Brain Overload

Every once in a while, and always while editing a new pattern, I have a few moments of "my head is going to explode and I just don't know how to do this."  I imagine that lots of people get to feeling that way about a lot of things, but most of the things I do every day don't challenge me in the way pattern writing does.  It's all making sure I'm communicating clearly (which I think I'm pretty good at) and lots & lots of math.  Math doesn't scare me the way it seems to freak out some people, but it's still what gives me my moments of "How am I crazy enough to think I can do this??" 

But then, I suck it up and go, "I wrote this darn thing, I can sure as heck edit it", get out my blank sheets of paper and pencils, grab my calculator and lock myself in a quiet room for a few hours.  I really need big blocks of time to edit because once I get into the "groove" of thinking through the construction of a garment, it's so much easier to just keep going than it is to get sidetracked and have to start all over once the interruption has passed.  This is the main reason I don't do much writing in the summer.  I knit plenty, but I can't concentrate on writing when my kids are around.  They're even old enough that they don't come looking for me all the time, but just being conscious of them being around the house and listening to them play is distracting enough that I don't trust myself to have my full attention on my work.

With that in mind, I was determined to get the Guacamole sweater edited today so I could get its test started before my kids get out of school (and that is coming up really, really soon!)  I just posted the test with a deadline in late June, so I'm hopeful that I'll get to release this pattern before the end of next month.

Meanwhile, it's time for me to give my overworked left thumb some time off.  Since February, I've made 5 child-sized cardigan sweaters and I've made an adult cardigan to fit me.  Half of each of those sweaters were purl stitches, so I'm pretty sure if I don't give it a rest, my poor little purling thumb is going to kill me in my sleep.  I am extremely thankful that the next thing I have to work on is done entirely in the round and is 95% stockinette stitch!