inspired Monday: when inspiration leaves

I've managed to write at least a few of these inspired Monday posts.  But this week, I'm stuck.

I've spent the last 2 weeks on 2 different knitting projects, both of which have hit dead ends for now.

The first is the lacy scarf I was working on.  I discovered it yesterday morning just before hopping into the car for a long car ride.  I figured I'd get at least a couple hours of knitting done yesterday on our way to a first communion for family friends.  But when I felt the bend of the needle--where there shouldn't be one--I knew something was wrong.

It broke sometime on Saturday, somehow in my  girls' swimming bag.  I threw the scarf into my kids' swimming bag so that I could knit during their almost hour long swim lesson on Saturday morning.  I was already cranky about having to take them.  I don't like activities scheduled on Saturday mornings.  I don't like sitting in a 90 degree and humid room.  I don't like dripping wet people standing around me.  (My list of hang ups is long and ridiculous.)  I was missing out on a spinning class which is the only spinning class that fit in my schedule all week.

I had already nixed the idea of bringing a cup of coffee with me.  The pool room was already too hot, and last week my daughter had knocked into the cup of coffee I'd brought and spilled it all over her towel while changing in the locker room.

I kind of knew I wouldn't actually get to knit.  I did want to watch the kids swim but I figured I could sneak in a little knitting here and there.  I also heard a little voice say, "Every time you try to sneak in time for yourself while taking care of the children, it ends badly."  As my girlfriend said on the phone this morning, if she ever wants to make time for herself away from her kids, she knows she has to pay the piper when it's all done.

It's only a broken needle.  I only need to buy new knitting needles for it.  Minor stuff.  But still annoying.

The second project I've been working on is a design proposal.  I've spent the last three weeks off and on swatching, trying to find a stitch pattern and gauge on a bulky yarn I've never worked with before.  I finally found a stitch pattern I liked and thought I'd determined gauge.  I even washed and dried my swatch.  But when I tried to think through the sweater design, it was too complicated.  And I'm not up for complicated right now.  And we celebrated two birthdays in our house last week.  And I knew if I pulled away to try to figure it out, I wasn't going to be able to celebrate those birthdays like I wanted.

So I missed the deadline.

Again, minor stuff.  My kids won't always be little and birthdays only come once a year.  I'm not upset about that at all.  But I do need something to jump start my creativity again because I'm getting bogged down by little annoyances.