This is the week I dye for club (which is quite pretty, BTW), so I don’t have anything new for the shop; although I didn’t blog about last Friday’s update of sock yarn…..plenty of self striping rainbows and Grand Old Flag is back in stock….just in time knit some socks to root on our athletes during the Olympic Games.

What I really came to talk about is my theme for the year. As the title says, the Year of the Turtle. Why?

(Yes, it’s a tortoise. Shush.)

First, I’ve just been bogged down with the thought pattern that I must have some large block of time to be able to accomplish anything on my project(s). Know that feeling? Ever say to yourself that by the time you set everything up and get going your time will be over? Or that you’ll surely be interrupted soon, so why bother?

My plan? Set up areas or projects that can be picked up for even a short period of time.

Exhibit A: Forest Fractal Shawl-

Well, ok, so this perhaps is not the best example, but it was the inspiration behind the Turtle idea. I’m a little further than this picture shows, but the cake of remaining yarn is quite large. I’m over 200 stitches per row, now, so I need a somewhat good chunk of time to even do one row. And good lighting (is it time for bifocals? Eek!). Anyway, this project sits near my chair in the living room to remind me to peck away at it.

Exhibit B: Forest Doubleweave Blanket

Now this is more like it.  (And no comments about my apparent color rut, please!) I have spent the last month chipping away at this project. I did wind the warp and put it in the raddle all on the same day, and beaming (and rebeaming…don’t ask) was quick the next day. But since then, it has been threading maybe 40-80 ends a day, and then I sleyed the reed and tied on over a couple of days. Now I’m up to the weaving, which is the ultimate hit and run project…with only 4 treadles in the pattern, I can knock out a tiny bit every time I walk by the loom, which usually turns into at least 5 repeats.

It was great yesterday while I dyed yarn for club. There is a fair amount of waiting involved for each step to set, and it was handy to just pop over to the studio and weave for those 5 minutes. I have probably a third of this warp finished, and I’m planning to tie another warp onto the ends of this one to get a nice two-fer out of all that threading work.  Overall, much more restful than clicking through something on the computer, and I’ll have something useful at the end of it all.

Maybe if I just stretch my neck out a little, I’ll get ahead?

And now we come to the harder, second part of the Year of the Turtle….new projects. It is so easy to see something beautiful someone made, or the coolest new project, or even the fact that most of my socks are developing holes…and suddenly I have a mental list of a zillion projects that I want to do and are all weighing me down. I should not be stressed by my hobby.

I haven’t quite worked out how to conquer this magpie temptation, but I think what I shall do is continue to use ways to document ideas (notebook, Pinterest, Ravelry), and then let them slide from memory, as the ideas are safe and can be retrieved. I shall focus on a few carefully selected projects and complete them. *Sigh* I hope, anyway!

So, the mantra for this year is:

Slow and steady finishes more projects.

Ready? Set. Go!!

Want to join me? Or have ideas? Weave your comment below!

I’ll leave you with a bit of wildlife from our neck of the woods. It’s been too cold to see much lately, but on nicer days we had this falcon:

and this deer. She was part of a group of four does, protected by a nice sized buck. They like to eat our Vinca (please, eat it all!), so were nearly on our patio in the back.

Stay warm, my fibery friends, and keep on a goin’ on those projects!