The benefits of monogamy.

I've been noticing over the last few days that monogamy has its benefits. I'm talking here about staying faithful to one knitting project, not about staying faithful to one person, although that has its own fair share of benefits as well.

I normally have a large number of knitting projects on the go at any one time. I choose whichever one I feel like working on depending on what sort of knitting I feel like doing, or the situation I'm going to be able to knit in. So when I'm going to work, where I'm likely to get a short, frequently interrupted bout of knitting at lunch, and about 20 minutes on the bus home, I like to have something simple and not too bulky, so I don't have to carry a pattern, and I can fit it easily in a bag. Something that I can knit on while I'm walking or standing at the bus stop is a bonus.

At home, on the couch, where I can settle in for some dedicated knitting time, I might choose something more complicated, like where I might need to constantly refer to a pattern, something fiddly like sewing together a garment, or something bulky like a big afghan.

But for the last week or so, apart from a brief affair with a wrap with love square that was small enough to fit in the handbag I took to the Queensland Youth Choir concert on Sunday night, I've been committed to Dad's alpaca vest. There are other unfinished items I could be working on, there are many new patterns in my queue and yarn in the stash for new projects, but concentrating on the vest feels right at the moment.

After the struggle to get the gauge and the ribbing right, it feels good to be finally getting somewhere, and because I'm knitting on this one project every chance I get, I can see the progress. I got 6cm done yesterday and I've done 4cm so far today. The body is now 16cm in total, and there's only 23cm to go before the armhole shaping.

My cold hasn't got any worse but neither has it got better so I'm not feeling up to anything complicated, and going round and round in 246-stitch-long stocking stitch circles seems to be exactly what I need. I can lose myself and the stress of the day in the rhythmic action of stitch after stitch. The Bendigo Alpaca feels soft and luxurious in my hands and the fabric feels and looks beautiful.

So I think the vest and I are going to stay exclusive for a bit longer. (I'd better not catch it fraternising with my February Lady Sweater!)