Pat, I miss you

I've heard the snickers behind my back every time I suggest starting a new sweater project. I know they're my pals & I know they laugh but I've always been a great Starter & a lousy finisher. All my life, I've been the one with the 'Great Ideas' or the 'Money Making Project' every Fall to fund those Christmas gifts we needed to buy when we were broke. For 26 years my closest friend Pat was my finisher. Pat was a detail oriented person.
When we went to a fashion show once - I saw the shape & color of the clothes while she noticed the trims, the buttons, the gussets & the shoes! She remembered the kind of glass eyes that expensive Stuffie had that we couldn't afford. She's the one who found the perfectly matched hat or lipsticks but she couldn't come up with a project idea to save her life. She'd dither over the colors, shapes, findings & patterns forever until I would point to the project that I'd already chosen in my head. I saw the Big Picture & the Bottom Line. She saw all the Steps & Details. I was often impatient while  she was overwhelmed but together, we made beautiful things.

I'd often go shopping for the supplies before she even decided to participate. I had to. And she was always finishing up the hems, buttons, pockets, eyes etc because I'd lost interest & was on to the next thing. I miss her. Without her, my sweaters don't get finished. They get halfway there or three quarters of the way & I lose interest & start a new one. It's a terrible character flaw, I know. If I was a size 0, I'm sure I'd finish something but when you're a size Barn, it takes forever. Do they have 12 step programs for people like me??? Maybe they should if they don't. Or I need a new Pat. Sigh . . . . .  maybe I'm just condemned to knit socks.

And speaking of socks - I've finished the latest Frankensocks in blues - above. I got bored with all that blue & added a teeny tiny pink stripe & that was my downfall. They're mostly Blue & the 20 somethings will fight over them as they are, LOL. And then I finished a pair of Pink Lace Socks. The yarn has a lot of elastic so they stretch a lot. They came with some yarn donations a couple of years ago - they even had the Kollage square DPs still in them. One sock was finished while the other was almost done when the knitter ran out of yarn .  .  .  . I understand, really I do!
I merely shortened the finished sock & got enough yarn to finish the toes on both. They stretch so much that they'll fit a couple of sizes & will make a teen-aged heart somewhere go pitty patt!!