Need help!

Hi, my name is Sarah and I'm addicted to knitting.  Lord, give me strength, all I want to do is knit. The problem is I also need to do housework and prepare meals and sleep and exercise and lots of other things that don't include knitting.

My other problem is that my hands are kind of hurting...ouch.  I can't have that.  So I'm hoping it's just getting them in shape to be better than ever...

I finished my first hat two weeks ago and it turned out really nice, except that I ignored the pattern and went with helpful hints from those around me (i.e. that will NEVER fit your head, it's too small).  The result was a really nice two-toned knitted cap that might fit the Hulk.  Of course, my BFF Jay thinks it's hilarious because he can pull it down to his neck like the character Dumb Donald from the Fat Albert cartoon.  Halloween idea perhaps?

"Dumb Donald"

Lane was begging me for a hat.  I started and almost finished his hat twice...I had it almost done at the football game on Saturday night and then the junior high team tied the game and we went into overtime...I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing, but kept knitting (another plus of the knitting is I can't scream and yell and throw my arms up).  Eventually, I did put the knitting down because I had to stand to watch us score and WIN, but I screwed up the top of the hat.

So on that Sunday I pulled it all out and started over.  I again screwed up the top because I am impatient (and possibly ignorant to the idea of a PATTERN), I unraveled my progress that night and started over again. As they say, the third time is a charm and I was not starting over on this hat again.  I'm not sure the yarn could take a fourth knit.

I followed a pattern this time and it worked out.  If it hadn't, I was going to have to move on because I am finding all kinds of free patterns on Pinterest...which I vowed almost a year ago to never peruse again. (Note: our annual church bazaar is coming up the first Friday of November.  Think knitted items available.)

Somehow I've got to find some sort of balance to be able to include time for knitting without going overboard and neglecting everything and everyone else around me.  I'm going to have to use some self discipline...something I'm not very good at.  The past couple of weeks, I have had a pain in my neck (ha) and went to the chiropractor.  He says the constant looking down (obsessive-knitting) is causing strain on my neck.  Must. Control. Myself.

As Jay said the other night when I discovered I had to start over again, "You just need to stop and walk away."  Yes, put the needles down and walk away...maybe I should try that.