15 minutes at a time

As I was finishing up the most recent pair of socks, I was thinking about Leigh's comment about how quickly I knit.  I don't think I'm that fast a knitter, albeit not a slow knitter either.  However, when I have a project on the go, I try to do several things to make it easier to succeed.  First, I firmly believe that one can accomplish anything 15 minutes at a time.  Some days I can only do a row or two of knitting, throw a shot or two on the loom, or sew together a single seam or such in 5 minutes and on other days I can pick up the needles, sew for much longer or weave off half a project at a time.  The point is that I try to actually work on whatever project I have on the go, for at least a couple of minutes each day.
To make knitting easier, I like to put all my materials and equipment in one place.  I have several project bags, with pockets in them.  I put my yarn, all the needles I will need, scissors, tape measure, darning needle, pattern in the bag.  I leave the bag out for easy access.  I can grab it if I'm sitting down for a cup of tea, watching a hockey game, or taking it along with me to a meeting.  It's easy to get a couple of rows done that way.   I have project bags and baskets for hand sewing, embroidery and even spinning, to allow projects to be completed in the same method of a few minutes at a time.

 That being said, while I was thinking about finishing projects, I realized that I had stalled on the current tea towel project on the loom.  As I thought about it, I realized that I really wasn't fond of any of the towels that I was producing.  I wasn't even spending the time to throw more than a few shots at a time as there was always something else which needed doing.  When I was avoiding the project to do laundry which didn't need doing or loading the dishwasher, I realized it was time to give in.  I cut off the tea towels, knotted the threads on the back, since there is still quite a bit left and will plan something new.  It was a bit of a difficult decision as I hate cutting projects off the loom.  This is only the second project I've cut off.  I've learned something from each time I've persevered and struggled through.  However, in this case, there are so many other projects queued up, that I figured it was time to give in.

I've carded up 100 grams of Superwash Blue Faced Leicester /nylon blend to be spun into sock yarn so I can try a variety of new dyeing techniques.  Since I seem to be on a sock knitting binge right now,  it would also seem timely to be spinning sock yarn.  This stuff is soft, silky and lovely to spin.  The occasional black hair is the dog, who sleeps in the room with the carder and is shedding something awful right now.