Here we are, knitters, in the middle of the year.  This holiday weekend is billed as the epitome of vivacity by cooking and lifestyle magazines, but here in Kansas it has been uniformly dour.  Some rain, but mostly just solid, dull clouds and a cool wind.  Malthus and I are on the couch, listening to the intermittent pop of fireworks (do they show up at all against the gray or is this just an outlet for ennui?) and sleeping and updating my Ravelry library, respectively.

This weather has me in an introspective mood, so let’s take stock of the year to date.  I have cast on for 23 projects this year, most of them garments, but only completed 11 projects (two this quarter).  While nearly 8,000 yards of yarn have entered the stash, I’m not doing too badly on output, having knitted up 3,200 yards.  Remember, I don’t count yardage until the project is finished.  That means another thousand yards or so are hanging out in the form of UFOs.

In spite of my distractible nature, I have been consistently knitting off the wishlist: Hitchhiker, Koolhaas, Snug Hood, and Jilted are already FOs, and Waterlily, Twenty Ten, Still Light, Owls, and Bonny are all in progress.  Spring and early summer were a bit heavy on garments.  This was a good opportunity to expand my experience with garment construction techniques, but my eye is starting to wander.  I have been actively coveting socks and shawls (Kate Davies’ Book of Haps did not help with this).  And since we’ve passed summer’s peak, I could also start planning fall sweaters.  Velma, Everett Henley, Fitted Dolman, Verchères pullover, Windswept.  The planning may have already happened.  Speaking of Windswept, I could instead implement my plan to knit one of every design out of Handmade in the UK.

The good news is that although my interest in particular projects waxes and wanes according to how many new patterns I’m drooling over at the time, I am still loving all my yarn.  The infuriating but lovely slipperiness of pure Romney, the chubbiness of Merino sock yarn, the drape of a silk blend.  We still have one more day left in this cloudy  long weekend.  Let’s see how much yarn I can get my hands on.