I admit that I frequently let projects rest — sometimes for months, sometimes even for years.  I also admit to having mixed feelings about that.  Ideally, I would work a project to completion like a sensible person, but somehow interruptions occur.  Sometimes it is the change of season (that is the most common reason) and sometimes it is the necessity of working on a baby gift or something else with a deadline of sorts.  Occasionally, a project just sort of gets lost in the shuffle — as in I set it aside because I am taking a trip and it is not really portable or something like that and then I just never pick it up again.

I am not sure what happened with Dreambird.  But I think it had something to do with the fact that it is a challenging project that requires concentration and blocks of time.  I love this kind of piece!  I am fascinated by patterns that involve complex stitch or row manipulation to create stunning fabrics.  They are magical to me and I cannot resist trying them out 🙂

But, of course, they take a lot of time and a lot of brain.  They are best worked when I have a few quiet hours in the afternoon.  That happens maybe twice a month.  So, my progress is glacial. But never say die!  And earlier this month I became inspired to wake Dreambird from its 2-year slumber.

I was encouraged to see that I was further along than I had thought — and reasoned that if I had somehow completed 8 feather repeats I must have known what I was doing.  The mere fact that I had managed to knit 8 feather repeats gave me confidence!  It took an entire afternoon to work through the pattern — which is necessarily wordy with line-by-line instructions to get all the short-rows line up properly.  It is not intuitive, tho I found it familiar as I inched along (obvioulsy the Dreambird buried in my brain was waking too!).

After successfully knitting up a feather, I wisely chose not to do the math on how long it would take me to do all the remaining feathers (say 12 or 15).  But I felt determined to continue — especially as it is so very beautiful!  And the process of getting re-acquainted with the pattern was only slightly less arduous that getting acquainted with it in the first back (I started having flash-backs….), so it would be the-kiss-of-death to let it hibernate again.

Predictably, the weeks following the Great Awakening were busy ones — and it was only yesterday that I found myself with a couple of quiet afternoon hours.  But I did get through most of a feather repeat — and it came along well.  Not speedily, but with less second-guessing and re-reading and such.  Hopefully, as we move toward summer, the Dreambird will take flight!

And the I can start Papillon!