All the stuff, none of the time

I NEED to be finishing off the giant purple Aeolian that I should have given to a friend in March. Unfortunately, after waiting a while for the yarn to arrive from the States, I have used it to create this:



I find yarn tangles to be a mix of glorious satisfaction and enormous frustration. I get to a point where I think 'I've been here for six and a half hours, my arms ache, I can't feel my back and my stomach is threatening to eat itself if I don't feed it soon, I really need to...oooo what about if I pull on this bit...'. It's quite addictive. And this tangle got so big I had to move it upstairs to my spare room (the blocking room) for the space to spread it out. This is the aftermath. However, I really don't need mad tangles when I'm on deadline.

I NEED to be knitting on the Wisp stole that I randomly decided to cast on for a week ago so I could wear it to the school prom (wow I feel 16 when I write that) with the dress I ordered which may or may not arrive in time for the dance in a week's time.



I WANT to be knitting on the blue shawl of doom - having ripped it back and fixed a few bits and bobs I didn't like from the first attempt, I started again, did the first lace row and was four stitches over. I think this shawl might be my knitting nemesis and I really want to be working on it and kicking into shape and teaching it who's boss.



I WANT to be casting on for a second Pomatomus before another sock goes two years without a friend.

I WANT to be winding this:



into a lovely ball and casting for a pair of Nutkins because it's so very pretty and I want it and that's all there is to it.

Instead, what I'm going to go and do is work on a work in progress that has been going on for longer than I've been knitting. I am on my way to go and grade. I am currently a grey belt in Kung Fu. If all goes well tonight, I will be a grey belt with a black tab. When I've got another two tabs, I will be grading for my black belt. But for now, I have this hurdle to jump. And I'm bricking it. Although I am bored on my belt and I am desperate to get this over and done with and I have chosen the date to grade (and chosen to grade at all - my current sifu offered to let me move onto the next level without grading, but I am meritocratic to a fault), suddenly I don't feel ready. I'm worried that I'm not going to pass with a high enough score to make me happy. And I'm nervous in general.

So for tonight, with all the stuff I want and need to be getting on with, it's kung fu that is my work in progress.

For more works in progress, see Tami's Amis.