WIPs

I have now reached that place, in both my work life and my knitting life, where I have so many different projects on the go that it is entirely possible for me to spend all of my time figuring out what I should be working on, rather than working on anything at all.

Does anyone else recognize this state?

You know, the one where it feels like you're standing in the middle of a room, turning in circles, thinking, "This, I'll work on this. But no wait! What about that? That requires immediate attention. Except for that other thing, which requires even immediater attention. But wait again! Where's my list?" Ad nauseum. Et cetera. Ad infinitum. (And other a propos Latin phrases.)

That's where I am.

In fact, listing all of the projects that I am not currently working on but that I should be working on has become a new project all in its own right. This strikes me as wrong, but I'm so busy engaging in this (possibly avoidance-related) behavior that I can't seem to stop. So I thought I'd share my lists with you (because I'm all about spreading the joy).

On the knitting front, the active WIPs now include:
Maplewing, which has only about 24 rows and the neck edging to go until it reaches completion;
Younger Daughter's rainbow socks, which are about 2/3s of a foot from completion (one of those feet with five toes, rather than the kind with twelve inches);
The anemone socks, from last year's Rockin' Sock Club (as an aside, I just accidentally typed "Rocking" there, and boy does that look wrong. Why is it that "rocking" is so much less rockin' of a word?). I'm almost done with the first one, but since (last I checked) I have two feet, that means I'm less than halfway done;
Rick's gridiron socks, which are languishing badly. I'm choosing to believe that the problem there is the needle/yarn combination, and that, now that they're on other needles, they will knit up like the wind once I pick them up again. Given the oft-mentioned size of R's feet, the more logical part of my brain thinks that the hopeful part of my brain is completely whackadoodle;
The pretty little scarf that I started and completely forgot to mention to you all (mea culpa), but which is about halfway done unless I decide I hate it and rip it out;
The sweater cozy, from the second Mason/Dixon book, which seems like it should be a fast knit but, it turns out, isn't;
Plus the three projects that I'm so dying to start that it already feels like they're on the WIP list (as if this delusional process didn't add to my stress), which include the little lace shell I'd like to knit for myself, the linen/flax shell I want to knit, and the beaded socks from January's Rockin' Sock Club installment.

And that's just the knitting. On the work front, there's:
The teaching grammar that I said I would write on my sabbatical (I may have even signed notarized paperwork to that effect, but I'm in denial);
The paper that I wrote ages ago that should be revised and resubmitted to the lovely journal that suggested that I do just that (I haven't signed any notarized paperwork about that one, thank goodness);
The other paper that I wrote ages ago that needs some buffing and polishing so that it can be sent out into the world to make its own way;
The paper that I presented last summer that I haven't started writing but really should (see how I keep adding pre-WIPs to my lists?);
The paper that I'm supposed to present at a conference the first weekend of April (this one's really making my hyperventilate);
The Institutional Review Board Human Subjects application that I need to write so that I can get approval to interview Human Subjects (that would be y'all, in case any clarification were needed) about knitting, being a knitter, and all things knitterly;
Plus all of the other little odds and ends that make up an academic life, like thinking about syllabi for next semester, looking at the proofs that I just got via email this week, responding to various whackadoodle emails from various colleagues, et cetera, ad nauseum, ad infinitum.

So, what am I doing about all of it? Apparently, I'm writing a blog post.

Oops.

Maybe I should go stand in the middle of that room again and look for something to do.