In Praise of WIPs

I don't know about you but I feel as if Summer is flying by. I'm feeling the passage of time acutely as I'm two weeks away from the first of two teaching credential tests, working on studying for two midterms, and marking off items on my grad school application (not quickly enough!). 

How does this all relate to my knitting? Stress. Stress and startitis are friends. They have nights out, drink bottles of wine in one sitting, and text each other relentlessly. Most of the time stress and startitis include their buddy, procrastination, in their shenanigans. See?

 

My Green Gables (aka Traveler's Socks) had practically no knitting love until I realized that my West-B is in two weeks. Blammo! Just about to start the heel flap on the first sock as of this morning.

 

And these? Not really even a thing until my mid-terms loomed on the horizon. My first ever afterthought heel socks in some Knit Picks Felici. The color is called Fizz. I marked the heel with some scrap yarn and am cruising through the foot.

This might be construed as complaining about how my WIPs multiply with the number of ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY tasks listed on my calendar. It is - a little. But it's also a marker of taking time out to relax, to enjoy knitting, to play with yarn a teeny bit while I ponder the problems of phonology, the IPA, and teaching minority language children. Controlled bursts of creativity that help me buckle down and get work done. WIPs are good. I just wonder how many there will be by the time October rolls around.