A New Project

My hands were almost shaking with excitement. “Nancy, you are pathetic,” I said to myself.

A New Project!

What was getting me so revved up? I had a new project! Winter in Wisconsin calls for new books to read, new crafts to start, a time to organize photo albums and clean out closets.

What Was It This Time?

I received new cotton yarn in the mail from Joann Fabrics, ordered online. Knitting with cotton yarn is new to me. In addition to the yarn, I purchased an instruction booklet with patterns for…wait for it!... knitting fourteen different dishcloths!

I Could Hardly Wait…

I know what you are thinking, but come on! Who doesn’t use dishcloths? I could hardly wait to begin. Dishcloths are a manageable project that can be completed quickly. Within a week, I knitted two of them. I will give the dishcloths to my daughter-in-law, who likes handmade items. Her grandmother used to crochet dishcloths for her, but she has not had any new ones since her grandma died.

Crocheting is not my thing, so I was very excited to come across a pattern book for knitted dishcloths.

But then…

However, after knitting two, some of the enthusiasm began to wear off.

Do you get excited about starting something new? It might be a new jigsaw puzzle or yardage of new fabric. You can hardly wait to get started.

Reality Hits

Then reality sets in. You get stuck on the puzzle, or find that setting in sleeves is still difficult.

And don’t get me started on gardening plans. We received eight inches of snow here yesterday, but it’s not too early for me to be thinking about a new trellis for container plants on my patio. I can already picture the morning glories in luxuriant bloom while I sip my coffee. My “Pinterest” file is full of pictures of “simple” container trellises. Do you think they will really be simple? And will the plants really climb like in the pictures?

As for the dishcloths, I have enough cotton yarn to make several more. Perhaps trying a different pattern of the fourteen options will motivate me again…maybe. Or else, I will have a large skein of leftover cotton yarn, to go with my unfinished counted-cross-stitch projects, a partially-hooked rug, and a stuffed-animal kit.

How are your projects coming along?