Isn’t this beautiful? Dream in Colors gorgeous colors, and a bit of silver sparkle spun into the Smooshy yarn base to make it pop. This is their new yarn base called Starry. (And I knew that my hubby’s photo would turn out much better than my attempts.) We plan to have this up at The Loopy Ewe early next week. I know these would be beautiful as socks, but I think we’ll also see a lot of shawls and scarves and hats and gloves and mitts knit up in this, too. (Why hide it in your shoes?) I will confess to having cast on a cowl. FPS*. I am having a serious problem with casting on. In Wednesday’s post I referred to my newly-discovered (newly-admitted?) KADD. I don’t have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) but I definitely have KADD (Knitting Attention Deficit Disorder.) My number of WIP’s is ridiculous and it doesn’t seem to matter how many I have on my list – it just keeps growing. I do have a lot of single socks, but lately, the thing I keep casting on is scarves. One right after the other. I AM finishing some of them. I had to – they’re for Christmas gifts. But there are still too many mid-stream that get set aside for the next sparkly fun interesting exciting pattern or yarn that comes along and intrigues me momentarily. It really is fun to make scarves and mitts and hats out of “sock yarn”. And it’s a good way to keep motoring through my stash. (But I don’t think it counts as “using it up” when it sits there as a half-done WIP. sigh.) This weekend I’m spending some time organizing the stash. I hope I come out alive.
Today’s recipe is one that Elf Karen shared with us and then I made some changes to it. (I don’t change knitting patterns all too often, but I seem to change recipes when I make them.) It’s delicious and perfect for a cool winter evening.
Chicken and Mushroom Soup (or leftover turkey?)
6 cups water
2 quartered onions
2 bay leaves
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup chopped celery leaves
5 chicken breasts
Cook the chicken breasts in the above mixture until tender. Remove the chicken and chop into bite-sized pieces. Strain the rest of the mixture and reserve the liquid.
2 cups diced celery
2 cups diced onions
1 lb. sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup butter
5 cups fresh white bread, cubed
Saute the onions, celery and mushrooms in butter until soft. (Do not brown.) Remove from pan and then add in the bread crumbs. (You may need to add more butter.) Stir until well coated and toasty and remove from heat.
2 tsp. sage
2 tsp. pepper
2 tsp. poultry seasoning
6 Tbl. chicken stock base
5 cups evaporated milk
3 Tbl. flour
Add sage, pepper, poultry seasoning, chicken stock base, and evaporated milk to a large pot. Stir to heat through. Whisk in flour as needed, to thicken slightly. Add reserved liquid from above, as well as the onion/celery mix and the chicken pieces. Heat through. Just before serving, add bread crumbs and parsley (if desired) to each bowl.
Before I close, here’s the question for you to answer for the November Blog Contest. I’ll randomly select one person from the comments section, next Friday. So you have a week to leave your comment/entry. I know that there are many of you who, like me, have KADD. I see your orders. I peek at your Ravelry projects pages, I read your comments on Wednesday’ blog. I just know these things. For me, the thing that seems to entice me to start something new is either 1) a new yarn that I am itching to try or 2) a new pattern that intrigues me. If you have KADD, what is it that gets you picking up another set of needles and beginning something new? (And if you don’t have KADD, just go ahead and admit it. That will get you an entry into the contest, too. Any tips on how to avoid KADD? Don’t say “discipline”….)
Sheri 2or3projectsgoingatonceseemsreasonable
12ormoredoesnot.Ohwell.
*FPS = For Pete’s Sake
I have it year round. I even have to go buy new needles so I can start a project when I know I already have 3 or 4 in the same size already!!!
Usually it is a new pattern that gets me excited (for which I often go out and get new yarns), this seems to be backed up by the fact that I’ll often buy new yarn that sits around waiting to be used, but will still run out and get new yarn for a pattern I just have to have.
