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 do have KADD! When I think of something new I could/should/want to make someone for the holidays, I start it. I’ve got so many items on the needles I don’t know which one to work on when. It’s very confusing. I need a plan!
I think I try and knit with all my yarn at once. I want to love and touch it all. You know it’s bad when you keep needing to buy more of the same size needles because you have projects on the ones you have!
I used to not have KADD. I used to be really good about only doing 1 project at a time.
Then I discovered online yarn shopping. Now I am rapidly approaching SABLE (and hit QABLE long ago).
So how do I keep things from getting too overwhelming? I indulge myself a little and have 3-4 projects going at once. When I get bored with one, I work on another. And round and round I go.
Now any tips on how to curb those yarn cravings?
There is only ONE thing that will trigger a case of KADD in me…and that is when I’m knitting something that I HAVE to knit. In fact, last summer I dumped my list of to-do knits because my KADD was getting so bad that my knitting had nearly ground to a halt. Now I only knit what I want, when I want, and I find that I am surprisingly focused in my knitting!
I’ll admit I suffer from KADD. But there is no cure, so I just keep casting on to cope. That is my drug of choice . . . an its still legal.
KADD, KADHD, Castonitis, I have it all. Even when I get time to sit down and knit, I have to hop up and look at my other projects.
I definitely have KADD. What gets me going is a stitch pattern I haven’t tried before, or a new color combination, or a new yarn. Another trigger is projects that aren’t working out as expected, a new project might work better!
Total knitting ADHD. So bad that I don’t list things on ravelry until I’m practically done with them. It’s the newness of things: knit this sock; one done? next pattern please. New yarn – try it out. Ooh, shiny, more yarn! Cast on again.
Pattern books are serious trouble for me. If I find one I like, I usually want to make it all, even if I have no use for it. Ravelry… I’m not even going to start.
But mainly? I have cast-on-itis.
I’ve definatley got KADD!
I have to force my self to not cast on anything more right now. I HAVE to finish my scarf before I start anything else!
But cure for it? HAHA I doubt it! I will probably CO again soon!
My number of underway projects is limited only by the needles available… and I have a lot of needles. I do get bored, especially on big projects, and tend to stall on things just before they get finished. That’s one reason I like socks!
Sometimes I’ll sit and alternate projects for an evening… but you have to be alert or you end up getting the patterns crossed.
KADD?! Be real!! I’m focused on finishing a half pair of socks and a half pair of gloves right now, and have promised myself that they’ll both be done before year’s end…because I have other knitting and crocheting stuff going on. Including one sweater that I started YEARS ago, finished the back and then ripped it out and started over, because I wasn’t pleased the first time (I’d just started knitting)…I’ve finished the back and started on a sleeve, but this is the eternal sweater…I’ll never finish…it’s on #3 needles!!!
I get too excited when I see new yarn or a new pattern…I’ll be focused on finishing and, the next thing I know, I’ve thrown it back into the bag, and I’m casting on for something new!!
There is no cure, just give in to it! It’s always nice to have an excuse to buy more yarn!
Oh, I definitely have KADD. Sometimes I have a legitimate reason for putting a project down (like the old hand injury that acts up when there is a hint of a gentle breeze). More often than not though, I cast on a new project so I can look on in amazement at how beautifully the yarn knits up (usually…) and experience that little rush of joy in creation.
As to how I counter the KADD…well, usually I just try and think of the items I am knitting for other people. My friend deserves a cozy pair of mittens right now much more than I need another pair of socks. Although I haven’t quite figured out what to do when knitting away at multiple gifts. Grow an extra set of arms maybe?
Usually its a luscious new colorway or texture or fiber. Not so much patterns – they are strictly enablers for the KADD from fibers!
I definitely have KADD. Right now I’mfighting the urge to start another sweater before the first one is finished, or a pair of socks. It ususally occurs when I find some new yarn or pattern. CO for everything 🙂
I have no idea how to combat my KADD issues. Maybe a support group would help??? ha- ha probably not.
