The start of an obsession

I can feel it.

The pressure is building.

It is calm now. The calm before the storm. The air is still and silent. In the silence you can feel the wrongness of it all.

An obsession is coming.

Sometimes a pattern grabs you and there is no denying it. You must knit it. It clouds you mind. You can think of nothing else until you cast on. Your fingers itch to knit. But do not try to scratch this itch by knitting any other pattern, or it is the itch of a phantom limb. Knitting any other pattern will not satisfy this itch. It can only be cured by knitting the object of the obsession. In fact knitting any other pattern will only result in anger and frustration that you are not knitting THE PATTERN. There is no denying the knit.

I'll admit. It has been a while since I've felt this obsessed with a pattern.

Until now.

It was an ordinary morning.

Well, not entirely ordinary.

I had a stomach bug. It made me want to die. Lying flat on my stomach gave me sharp stabbing pains. Sitting up straight made me dizzy. So I sat in a half fetal position at the computer, with a cup of herbal tea, trying to amuse myself. I read all my favorite blogs. I read my message board. I read my e-mail. I was out of things to do on the Internet. So I turned to knitting heroin, that is to say, Ravelry.

This did have trouble written all over it.

I read all my forums. I joined a few new ones. I started looking at all the message boards just searching for something interesting to read. I found a thread titled "What to do with leftover sock yarn." I was intrigued. I've got lots of leftover sock yarn. Tell me what to do with it!

Most of the ideas were ones I've already seen. Make tiny squares and sew them into a blanket. Wind them into one a huge ball and then knit a crazy pair of socks from you ball. Or my personal go to idea: knit baby things.

I did happen upon the Stashbuster Spiral Socks. I really am a process knitter at heart. I love to knit things just to see how they are made. I am intrigued by the construction of the stripes, so I might have to knit a pair just to see how it turns out.

Then it happened.

Someone suggested Tempest

I had seen this sweater before. I saw it when it was originally released as a Knitty surprise. But I paid very little attention to it. I was too enamored with Juju (which so happens to be the pattern I used for the baby pants I keep talking about but have yet to show you) (and now that I think about it I also knit a pair of Emma's Unmentionables for Pork Chop, that have yet to be shown on the blog. I'm such a bad knit blogger. No diet coke for me *sob* )

Anyways, I don't know why I passed over this sweater upon initial viewing. It might have been that green color of the original sweater. I might have been too blinded by the baby knits. Or (and this is probably the awful truth) I might have been carrying too much left-over baby weight at the time to consider knitting myself anything more than socks. (and I'm not saying I'm not carrying left-over baby weight now. I'm just saying I've gotten to know my baby weight. Those last few pounds don't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, so I've made it my friend. We've spent the past year bonding over lots of cookies and milk. I've made peace with it, mostly. It keeps me warm in the winter. I might have to keep my friend around).

Whew, I'm tangenty today!

Anyways, yesterday something changed. I don't know if it was the lighting or the faintness I felt from the stomach bug, but I fell in love with this sweater. Just look at the line of the collar, and the buttons, and the three-quarter sleeves, and the tiny buttons. And it is knit from sock yarn. This light sweater might be just what I need for the mild climate I live in. In short, this sweater spoke to me. An obsession was sparked.

I looked at every picture of every Tempest ever knit on Ravelry. I read all the forum posts about the sweater and the problems with the sleeves. I looked at every yarn used to knit this sweater and began to consider my stash, wondering what I had to use. After all, this only used enough yarn to make TWO PAIRS OF SOCKS. I raided the yarn cabinet to see what I had.

I could go black with pink and yellow

or blue with blue and pink

or blue with blue and green (do not be distracted by cute baby fingers)

or blue with a different blue and green

or dark blue with light blue and brown

or brown with blue and brown (although I'm not sure I have enough of the two tone brown for this one)

or brown with blue and brown (but that solid brown is alpaca and a little thicker than sock yarn, and I think I've learned my lesson on striping yarns of slightly different weights.) (or maybe I haven't)

or I could be practical, all black

or all tweedy dark blue

I have a few projects I must finish knitting before I cast on a new project, but in the mean time I am obsessed. I run over the different color possibilities in my mind wondering which one to use (the tweedy blue is the most practical, but the black and pink might be the most fun). What I would wear with each one? Where I would wear them? How nice the pieces will look all laid out blocking with my blocking wires. It was my last thought when I fell asleep last night, and the first thing I did this morning was visit the pattern. I am a woman obsessed. I'm predicting I get my knitting (two pairs of toddler size pants and a shawl) done in record time so I can cast on for a Tempest of my very own.

Prepare yourself for the storm.