Knitting Frenzy

I don’t know what it is recently that is bringing this on, but i have become a fiend. I am only interested in knitting, I talk about it constantly, and I have more projects actively going than I ever have before. I’m excited to be into something this much, but at the same time it scares me a little. Will it somehow wear off and leave me high and dry with a million unfinished projects and no desire to complete them? I’m not sure.

I thinks it’s the post-thesis free time. I turned in the completed draft about a week ago and since then the free time has multiplied exponentially. It’s misleading when I say it like that though. I hardly ever worked on the thesis at home, only in the last few weeks of pushing to get it wrapped up. I compartmentalized it at work and tried not to bring it home too often for my own sanity. It worked well and I think I did a good job of navigating the stressful process. So what do I mean by all this free time then?

I think I mean mental free time. While I may not have been physically working on the thesis, I was mentally focused on it. I would think about it in the shower, in bed, watching movies. It was always there, in the background, waiting. I liken it to a refrigerator (I know, weird, stay with me). You don’t really think about the refrigerator most of the time, just when you are actively hungry or want something, but it’s always there in the background humming. My thesis was like that.

Now that the humming has ceased, my brain suddenly finds itself with crazy amounts of ‘free time’ in which to contemplate all kinds if wacky projects. So while I am constantly scheming about knitting, other things such a making my own cheese and yogurt, building a chicken coop, and rigging complicated bike pulley systems in the high-ceilinged kitchen have also wormed their way in within the last week. It’s crafty overtime in there.

I appear to be lucky that this has only manifested itself in an increase of knitting projects thus far. Next week might find me elbow deep in milk and live cultures desperately hoping that they form the thick gooiness that I love to eat. So counting the projects I intend to return and work on in the next month or so, I now have 7 in progress. Yikes.

There is also the possibility that the weather has had something to do with this obsession. Currently it’s pouring outside and has been quite rainy over the past few weeks. I think I am getting a little stir crazy from having to spend so much time indoors. I want to be out in the garden or hiking around, or riding my brand new bike. Instead I am stuck inside and constantly dreaming up new projects.

I think I’ll go work on one right now. If I keep my hands busy, they will not be tempted to browse ravelry for yet more new projects.