… not that I can explain the project in yarn I didn’t particularly like or the new sock yarn scrap blanket… (thought both were patterns I’ve been thinking about…)
I mod a group on ravelry called the “Solidarity League of Creative Women distracted by Oh! OH! Shiny”. “nuf said. Sometimes starting a new project is just GOOD for you. (I’ve noticed my average project life span is 1 skein, although with a second sock on the needles I’m on the verge of becoming a finisher)
Go me,
Joce
PS Hope you’re well! Chicken Hat says hello
For me, usually it’s a different/new color. At times, patterns have done it, or a new fiber, but most often, it’s color that gets me going off in another direction.
There’s just so much more out there than was ever available to us many years ago. We are so fortunate that way.
Sometimes I just get bored with a project. Nearly every one hits that place at some point. I may put it down for a day, a week, a year, a decade….but it probably will get finished. Just this weekend, I finished a lingering sock project (I had to rip one back all the way to the heel–the original (from the pattern) heel just didn’t fit. At least I’d been able to knit the second one with a heel that worked! And after that, I went back to another sock project that had only 2″ of leg and had been lingering that way since spring. I decided that pair would be part of Mom’s Christmas gift, and now the first sock is done through the end of its gusset.
I have a sweater I started back around 1999 or 2000, just after I switched to Continental knitting. The back and half the front are done. I got bored and put it down. I realized on my next project that I was trying to wrap the yarn instead of pick it. Every. Single. Knit. Stitch. Was. Twisted. I refuse to finish that sweater now, because I can’t imagine trying to replicate the twists on purpose. HOWEVER, I do plan to (someday) frog the whole thing. Hey, it’s many, many balls of Jo Sharp sport weight merino! That was my entire yarn budget that year! And it’s a smoky plum!
I only have a mild case of KADD. New patterns definitely intrigue me, but I have a relatively limited stash and typically buy yarn for a specific project, so that helps with not automatically casting on for something new. I generally have 3 WIPs. A big project at home (usually a sweater), a small commuting project (usually a sock), and my Print O’ the Wave stole, which I cast on for over a year ago at this point and almost never work on =).
I don’t think I have KADD. I usually just stick to one project at a time, unless it’s a big one like a sweater or blanket, then I’ve got a smaller one going as well. The most I’ve ever had going on at the same time is three projects: scarf, shawl and sweater. And I didn’t start the sweater until I was nearing completion of the scarf. 🙂
Then again, I don’t count projects that are hibernating. Like the two blankets and a half complete bear. The yarns I used for those just annoy me right now (the bear is made out of funfur, ’nuff said).
I have such KADD that i succumb to Both new yarns and patterns. I have WIPs that are “TNTC” (old med tech term Too Numerous To Count, referring to blood cells under a microscope!), but at least i can claim to have finished a great number of things to balance things out. How, i don’t know. I do knit alot during any given day, in the car, while scrolling thru Ravelry projects and websites, watching movies, and even while reading in bed. Each activity needs its own certain type of knitting. So, i don’t think i’ll be lookin’ for a cure anytime soon!
I have KADD and SADD but all I am finshing are baby presents for my new grandbaby due any minute.
My eyes are bigger than my stomach…uh…I mean faster than my fingers can knit! I can’t stop buying yarn. Colors and more colors… different weights too! (but my favorite is sock yarn-I can’t get enough). I keep trying to train myself to only work on a project or two or three or four and then someone’s birthday comes along and I think they’d like some socks or someone is having a baby-I can’t resist making a blanket or a BSJ-no baby should be without either!!! I’ve only recently gotten into making some of those WIPs for myself, but with all those gifts (which I LOVE TO GIVE) my personal WIPs get put on the back burner. I’m glad that I have KADD…makes life more interesting and I love getting others into having KADD!!!!
Anything will get me to start a new project! It could be the yarn, or a new pattern, or even a new pair of needles. I’m a pushover for any knitting project!
Ravelry contributes to my KADD, as well as “shopping” my yarn stash.
For me, the KADD is a combination of three things:
1) Becoming bored with a pattern or feeling like the project is not coming along quickly enough for my liking, hence I cast on to start a project that will move along more quickly…
2) Discovering a new yarn or project that would be fun and interesting to work with or would make a great gift for someone.