You know, upon considering, I really don’t have KADD (which is amusing, since I do have ADD). I love finishing things, so that helps, and I like playing with skeined yarn, which helps too. The only reason I currently have so many WIPs is bad luck — started a present for a friend but wasn’t ok with the colour, so set it down for a bit and started gloves but misplaced the chart then while waiting for yarn for the original present, started a sweater. … On second thought, maybe I have a slight form thereof, but I am being impressively monogamous with this sweater.
I have KADD. But I force myself to stick to no more than two projects at a time, or else my life would be a complete mess and I’d never finish anything.
Right now I’m slogging through some socks that were so much better in my head, and what kills me is how much I wanted to cast them on in the first place, and now I can’t wait to finish the damned things.
KADD? Who me?? I won’t tell you how many projects I have on the needles right now. And I won’t mention that I just had to place an order of more needles because KADD is my middle name. I’m not going to sweat it though because life is too short to be spent feeling anxious about how many projects I have going right now. I will finish them one by one with my motto: “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”
You mean its not good to have projects on all available needles at any given time? Don’t you think pretty yarn laying around is nice? Is there anything more lovely that spindles full of singles and spinning wheels in front of 2 or 3 chairs ready to go whenever there is a free moment? The holidays are pushing me to start some more projects, but also to finish. Its starting to rain and be cooler here in California, which means its knitting time all the time (at least when I’m home).
KADD and proud of it!!!!! The smell…the color….the feel…MUST…TRY…IT….ALL!!!!
Once in a while, i get the urge to start everything that crosses my path. Now is one of those times. I have more WIPs right now than I have has in a while. Most of the time I have a couple going and I go back and forth until they are done. Too many projects and I get paralyzed and nothing gets done. Too few and I get bored. It is a delicate balance. LOL
I guess I could be happy knitting the pretty yarn I’m already knitting if it weren’t for all the new patterns I see. I just see things, and I want to have them, so I start knitting them. (Or sometimes, I buy yarn and then start knitting them.) There is one advantage to this, though, which is that after a while I accumulate a bunch of almost done WIPs, and then I can finish them all inside a couple weeks and feel very very productive. 😉 So I’m not really fighting it.
Nothing says “recovery from KADD” like a promise to someone that you’ll finish a knitted gift for them! It is the only thing that works for me. Tell someone WHEN their gift will be in the mail, and you’ll find it harder to “cheat” with another project…I hope!
Anne Hanson’s patterns get me every time. I just want to start another one as soon as she blogs about it! I crrently have 4 of her patterns otn!
I don’t think I have KADD so much, usually only one project at a time on the needlexs… SADD, though, I got that in droves… (Spinners ADD) I have every spindle with fiber on it, all but 2 bobbins for the wheel with fiber (the 2 are waiting for plying… for now… if I can keep them empty) and what gets me going with that is NEW fibers. I’m a new spinner, and if I see something new I haven’t tried (happens often) I gotta try it!
meantime, my poor knitting… I started a project for my daughter the day she was born…. its not finished, but 6 months later, she has outgrown it. I did not touch it at all for over 5 of those months!!
My KADD is brought on by yarns and patterns, of course (made worse by ravelry – seeing what others are working on or queuing), but also by hitting a boring spot in my current WIPs and wanting something fresh to work on. The advantage, of course, is that I can usually just switch WIPs and get a fresh perspective. I’d like to finish some things, though…
I think I am now suffering from DADD Designers ADD. Right now, I have about 12 ideas for knit designs swimming around in my head, and each time I swatch a stitch pattern for one design, 3 others come to mind to use a variation of that stitch pattern. Right now I’ve got 4 designs on the needles, and 7 designs waiting in the wings, with another 5 making their way up the priority list.
For me it is usually a pattern I want to try. Sometimes the cause of finding the pattern is due to a new yarn purchase.
For example I buy some pretty yarn and I think to myself “what might I want to make wit this?” I search through raverly, find a pattern I’m excited about and then… I can’t help it. The excitement demands that I must cast on.
