Stress
The first major piece of knitting I completed coincided with my GCSE exams when I was 16. Chronically stressed and convinced I was heading for nine D grades, Mother helped me out by getting a big cone of yarn and a Fisherman's Rib sweater pattern. I was stressed, not Mother, she got stressed when she found me knitting when I should have been revising, though I was listening to French radio at the time which was technically practice for my French exam. I came out of that summer with six A's, 2 B's, a D (Art), a U for Maths Extension (a.k.a. "You failed, loser! But so we don't harm your delicate little self esteem we'll call it an ungraded pass"), and a sweater, which I still wear.
Fast forward to Sixth Form, the dreaded A Levels ("You know GCSE's
don't prepare you for A Levels, you'll have to work a lot harder now") and the horrors of being the only one doing S Level physics (no-one ever explained what the S was for. A was for Advanced, so S was for Super advanced? Stressful? Superfluous?). I got through two years of study with enough academic success to get into university, and one purple sweater with pockets, one nightmare pink DK stockinette cardigan, and one big blue wrap thing, two of which I still wear.
What I need is an exam. Something that requires study, adrenaline, stress, dire consequences for failure, and the necessity of stress-relieving knitting. I need to get that sweater done. It's a year and a bit until the tenth wedding anniversary and it's exactly half done. I never specified which anniversary I'd finish it for when we got married, and ninth is pretty much unreachable given the socks and hats I have planned. Got to be the tenth. They told us at marriage prep course the first decade is the worst. I've spent the whole decade knitting the same sweater. (Hubby, I love you, the sweater will be great, I just need a little motivation.)
It looks better in person. Double moss stitch, a 10 row repeat cable, and a 46 row repeat central design, in Sirdar wool blend of his favourite colour. Hopefully I can start on the ribbing this weekend.
(Note: I'm not a complete math dunce, I passed the university level math
courses. Silly me, I thought I'd get away from math by doing a Physics degree.)