3) Realizing that I need to start Christmas/gift knitting promptly and finding the right yarn in my stash
I just don’t seem to have KADD. Just the opposite, if I don’t finish each project as it comes along, I don’t get anything done if I try to start more than 1 project. It makes picking projects very diffcult as if it doesn’t hold my sttention it gets frogged, period, lol.
I think I start something new when I start to get frustrated with a piece and/or bored!
I haven’t been knitting very long and sometimes don’t get the hang of a pattern right away.
I see so many wonderful things that I want to try so I order patterns and books, then I order yarn….
It makes me happy though!
Hi All,
I wouldn’t say I had KADD – but the RA factor (how much insulation is in our home) has moved up dramatically since I started stashing my yarn! Some are even on needles yet.
My CADD (Crafting ADD, because it extends significantly beyond my knitting – as evidenced by the entire ROOM in my home devoted to my crafts and their various tools and paraphanalia) has a ton of triggers: Yarn, fibers, patterns, tools, or techniques that I haven’t tried. I love to learn new things, or feel new things, so I just HAVE to try that new (fill-in-the-blank) . . . So much so, that in order to actually finish anything, I have limited myself to three projects otn at any given time (well, except for the one in the bathroom for working on while potty-training dd, and any “shorties” – something completed in a couple hours or less lol) I have been known to work on a project simply to finish it to start something new.
KADD, huh? Um, yes, I have it…and mine is a combination of having the PERFECT yarn and seeing/being asked to knit a pattern. I’ll start a new project if I have the yarn, ANY empty needles and a great pattern! Needless to say, I have about 8 projects going at a time!
Funny thing is, most are NOT listed on my Rav. project page…I tend to fill them in after the fact!
I HAVE been finishing nearly ALL my projects lately, because everyone & their brother is getting knitting from us (me) this year for Christmas!! Got the yarn, got the patterns, got ZIPPO money! :o(
I think the bigest problem for me is that I have 3 kids, and one asks for a sweater, or a hat, I’ll start it right away, and then someone asks for something, and I’ll leave the previous project, for the next, then I see a pattern I want to knit for myself so I’ll start that, then someone wants something else and if you make one for one kid, you have to do it for all of them, and then and then and then just like that there are a lot of projects started! (I do love when my kids ask for something, I can’t say no and daddy can’t get mad at yet another yarn purchase!)
Two things cause me to have KADD. The first is pretty new yarn (or pretty favorite yarn bases in shiny new colors…). Between what shows up on TLE and living around the corner from a VERY well stocked LYS that’s always bringing in new shiny things. If you’re ever in San Francisco, I highly recommend visiting ImagiKnit. Anyway, I tend to acquire new yarn at a much much faster rate than I can knit, even though I spend some time knitting almost every day, and I live for the thrill of seeing what will happen when something skeined turns into fabric… because it’s always a surprise! (And I hate knitting guage swatches. I tend to avoid them unless I’m making the kind of yarn substitutions that require adjusting stitch counts).
The second is a low boredom threshold. Once I’ve figured out how a project is going to turn out, I lose interest in actually finishing it, in favor of working on the thing that has more surprises in store. Knitting groups help me get over the second problem as it’s sort of better to have something uncomplicated to work on so that I can chatter and just keep my hands busy.
The other thing that helps is knit-alongs with deadlines. If I’m busily working on something and feel like it has to be finished by a certain date, I don’t think as much about all the other shiny new projects I could be starting because that little sticker for my blog or photo for a “contest” somehow means a lot. I don’t know why. Maybe I just have a competitive sort of a spirit… 😉
I am like a little kid…dangle a pretty yarn or neat pattern in front of me and I am casting on before my husband can say, “But, you already have, like, 4 things you’re knitting!” If only life didn’t interrupt my knitting time, I could finish projects a lot faster!
If I knit something once and love it I will knit 6 of them! Thats probably why I had 13 kids! Moderation is not a familiar word to me. Excess is my motto!
I’ve decided the truth is I like planning projects. I like starting projects. I love having finished projects to use or give. But between start and finish, I start planning the next project and temptation overruns prudence almost every tiime.
I have serious KADD! I started to make a list of all my “in-progress” projects and it just grows and grows as I remember old things. I think I’m most motivated by a new pattern but I must admit that I have SABLE – Stash Accumulation Beyond Life Excpectancy!
