No pattern? No problem.

In general, I'm pretty broke. About 6 months ago, I gave up on plastic all together and started to live within my means, cold turkey. It was a pretty big adjustment. In the past, my "needs" were always justified, and I would grab up a new outfit when I "needed" it for work, or eat lunch out every day, because I "need" nourishment. Now, the money isn't always there, and when I am coveting a new pair of jeans, I can't throw down a creddy and call it done. I have to save for the purchase, or at least work it into the budget.

Now, you may think this rant is heading toward a discussion of my annual yarn budget, but it's not. Not having credit lines has forced me to make some difficult decisions, and when my printer ran out of ink in, I'd say, October? (I remember shaking those cartridges to death to print ONE resume), replacements were not in my financial plan. So, I have lived without a functioning printer for quite some time now.

I use the internet to find most of my inspiration for knitting projects. When I find patterns I love, I (usually) print them out and put them in my polar bear binder that an old co-worker started for me. Without INK, I can't do that. So, what do I do? I sit here, like an old scribe, and write the pattern down on resume paper, because I don't have normal copy paper, because I ran out and it's not in my budget. It's worked out pretty well to this point.

I started a "bowtie" scarf a few weeks ago, and I was using one of the patterns I had jotted down. I was knitting along happily, and about 1/3 of the way through, something seemed really wrong. The scarf was double the width than it was at the beginning, and my yarn (Malabrigio, received as gift 2 years ago, will never be able to get another hank that matched the colorway) was running out quickly. I read and re-read my pattern, but I didn't know where I'd gone wrong. I made some quick adjustments to finish the scarf without running out of yarn, and it actually turned out ok. It's a tiny bit short, and I've been working to stretch it as much as possible, but it *does* fit, and it *is* cute. Here's a few pics:

Fun, right? But the anxiety and sheer hatred I had for this piece by the time I was binding off was indescribable. Upon finding the original pattern, I realized I had left out two lines entirely, the ones in which I was supposed to decrease from the increases I had made in the previous row. Oops. All of this chaos led me to a knitting resolution:

NO. MORE. SCARVES.

The short Florida winter is nearly over (unless Phil sees his shadow on Monday -- or doesn't; I always forget), and there is simply no need. I have to challenge myself to move forward, past the world of rectangles and simple increases and decreases. By the end of 2009, I want to write a blog post where I can chronicle all my knitting achievements of the year, and I do *not* want them to all be scarves. I should move on to washcloths, at least.

I have still not decided on an American Idol season 8 project, but I am open to suggestions... as long as it is not a scarf!