Goal-Oriented

I’m in the throws of organizing my tax info, totaling up columns and hunting down receipts.

+ The government is going to give me money.
- I’m moderately disorganized.
+ My tax guy comes tomorrow to move along the process of the government giving me money.
- I’m still moderately disorganized.

In the midst of all this paperwork of people who gave me money and people who say I owe them money, and all this pulped up tree people keep sending me in the mail (physical media? really?), I find it comforting to turn to worlds in which I am reasonably organized and have attainable goals. That would be yarn.

I nudged a project off the needles last night and it’s got me thinking about my future goals. Thank god for the sunk-cost that is my stash which will keep me happily knitting for some time.

Lots of folks I know are full of resolutions at the kick-off of the year for how much and what kind of stuff they’re going to knit. I make no such grand claims for myself. But I do have a few projects that I plan to eventually complete, many of which have self-imposed deadlines that I may or may not choose to honor.

My porpoise wrap – due by a Tahoe trip on February 20th – is coming along. It’s got two sides, complete with pockets, and a third of hood.

I’ve got a lovely summer sock asking for a life partner. I’m a heel and 1.5 gussets closer to fulfillment.

A friend and I are attending a ballet in San Francisco in April. Obviously I need an invisibility shawl for this event (whoa, remember that project?), and a handbag dainty enough to match my dress but roomy enough to stow anything I might need in a pinch, like a tent or a text book or a set of extendable ears. So the shawl needs a few more yards on it, and this yarn is going to become this bag.

Some big rat in Pennsylvania says we’ve got some more winter coming our way. Bring it. I’m making some bad ass gloves, or I will be. The colorway for this one is “Meridian.” Very geographic of me, don’t you think?

Did I mention that I picked a sweater design? This yarn is going to become this sweater.

And because a girl should never be without a pair of socks on the needles, I’ve got these skeins waiting to become this socks. Check out that wrap-around cable. Isn’t that the sexist thing you’ve ever seen? I’ve been carrying a torch for this pattern for a while now.

And this yarn has been begging to be a felted bag ever since Ania brought it back to me from Poland. Wait until you see the bad-ass celtic knot I’m going to needle-felt on to the side. It’s looks so cool in my head.

So there. I have goals. And they’re free... at this point. Lately it feels like I don’t know where I am or where I’m going half the time, but I know what’s on my needles and a girl needs to cling to whatever little fuzzy bit of a lifeline that she can grab. I’m glad I stashed a few skeins for a rainy day.