It’s gotta be the patterns … see something new … and pretty … or challenging … and OOOHHH!!! I just can’t stop myself! Have to go digging through boxes of stash until I find the right yarn … and then it happens ALL OVER again! LOL
Honestly, I just like starting project. I really like starting projects– choosing yarn, casting on, seeing the pattern start to develop– as well or better than continuing or finishing them.
Of course, that’s where my WIPs come from… that, and anything that’s not being knit as a gift, on a deadline, tends to get put aside for a while at some point, and some projects are seasonal for me . For example, I have a lovely WIP– a pink and green scarf– that I’ve only worked on during the first week or so of spring for the last two years. The yarn screams “Spring is here!” but I’m not motivated to work on it except when that fresh, all-is-new spring feeling hits. I’ll probably finish it this spring, and some part of me is already thinking ahead to the next start-of-Spring project.
Same thing with sweaters… I start a sweater for myself as soon as sweater weather hits each year… but of course, it never gets finished before it’s time to start holiday knitting, so into the WIP pile it goes until sometime after the first of the year. 😛
Fun times!
What happens when you have KADD combined with SABLE?
You have my living room.
I have 7 projects on the needles that I can lay hands on without stretching, along with 5 balls/hanks/skeins of yarn that aren’t associated with a project yet….
I won’t even mention the main stash upstairs in the office!
I have so many WIPs on hand because I tend to sit and knit in front of the TV and laptop – if I’m chatting online and not doing at least one other thing, I feel lazy. Plus, I’ve pulled out the afghan to work on since it’s now cold here in STL and I can stay warm under the work-in-progress. 😀
I try not to think of “KADD” as a bad thing; I just figure I’m really inspired! My biggest sources of project inspiration are bloggers and Ravelers, but sometimes I get a “bolt-of-lightning” idea and have to begin right away!
Thanks for the recipes and lovely yarns!
I have a addiction sock yarn and I’ve only complete 2 pair of adult sock and 3 pairs of baby socks total. I won’t say how many skeins of sock yarn I have and more on the way. *hides face*
Some of the yarn might be made into scarves and wrist warmers. It’s just so pretty.
The worst trigger for my KADD is need. A new baby needs a sweater, or three, and of course socks and hats to match, so-and-so needs socks for her new home in chilly Illinois, hubby needs mittens for our visit to Canada, whoops, another two babies are on the way . . . I’m finally making something for myself but that’ll go on hold (along with my most recent pair of “me” socks) as soon as I get my hands on the yarn I need for yet another baby outfit.
I only learned how last year so I’m fairly new to knitting, but I have a very advanced case of KADD. The yarns are so beautiful, I simply cannot resist.
Its everything–its another knitters lovely garment, its a new IK magazine, its listening to Stash and Burn ( and loving their projects), its surfing Ravelry, its surfing TLE!
I am not a big starter these days–I only have a few things going. But my dream project list, my queue is STAGGERING!
No KADD here, but Ravelry is a serious problem. SERIOUS. It’s always something I’ve never knit before that pulls me in.
The smell of wool…that’s it. I love the smell of wool. One whiff and I am off in search of needles and a pattern.
I want to caast on a new something when I see someone elses’s. Pictures from designers are intriguing, but what really makes me want to knit something is seeing a “real life knitter’s” fo.
I don’t cast on because I see something new/shiny/pretty, but rather because I am bored with my current main project. Over the course of knitting a single pair of Christmas gift socks this fall, I’ve cast on and completed a couple of hats, started another pair of socks, did a bit of spinning, researched new dyeing techniques, and managed to dye a bit. Ravelry is wonderful, but it’s also easy to waste hours there if I’m bored with my current project.
I have KADD and like another poster said, SADD as well. What is hard for me is logging onto Ravelry or any of my fave blogs and seeing all the pretty yarn and wonderful things to make with them.
It could be anything that sparks my want and need to get new yarn, but just the feeling of it is therapuetic. I can go sit in my office and just feel good. Something about our wooly things emits this feeling of comfort.
