The Jest

I made a Jest. You know, a cross between a Jumper and a Vest. A Jest. 

It wasn't supposed to be a Jest or a Vest for that matter. It was meant to be a Jumper. But since it has been a Jest longer than it has been a Jumper, we have been calling it a Jest around here. For that reason, it is also a Jest. The other Jest. A big fat Jest. I know. It's confusing which Jest I'm referring to now but it doesn't matter because both "Jests" can be used interchangeably. 

The Jest was knitted up on the Road Trip during all those long hours in the car but has since sat on the very end of the Mantlepiece over there mocking me for over a month - how's that for irony? A Jest that mocks. 

I know I shouldn't base my self worth on my inability to complete the final rows of a sleeve, a task that would probably take less than an hour. But, I can't bring myself to do it. The love for the project has gone. Seriously, it's such a simple task to complete that I'm ashamed I even have to blog about it. 

It was doomed when I left the smaller circular needle for the ribbing on the kitchen bench when we left for the trip. We arrived in Alice Springs and after searching high and low the only 4mm circular needle I could find was at the Dollar Store on our final day. It seems that knitting in the middle of the desert is not a huge past time. But I finally found one at Mad Harry's for $1.00. Bingo, I thought! But no, it was a big mistake. Read these words very very carefully, never ever buy a dodgy circular needle from a Dollar Store. I spent the next 9 hours in the car muttering some very choice words under my breath as each and every stitch snagged on its way around the cord onto the other needle. It took the entire 9 hours from Alice Springs to Coober Pedy to do the ribbing on the neckline, bottom and the sleeve. I will never take my lovely wooden circular needle with its smooth and seamless transition from needle to cord for granted again.

It then came to my attention that the stitching at the top of the jumper looked significantly different to the rest of the jumper after I joined the yoke to continue knitting in the round. And that would be because I was wrapping the yarn the wrong way on my purl stitches for the yoke. It's normally not noticeable when you knit on straight needles but when you join to knit in the round you don't need to purl at all and that is why the stockinette stitch looked different. It looked much better. See below.

Top half is a 'variation' of stockinette stitch 'achieved' by wrapping the yarn the 'opposite' way.

There was no way I was going to rip it back and start the entire thing over. I never do that, preferring to keep my mistakes in full view to haunt me for the rest of my life. I actually didn't think it looked too bad until my Son tried the Jest on and there appeared to be some puckering at the bust which made the jumper look as if it may be more appropriate for a woman with an A-Cup bust rather than a 7 year old boy. ANother mistake, possibly the result of not picking up enough stitches at the V on the neckline. It was at that point my knitting Mojo flew completely out the window along with the dodgy circular needle.

I don't think I've ever abandoned a project completely. I like to finish things regardless of how painful they are. But what do you do when the knitting mojo has been lost?

The only way to kickstart my Mojo enough to finish the Jest was to do another quick project that promised both satisfaction in the making with a 100% likelihood of completion. So I bought some Zpagetti from my local yarn store and decided to make a simple rug for Flynn for when we move him into his own room. I used this pattern and my Ravelry notes can be found here. It was everything I hoped it would be. It crocheted up fast which was extremely satisfying. Zpagetti is recycled T-shirt material so the colours and texture vary and so it is hard to get the same colour again if you run out. So I chose a T-Shirt Grey and as soon as I saw the lovely Autumn-y orangey colour I grabbed the last 2 rolls of those off the shelf. The colour matches perfectly with the colours in the granny square blanket I made Flynn this time last year. 

Of course the Whippet thinks I set this shot up entirely for his own enjoyment and comfort. 

I haven't done any crochet since I made the little Owls back in January and I think I'm ready to launch into a bigger crochet project again. But first, I need to finish the Jest!

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Thank you very much for your very supportive comments on my last Post, especially since I didn't really provide very much detail on the development. It will come, regardless of the outcome. I just wanted to get my current thoughts off my chest as well as to jot down a background Post. It would have been weird down the track to start a Post along the lines of "So, some tractors have arrived today to start work....". 

Speaking of Mojo, sometimes it's important to remember why I blog, which is by and large to document bits and pieces of my life, both past, present and future plans too. Sometimes I write purely for the joy of writing while other times, like this, I like to document my crafty successes and failures. Although not the reason I started, I now love being a part of this wonderful community of  blogging which has now become a necessary and fun part of my life. For a very thought-provoking Post on blogging in general, I can highly recommend this wonderful Post which left me with a renewed zest for blogging when I was feeling a little dismayed at the number of bloggers ditching blogging in favour of other forms of social media. Are you one of the ones who has lost their blogging Mojo in favour of the more immediate forms of social media like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook? Or do you dabble in a bit of everything? Some more than others? I would love to know your thoughts.