatch (for the first time in my life), tried the beading and settled into doing the first few clues. Then I managed to forget my knitting when I went on holiday and got behind. Then the wing was announced, and that put the nail in the coffin for me. It was so completely not to my taste that I knew I would never have embarked on the project had I seen the complete design. What to do? I didn't dare say I didn't like it... One or two brave people had said it in the Yahoo group and were flamed to hell and back. They were told that they were ungrateful, and they didn't appreciate all the hard work that Melanie had put in. I just kept quiet. There is no doubt that she is very talented and gracious (she stepped in to put the flaming to an end), but this was not for me. The conversation in the Yahoo group made me feel as though I "owed" it to someone to complete the stole. But I didn't like it... I couldn't frog it, I couldn't work on it... it seemed to prevent me from working on anything else.

I broke a self-imposed rule by buying some Habu which I'd been lusting after for a loooong time. My rule was that I was not going to have the mother of all stashes, I would buy yarn for specific projects, and I would work on one at a time. However, I allowed myself to do a swatch, and plan what I wanted to make. I know that I'm going to felt it shibori-style, and I've already purchased the glass beads and tiny elastic bands. But since I'd promised myself that I would be a one project knitter (self-imposed rule #2), and the spectre of MS3 was still hanging over me, I haven't started that either.

There may be light at the end of the tunnel. I'm invited to a wedding at the beginning of October. I rather fancy wearing an ethereally elegant pink/brown stole of my own design. I need to find a simple but elegant outfit - preferably a dress. I'm going to frog MS3, I like the yarn very much, but I'll use it for something else. Time to shake that off, and enjoy my Habu! The buttery stole can wait a little longer too; it will be a Christmas gift for my sister.