Have you ever had one of those times when the bounce has gone out of your bungee? When things don't work out the way you want or need them to ? Because I've been a bit like that.
Firstly there was theatre. Since finishing my MA in September last year, the last thing I've wanted to do is anything related to the theatre. The new season at The National Theatre was released; I was only excited by one show. Admittedly I've seen two of them elsewhere; Waste at The Almeida in London (too long) and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at The Royal Exchange in Manchester (would watch again). But still, for a new season of a well established theatre, two is not a great hit rate.
Then, there's the knitting. It was sort of chuntering along, sometimes going right - often going wrong. I think the number of times I ripped it back and started again was somewhere in double figures. It was almost as if the yarn didn't want to be knitted into that particular pattern. I don't know how many times I'd ripped back to start again, but it was somewhere in the double figures. It always seemed to be somewhere between 100 and 200 stitches, which is a lot to start again. Yes, I did try tinking it back, but have you ever tried to tink back a YO k2tog? It's not something you do to keep you sane!
So I made a silent agreement with the yarn. I'd find something else to knit it into, if it didn't mind me finding another yarn to do the current project with, and we seem to have come to an agreement. So what started off as this:
Has now ended up as this...
(scraps for a scrap sock yarn blanket)
...and has now been re-started as this:
I'm now somewhere well over 200 stitches which is the best indication that this yarn wants to be knitted into this project, which makes me indescribably happy.
Last weekend, I went back to Sheffield, to see Blasted at Sheffield Theatres. As I was walking in to the auditorium there was a moment when I got that tingle down my spine, when I remembered why I loved theatre and gave up two years of my life to study it. At the end of the play, I remembered what amazing theatre feels like. It gave me sparks of joy, which is what I'm going to call the neon project, which I want to wear when I go back next month.