Don't Just Walk Away and Leave It

Normally, our house is very, very neat. The floors get vacuumed twice a week and mopped weekly (because I'm allergic to our shedding critters). I have a low tolerance for clutter (but it's higher than it used to be), and John doesn't like things to be out of place either. The dishes are rarely piled in the sink for more than an hour. Even though we've lived in the house for 18 months, we've done very little decorating, and there aren't many horizontal surfaces to hold photos and other junk anyway.

But, like most knitters, I usually have 3 or 4 (or 5,6,7,or 8) projects on needles at a time. And each project has several balls of yarn, needles, tape measures, tapestry needles, cable needles that go along with it, plus the pattern book if there is one. The knitting clutter, it adds up. Couple this with the fact that I carry these projects around with me, work for a while, and then get up and get distracted. I forget all about it for a few hours, then I panic and start running around trying to find all the pieces so I can get going again. I know I'm not alone in this.

I spent Thanksgiving break working on several projects (one of which was trying to get myself to relax), and so we had the usual mess of needles and skeins in the living room, dining room, and basement. And I learned a valuable lesson: don't just walk away and leave it. Because this is what happens:


Meet Jake.

Jake is a shelter cat we adopted when he was 6 months old, about 4 years ago. He's half Maine Coon (his papa was also in the shelter). Maine Coons have long, lush fur that is very soft and very thick. And apparently not warm enough, since Jake saw fit to burrow into an unfinished scarf (and gnaw on the needles). Once finished, that scarf got a good shaking out.




The details on the scarf: The yarn is On-line Linie 149 Rush in color 6, all different shades of red and orange. Lovely. 50% wool, 50% acrylic, 100% soft chunky goodness. I knit this up on #11US needles in a 3x3 basketweave pattern.

Lesson learned? I'd like to say yes, but the truth is that right now, there are at least 2 projects on the futon in the basement (though one is in a plastic bag), plus one in a bag next to the basement door, and two in my purse. Also, about a month ago I found a ball of Habu that Abby hid at some point. My fault, though, I left it on the counter.