Monday, June 7, 2010

Juggling with (knitting) needles

Is there such thing as 'startitis' in knitting? I've heard of 'finishitis", so there must be, and I must be susceptible because I spent the whole weekend leaping from one project to the next.

There was a good bit of Carrot, of course, but not Man Socks, though they did get shifted around on the counter a lot.

I started and mostly finished the next freebie - the glasses case I made for my mum's birthday last year - and wrote up the pattern, and just need to sort out the finishing and photography before I post it later this week. As you can see, the undyed Patons Classic Wool I used for the last round of stitch swatching was still out on my desk when I did it:


Between installments of the freebie, I swatched for the next mystery KAL, wrote up the start of the pattern, and got going.

Don't you hate when you swatch and you're pretty sure you picked the wrong size needles but you don't want to rip out the swatch to try with another set because you'd like to compare the two and you also don't want to cut the yarn because you're not really that fussed about washing the swatch, knowing perfectly well how the yarn reacts when wet and if you don't cut it's just easier to reuse?

I do.

This time though it finally occurred to me to cast on a few inches further into the yarn, making a sort of swatch parade:


Which told me definitely that swatch #2 is the way to go, while leaving a ton still on the ball. That stuff goes a really long way and is insanely springy and squashy soft - I'd forgotten how nice it is, which is a bonus in such a bargain-priced yarn.

I moved the still-frogged Baby Surprise Jacket into a roomier knitting bag, leaving the smaller one free for... something.

That's when - really, if it wasn't the excitement over having a perfect knitting bag suddenly free for it I don't know what came over me - I printed off the three for-me sock patterns in my queue and grabbed the one skein of sock yarn I've wound into two balls and not cast on already, and slipped them
plus needles
plus stitch markers
plus a dpn holder
plus one of the patterns
into the bag.

Of course, getting all the bits into one place isn't the same as casting on. But I expect that to happen today. I love the Man Socks for walking around knitting because that K2 P2 ribbing is so mindless, but for showing off, you just gotta have something with a little zing.

1 comment:

Karen said...

Ooh, Spring Forwards! One of my favourite sock patterns; I've been meaning to make another pair or two, but you've beaten me to the punch. Enjoy!