How do I avoid it, it is so hard, hard when your saving $ too, I’ve resorted to limiting my online time and from visiting my LYS, but I’m so aching for a visit.
I think my will might not hold out much longer come black Friday!
Either new yarn or an intriguing pattern can trigger my KADD. Combine the two, and I am toast. Mostly – a pattern that offers a technique I want to wrap my brain around. How to avoid KADD? I don’t know, and am not sure the cure would be worth it!
KADD?? Of course, of course, of course! It’s more fun that way anyhow!
The only cure for KADD is to have the husband or SO watching what you’re knitting. Every time I’m working on something new my dh asks if he can see the finished previous project!
I tell him I need a change of pace…
Soup looks good…better if I didn’t have to make it!
Yarn looks really interesting!
There’s a way to avoid KADD? If you find out what it is, I’d love to know! I’m the same way, I love to try new fiber/yarn. So I not only have KADD, I have SADD as well. Though I do spin faster than I knit lol. I think it’s because trying new things is one of the best parts of knitting. I do eventually finish some things (many moons later) but I (sadly) have a UFO box that is still growing, not shrinking. And Ravelry is SO not helping. New patterns+new yarn+new fiber=one HUGE UFO box.
Ah, it has a name! I feel better knowing there’s a reason for my behavior — KADD! I love trying new yarns AND new patterns. Since I love knitting socks, I also suffer from SSS (second sock syndrome) as my hands need breaks from those tiny needles and I’m off to start a hat, scarf or sweater. My WIPs are sadly too many to count, but all loved, just the same. I keep thinking that if I just finish them, I’ll have so many lovely creations, but then a new yarn or pattern calls my name, and…
I certainly have CADD – Crafting ADD. I switch from crochet to knitting to cross stitching with a touch of sewing thrown in. I’m also a bit more lenient than you when it comes to WIPs. Single digits are quite acceptable, double digits are not (and the fact that I have 13 means I can’t follow my own rules!). After all, you should have one small cross stitch for travel, one large for at home, one sock for your purse, a lace, a cabled, a colorwork, and a mindless knitting project, and then one or two others that pop up as gifts or what-have-you. I tend to start new ones more because I’m bored with the current ones – I work faster on something that’s new and pretty and exciting than something I’m bored with. After all, they all get finished in the end, right?
For me it would have to be a new pattern with a combination of getting tired of my current project, deadly combination that always results in a new project on the needles.
KADD soldier here reporting in for new assignment! I have been knitting so much lately I haven’t even updated Ravelry in some time. Sitting here I can count in my head without going to look in all my hiding spots and bags, I count more than I have fingers. However, I see this as my contributions to LYS and the web shops.
However, every couple of months I go through a period where I won’t let myself start anything new until I finish a bunch of projects. I am heavy into lace now, but it only gets a couple of rows a night so I can work on Holiday knitting. I do work full time but I am a car pooler and find time to knit daily!
What causes the KADD? A fabulous new yarn that I have to fondle, a design that jumps up and says “START me now…”, or a need for a conversational knitting project (to work on in public). I love complicated and detailed designs but save those to work on at home.
Starry definately is calling to me too!
I definitely have KADD and I’ll join those who have SADD as well. I am now beginning to feel drawn to weaving too — arghh it’s never ending fiber and color obsession. I figure it ‘s a pretty harmless addiction. I had a brief period of finishing things, but when I get bored with the project I am working on, my mind starts to wander and soon I have cast on for something new….If only I could convince myself to pick up one of the long ago abandoned projects I might start to reduce the extremely LARGE pile of UFOs…
What makes me yearn to begin something new is the desire to own what is in the picture and look like they look wearing it. It is that desire to be clever enough to add to your own wardrobe something beautiful while also getting to handle the gorgeous yarn. That’s it for me. Kathy
Colorful yarn, beautiful textures, new patterns & extra pairs of needles all support my KADD. I’ve just made peace with it lol.
Um, I might have KADD. I have, er, five? Or six? projects going right now. As I get stuck or bored or distracted from one, I cast on another.
Speaking of which, I think I’ll go work on that washcloth so that I can have it done, at least…it’s not in the Ravelry projects page. *grin*