I think every knitter to some extent has KADD and lately I’ve had a major dose as shown by my recent orders at TLE. I spent some time on Ravelry this past weekend and printed more than I can knit in the next 5 years and of course I had to have yarn to make some of them in case one day at 5 a.m. I have to start another project. Now that I think of it I probably should buy more knitting needles. Happy Thanksgiving!
I like to CO new yarn just to see how it knits up… but usually the gauge swatch will hold me for awhile. Basically I’m a “finisher”; I like FO’s!! I try not to have more than 2 (or 3) WIP’s at once. One simple project (for the car, lunch breaks at work, etc…) and one that I need to concentrate to do properly.
The patterns are definitely what drive my KADD. I see a new pattern or browse through a book and just have to have a new hat or pair of socks or sweater! And immediately!
I am starting to develop KADD, especially since joining Ravelry. New patterns and new yarns get me excited and I want to cast on immediately. I do think I get less bored with projects when I have a variety going and most actually get finished.
Oooooh that yarn is pretty.
I do have KADD, and for me it’s not what interests me that causes problems, but what doesn’t. Here’s how it works:
I fall in love with some complex pattern, say a fair isle scarf knit as a tube (so you can’t see all the color changes, but it means it’s really double the knitting). I LOVE the pattern, I start, I LOVE the process…about halfway through I still LOVE the pattern, but I am SICK of color changes…and oooh, that lace scarf looks pretty.
So I start the lace scarf, but I’ve never knit lace before, so for every 10 row repeat I have to knit about 20 rows (lots of frogging back a few rows at a time). Which is looking really nice, but grows old after a while, and I just can’t deal with knitting another row that I might just have to rip out again anyway so…hey, the baby needs a new sweater.
So it’s always something that makes a project go from wow to …um later. Lace and fair isle are complicated and require lots of focus, sweaters usually require finishing (I ALWAYS have pieces of things lying around), and bigger projects tend to get old.
I just have no attention span…and I want to knit everything.
I think my KADD goes up around this time of the year. There is just so much knitting I have to get done before the holidays and not enough time. Every year I tell myself I am going to start earlier and make a spreadsheet so I know when I have to get things done. Hasn’t happened yet… heh
Various things lead to KADD for me–a new pattern that I MUST try, right this second. A new yarn that is too good to let sit on the shelf. Not feeling into any of my projects but feeling like knitting anyway. . . . Most often, though, it’s the patterns.
i totally have kadd! i was just thinking the other day that i had to stop dreaming about casting on actually just finish a project. what makes me want to cast on a new project? hm – usually it’s a new yarn that is calling my name or a new pattern that i have discovered or rediscovered via a blog, ravelry or just going through a pattern book. is there a support group for kadd?
I definitly have it….KADD….every place I look there is a new project sitting….what get’s me started is a new yarn or new pattern that I just got and I just want to knit a “teeeeensly, liiiiiiiitle “bit of it to see what it looks like. Then, it is so fun that I can’t put it down, or it’s not! 🙂
I havent the slightest idea what you are talking about when you say KADD!
I am definitely afflicted, but I like to think of it more as my ‘variety pack’ of knitting projects. Sometimes I want to work on some lace. Sometimes I want something a little less complicated (TV knitting!). Or I want something I can finish in a few days for that feeling of accomplishment. I’ve pretty much convinced myself that there is always a good reason for starting a new project when I have multiple WIPs. It keeps me interested!
I’m totally guilty of KADD! A pretty new pattern… pretty yarn… bored with a current project (or 10)…… whatever… don’t really need a reason, lol!
Yes, I guess I do have KADD. I typically have at least two or three projects on needles, in part because I get bored with one and need to do something different for an hour or two and in part because I need to work on something small as a commuting project. Then I find a new yarn or new pattern that I simply HAVE to have and simply HAVE to start on right away, which usually leads to disaster in terms of some things that are KIW (knitting in waiting) on the needles. I’m afraid to count the number of UFOs that are hiding in various corners of my house (under beds, in closets, hiding away in various knitting bags in the basement, etc.) I do finish my UFOs — eventually. I think the oldest KIW was a sweater that was waiting to be sewn together, and I’m finally wearing it after 23 years. Sigh . . .
