The Curse of Spring

Startitis has struck. And oh, has it struck.

I've been knitting Olive (that's #1), a lovely yoked sweater from Amimono's autumn/winter 2008 pamphlet (does that count as a magazine?). It's wonderful. I love this sweater. I knit the yoke, picked up a multitude of stitches, and then increased all around to make it gather around the yoke...it's beautiful. But now I'm stuck knitting only stockinette. In the round. It's endless, all those knit stitches going around and around with almost no visible progress.

So I started knitting Candy Stripe from Spud and Chloe. But my choice of yarn for the provisional cast-on combined with my main color, Firecracker, ended up making the back of my sweater resemble a collapsed red-hat-lady-hat. In other words, it is terrifying to look at. So I went back to Olive.

Olive stayed boring, though, and because I was traveling (the Detroit trip), I decided it would be smart to have a sock project that would leave me free from the threat of having to pick up stitches or count, since at the time I wasn't finished with the yoke. But the sock, which is Twisted Flower by Cookie A., was biggish looking, and Stephanie Pearl-McPhee, in all her knitterly glory, had touched it. So I was stuck knowing the sock would fall down and refusing to tear it out since it had been blessed by someone who is, in all honesty, a knitting goddess. The sock went in the wooden salad bowl for a hibernation period.

Since I've been blogging for several years now, I sometimes forget what I have or haven't told you. The wooden salad bowl was a giant bowl Mom and I picked up at Target with the express purpose of using it to store my stash. At the time, my stash was a hank of lace weight. And maybe a sock in progress. Now the stash has grown, and the wooden salad bowl is used to hold whatever project I haven't any desire to work on just now, along with some prettyish yarns I like to leave out (so I can look at them or hold them).

Because the stockinette on both sweaters was boring, I pulled out my Dream in Color Starry, in Petal Shower, in order to choose a project. I settled on Haruni, cast on, and started knitting lace. Then I realized the lace project wasn't portable. What with the, you know, lace? So it went in a project bag.

Not desiring to knit stockinette but still wanting to knit, I was forced to choose another project. So I grabbed Malabrigo Lace and started the Geodesic Cardigan. I cast on, put in markers, and realized I'd be knitting...stockinette.

Meanwhile, I had been on Ravelry, reading blogs, and wishing I'd already been signed in on the Loopy Ewe so that I could have gotten a hank of Wollmeise, despite the fact that it annoyed me so much with the whole splittiness issue. So I went to Yarnissima's webpage and ordered a kit I'd been wanting that just so happened to be in stock. Cairdeas socks are on the horizon, knit with the "All the World Is Green" colorway of Handu's 100% Merino Sock Yarn.

Before that, though, I'd been reading a blog at work and I'd ordered the Madelinetosh sock yarn mentioned in the blog, but in a different color. I chose Victorian Gothic (middle picture, bottom row). I thought it would be perfect, as that is my favorite sort of literature.

And before that, I'd come home from Detroit with the burning desire to knit SpillyJane's Strawberry Mittens. So I ordered the pattern and made a cart on KnitPicks for the yarn (Palette) used in the pattern. One color (edamame) was out of stock. So I waited. And last night, I discovered that particular shade of green was back, so I placed that order. Fancy fair-isle for less than $20--including the pattern. That's pretty amazing.

Three packages now on their way to me, I knew I had to just knit something while I waited. So I'm working on the Geodesic Cardigan, because the color matches my fabric (which is from the Hello Betty line from Moda--try as I might I can't find a picture--it's a 30's inspired fabric, to give you a clue) for the dress I'm sewing (theoretically, right now it's more of a learn-to-sew-with-a-machine-and-with-a-pattern-so-I-can-make-this-dress). Given a goal and a timeline, I might well make some progress. But still, I think that I'd better put the knitting aside, as my dress-deadline is fast approaching. Can you imagine me wearing a pinned-together dress to a wedding? That strikes me as a bad idea.

I don't know if it's the weather, or if it's just an overall problem focusing that comes with exhaustion and longing for spring, but there's something wrong with me. I'm out of size seven circulars, I'm using them all...

And Zum Dirndl sure looks pretty...blast. Make that four.

I'm celebrating. My first year at the library. Yeah. With Yarnissima socks. Because I finished Digitessa during my first month here. So it's an anniversary thing. Sure. That works. Anniversary.