We all know about page-turners. Those books you just can’t put down. You start it and then the next thing you know you are done and feeling sad and empty. Often you neglect your family and friends just to fit in a few more minutes of reading.
I admit that reading the Twilight series was like that for me. I don’t even like vampires or even romances all that much but something about these books kept me reading straight through four books. It makes no sense that one can find themself consumed by a book they had no interest in reading. Character development in books plays a large role in my love for a book. The book needs to be easily readable. Books that jump around to a different character every chapter seldom draw me in. In addition, a page-turner can not be overly predictible. There must be the right amount of surprise and cliff-hangers.
Knitting seems to follow the same trajectory. Some knitting projects are just “page-turners” where you find yourself staying up a little later just to get to the next part or you always find yourself saying “just one more row.” With these projects it does not even seem to matter if you want the finished project, it is all about the process.
Here are some things that I think make a project a just-one-more-row project:
The right balance of new and easy. A project should have some easy sections that you can just fly through while having other parts that capture your attention. This may include a new type of construction or an interesting stitch pattern. The Gathered Pullover was one of the quickest sweaters I have ever knit. It started at the hem in the round. By the time I got sick of knitting stockinette stitch I was almost to the knot at the bust. Much like a cliffhanger I had to continue to find out what the knot would look like, then I was almost done with the body of the sweater. At this point, I only had the sleeves left.
Likewise knitted lace keeps me knitting because you have a break from the lace pattern when you work a plain row every other row. Generally I prefer lace with predictible patterns so that I do not need to consult the pattern for every stitch.
Changes in color also can keep a project moving. Self-striping yarn became so popular because knitters just needed to see how the project would look when they worked the next stripe. The same effect also takes place in colorwork projects; such as, Fair Isle or Intarsia. Currently I am making Intarsia socks and I am eager to see the picture develop.
In sock knitting I am most likely to neglect my project between the heel and toe. For that reason I like a sock pattern to have something of interest in that area. While I generally do not knit many socks toe-up, I do find the toe-up sock holds my interest better because by the time I become bored I am working on the cuff pattern.
Finally I think the just-one-more-row factor can depend on your mood. Maybe you are dealing with a lot of stress at work and you just need to knit one mindless row after another. Maybe you feel the need for a challenge and you want a complex chart. Sometimes it is just looking within yourself and thinking, “What will really inspire me today?”
Loophaven Loft 
The Shetland lace stole is amazing!
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