Sunday, January 21, 2007

Beaten Off The Path

Well, that's it. It's all just gone south in a sock bag, that's all I have to say. Not that south is a particularly bad direction and going in a sock bag could really be quite a delight. Frankly, I can't think of anything better than a good sock bag...but I'm so turned around at this point that I can't even come up with an appropriate knitting-related aphorism.

I am a Sheep of habit. I eat pretty much the same thing every day. I leave the house with clock-like regularity for work or errands. I will only vacuum on Saturday. (it used to be Sunday, but I changed it and that has been the biggest shake-up in the Sheep household over the last decade.) Really, if I were ever the target of assassins I'd be a cinch as a mark. I like to think that the ne'er do well who ordered my extermination would actually feel a little badly about it and maybe even throw a bonus to the sniper as a way of making up for the insult to his skills.

But lately, that's all changed.

I didn't do the grocery shopping on Friday night like I always do. I switched things up due to a storm predicted for Friday and purchased the essentials on Thursday. I planned to finish everything up on Saturday, but I was so beyond confused from the Thursday shopping that I needed a day to recover so I went at 8:00 this morning. Truthfully, this wasn't a bad idea. Instead of the usual crowd of shoppers who are out to get me, there was a handful of overly perky seniors and bleary-eyed college students in need of hydration. The only real obstacle was that the store likes to use this time for restocking and there were a number of pallets and dollies around which I had to maneuver. But, I have long suspected that the grocery store delivery trucks are all lurking behind various buildings and trees awaiting my arrival at the local market as it seems that they are always doing some sort of massive re-stocking during my shopping time. I've learned to work around it.

But it still wasn't Friday shopping and it all felt so wrong.

Then there's the workout routine. For years now I have done the exercise thing on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. I hate working out. A lot. So, a great deal of self-negotiating has gone into this schedule. I look at it this way: Monday is just a stupid day no matter what so you might as well add a work-out to it. By Tuesday, I'm actually a little bit motivated. On Wednesday, I am really just sick of the whole thing, but am heartened by the fact that this is the last one for the week. But now I have this class on Wednesday. I've known it was coming for a while so I've been trying to restructure the routine for a month or so now. At this point, I'm working out Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. I hate working out on the weekends. It feels wrong. And it interferes with my cartoon watching/pizza eating schedule.

And the knitting? My last FO was a crocheted project! A pretty cool one and one that will be debuted tomorrow when I leave for work. But it was crocheted nonetheless and this is just not the norm. And, as if that weren't bad enough, I happened to take a gander at the old sidebar today and took note of just how many scarves and socks have been coming off the needles of late. I've enjoyed each and every one of them and see nothing wrong with knitting socks and scarves until I shuffle off this mortal coil. Or at least I thought that was how I felt...

Because, all of a sudden, I 'm trying to recall the last time I knit a sweater. I've certainly knit them before. But I know that I have had little success with them since starting this blog. I don't think there's a connection...I've always struggled with the sweaters. But now I really want to knit a sweater. I've never "really wanted" to knit a sweater before. I've thought about it. I've casually or half-hearted started a few. But I can't honestly say that I've ever pined for the sweater knitting. Despite this, it seems I'm gearing up to knit a sweater. I suppose I could live with that. But there was an incident today. One that has taken my little trip out of my rut from merely "interesting" to something a little more concerning. In fact, I may need to do a little research. There is every reason to believe that we are in something of an apocalyptic situation here. I did something. Something so out of character, so beyond that which is Sheepish that we could interpret it as a sign or something. I guess what I'm trying to say here is this:

Smoke 'em if you got 'em, people. It's the end of days.

For this afternoon...I swatched.

SA

14 comments:

Mouse said...

A Swatch? * passes out*

Bells said...

i haven't been reading your blog long enough to know that much about you Annie, but I'm guessing swatching is a massive deal for you. Where is the photo??

I like your workout schedule. I currently have no work out schedule and frankly it's beginning to show. The rationale for yours would suit me a lot!

sheep#100 said...

I knew I'd convince you to swatch someday.

::thinks of doing happy dance despite migraine, resists::

Anonymous said...

I'm a new reader here, but I like the way you think!!

Anonymous said...

Swatch? As bells said, where is the photo? I'm sure she didn't mean "prove it", but I do ;-)

Is it a must that you workout three days in a row? Why don't you add Thursday and get rid of the Sunday? Weekends are just too short to be working out - if I didn't work at the gym and have to be there anyway on Sunday's, I'd never workout on a weekend!

B. said...

Welllllll! Good for you Sheepie...I am excited to see some pics when you get going.

I did think earlier when I read your post that the world was ending. The room started to shake and spin, but then I realized it was just a bit of indigestion from Applebee's!

Becky

Jeanne said...

It's OK, Sheepie, really it is. We learned in my Creativity & Innovation class this week that one of the best things to do to spark your creativity IS to do things you wouldn't normally do. Change it up a little. So crocheting is fine. Swatching is fine. Altering your workout routine is fine. If it feels wrong, according to Julia Cameron (The Artist's Way), that's just resistance disguising fear (fear of being creative or being in touch with your true artist).

So, in this case, if it feels wrong, do it! ;-)

Teri S. said...

A swatch? A real honest-to-goodness swatch? Are you going to wash it and block it and everything? My swatches for sweaters have been sleeves and my sock swatches are seat-of-the-pants at best. Good for you!

Anonymous said...

Good for you for swatching. I want to warn you, though, swatches lie. Not that you shouldn't swatch. You should. But they still lie.

Mel said...

I most always swatch to get a rough idea, but I'm with kmkat about that lying thing. That said,it's a very good thing to shake things up once in a while. Keeps you young.

Anonymous said...

Shopping on Sunday? Considering a sweater? Swatching? Weird weather patterns lately...not a coincidence. It must be El Nino. :)

Seriously, Jeanne is right. That's creativity calling out for you to try and enjoy something new!

catsmum said...

what I want to know is ... what was said swatch FOR and what was it IN ? Come on. Enquiring minds need to know.
Anyway if I can get over my dislike of blocking then you can swatch, right ?
and the only thing wrong with multiple hats, socks and scarves is that you run out of places to wear them or people to give them to eventually, in fact, I suspect that's why so many of us resort to the charity knitting. It's not that we're such wonderful generous people. We've just run out of giftees.

This Weary Traveler said...

Wow! Maybe you can figure out what to do with the swatches afterward because I can't. I save them in case I run out of yarn at the end, or if they are needed as proof of gauge when the sweater itself turns out the wrong size. I can't seem to get rid of them and I'm not organized enough to put them in a journal or notebook so I'm just tripping over little 4" squares all the time.

Anonymous said...

Just watch out because swatches lie!!
Karen
http://nothingbutknit.blog-city.com/