I'm amassing a large queue of projects on Ravelry.
Some of them are clothes I love the look of and would like to have the ability to be an ultra fast knitter so I could knit them and wear them almost as soon as they go on the list (an even better wish is the possibility to amass a great weath so I can hire many people to knit them for me *grin*).
But neither of those prospects are for me, so I'll have to trudge along, slowly knitting along and hopefully be able to live to 100 or better so I can knit them all (and wear them at least once).
There are, of course, a few projects listed that are filler/speculative/springboard projects - there to give ideas of what I really want. I'm never going to knit them.
There are a few that I have listed that are possibles - I think I like them, but I'm not sure.
Then there are the poor little projects listed that would like to be knitted, but they're actually what I call "candy floss" projects. These little items are projects who need to be knitted with the designated yarn. Special yarn that costs upwards of $20 dollars a ball. Now, honestly, I will occasionally splurge every 6 months and buy a skein of silk/merino space dyed lace or fingering weight yarn that costs about £16 a skein (better if it's less), but that single skein will make an item. The projects I have listed as "candy floss" need at least 6 balls of yarn per project, making the bill come out to over $100 an item (there's an project I made last year that was in the Vogue Accessories book, and if knitted with the designated yarn, would have cost over $400! I made it with yarn that I bought on sale for £5.99 for a pack of 10 balls and I think it came out absolutely lovely - I forgot the name. *grimace*). They're NOT getting made unless I find a suitible substitute yarn (it happens every-so-often). I'd be afraid to wear them at all, never mind wering them outside my house. Whew.
The finally there's also a 5th category of items in my queue on Ravelry. The "might-make-the-grade" projects. They're projects that are sort of akin to an item I want, but I think I might make if I don't find anything better within my own designated timeframe for that item. Sometimes I get lucky and find exactly what I want, sometimes I don't. It's a frustrating project list.
The reason is this: I constantly have a mental list of items I'd like to cook/design/make/knit/sew. They're not things that I know exist in reality, but I list projects/get items/research techniques to either figure out how to make what I want and/or constantly peruse patterns/photgraphs/books/items of all kinds to see if one day I can get lucky and either figure out how to make it - or - find that someone else has had the same idea I have and so design a pattern/kit for it - both things have happened before, and I'm sure will happen again. But, for all my skills, I don't have the ability to mentally draft knitting patterns on the fly like my grandmother did (that woman had KNITTING and CROCHET SKILLS).
I don't really even have the ability to re-draft written knitting patterns I like. For some reason I just can't make my brain do that. I don't know why and I wish I could turn it on.
I can draft up beading patterns and I can redraft sewing patterns with help from books (I can't remember the mathematics for them and I get in trouble trying to wing it). I can make up recipes (and remember them) from scratch and do VERY well.
I CAN easily memorise the stitch patterns within knitting patterns and I can make-up and re-design stitch patterns themselves, but making a whole knitting pattern is a whole different kettle of fish.
For me, it's like trying to draft a sewing pattern in 3D AND figure out how to spin the fibre and weave the fabric all at the same time. It just isn't going to happen. I'm envious of those people that can do that and I'll happily give my money to them - provided their design matches what's in my head. Bless them all.
Whew. This entry isn't really what I wanted to say and I don't have the power to re-draft it now so it goes up as-is. . .
My brain needs food.
Until later.