KADD? uuuuhhh….what were you saying? I was looking at this new yarn and got distracted.
LOTS of things trigger my KADD. Usually some delicious new yarn, but sometimes it’s a delicious new pattern…..and sometimes it’s both. Basically, I don’t need a trigger. I’ll start something new with absolutely no excuses. Lately I have been trying to finish things…but….there’s just SO MUCH TO KNIT!!!!
I also have an aversion to boredom, apparently, and just about every project has a boring phase….and that’s when fancy lace patterns, quirky little mini-projects, and socks rear their ugly heads….or should I say….*extremely attractive* heads.
yep, I’m shameless.
Def new yarn. But one thing that can keep my KADD in check is the accompanying pattern indecisiveness– there will usually be 2 or 3 patterns that are just “perfect” for the yarn and I will have the darndest time picking between them!! Although new yarn that comes as part of a club and has an accompanying pattern? Oh well, indecisiveness can do nothing for me there… KADD all the way!!!
I have serious KADD. There are 12 unfinished items in my Ravelry queue, and probably a few more lurking in bags to bite me later. Sometimes it’s new yarn that seduces me, sometimes it’s a new pattern. And while I like having something completed, usually unless it’s socks, the project isn’t for me, so I don’t even have the lure of “once you finish this, you can wear it” to tempt me. I try to make bargins with myself about finishing things up, but once I get sidetracked by something else new and shiny, it takes a tremendous effort to get back to a project that I’ve set aside.
Well, I have to be very good about starting new projects, but I certainly stash yarn as if I have KADD. I also use Ravelry for adding to my queue and favorites list should I ever have more time to knit than I do currently. So basically, if I want to finish anything (and I do like finishing projects), I have to keep WIP’s to 2-3 at a time (one of them socks).
Finishing something…anything, makes me itch to cast on something new. I have plenty of projects going that need finishing, but if I finish one, in spite of the 7 more that need finishing, I believe that finishing the one gives me the right to cast on something new. Usually it’s one to one. If I finish a scarf, I start another scarf. If I finish socks, I start another pair of socks. You get the idea. Kind of like Donna above said, I need the variety pack!
new patterns are like a drug to me. i HAVE to caston to try it or see how it’s done. new yarns keep niggling at the back of my mind screaming look at it again..i have so many things going at once the only salvation is i can change projects frequently. this 1. saves the boredom factor. and 2. keeps me changing needle sizes so my hands get a rest from one size to the next.
i admit i have KADD and just don’t care! HA!
The main things that get my KADD going are yarn color and the way a project looks, especially on Ravelry’s Beginner lace forum. The group votes on and starts one new project a month. Some of the knitters get them done so fast and it’s so pretty that I think it will go that fast for me too. Not always true, but the switch that turns off denial for me is broken.
The second thing that gets me going is wool yarn. I haven’t completely sworn off acrylic, but as soon as I get done with a project for my mom and make two afghans, I am going to be completely done with acrylic yarn, hopefully before next summer.
A new pattern usually motivates me to start a new project. And of course being bored with the current project. I have major KADD. I was knitting my mom socks for last Christmas. I finished one sock and then put it down. Now, it is about a month away from Christmas and I have yet to start the second sock. OH Second Sock Syndrome.
Oh man, do I ever have KADD. I just took a look, and I think at this very moment I have about 16 or 17 WIPs scattered around my house, and I am just about to cast on another. Just about anything triggers it: shiny new yarn (like that DIC Starry); boredom or frustration with the project I’m currently working on; someone mentioning that they would like a particular knitted item, even if they didn’t actually ask me to make it; or surfing ravelry and finding a gorgeous new pattern. I tried fighting it, but I’ve decided to just roll with it. They’ll all get done eventually…right?