Projectitis

Kittens, it's time to come clean.

I seem to be suffering from projectitis. Not necessarily Startitis, which is the desire to start objects just to work with the yarn and/or a specific pattern. No, Projectitis is the deisre to have different projects for different moods, areas to knit in, whatever.

Not to mention the projects I'm working on for the shop. It's craziness. To quote Bill Murray as Dr. Peter Venkman from Ghostbusters: "Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together - mass hysteria!"

This will be a very photo heavy post. ...Er, sorry.

We'll start with socks. Socks are harmless, they're small, and perfectly portable. Both of these went with me to the Minnesota Twins' Stitch N' Pitch game a week ago. (Which was really fun, by the way.)

The far left is a Monkey sock in Cherry Tree Hill Supersock. You know me, I just love those Monkeys.

The immediate left is a Jaywalker sock in Austermann Step. I really love the greens in this yarn.


Next up is my Mystery Stole. I finished Clue 4 last Thursday night and now have to wait until this Friday for Clue 5. (Melanie gave us two weeks for this clue so Harry Potter fans would have time to read the new book and work on this super-sized clue.)

A bit of a boring clue was this, but at the same time, it was one I could speed through without having to really concentrate on it. Very beautiful, I think.

Melanie has said that Clue 5 will finally reveal the theme (oh yay!) She also said that we should trust her and just knit what's coming next with full faith in her design that it will work out ok. Say wha? I've got no problem with that, but MAN does she know how to set the mind racing!


And these have been placating me during the downtime between clues for my MS3. I guess I am enjoying knitting lace right now more than I thought because when I finish the clues I miss it.

The far left is Kid Silk Haze in Cream (in a pattern I'm just messing around with) and the right is ArtYarns Silk Mohair in aquas. That one is a free pattern from Elann.

Both use a provisional cast on, which I absolutely love for lace because then you can just bind off both sides and the top and bottom will match perfectly. Finding a stretchy bind off that you like (and actually works) is the trick.


And in keeping with lace (though not with laceweight), this is the same pattern I used for the scarf I made for Brandy. I'm using ArtYarns Silk Rhapsody in greens and a taupe/camel brown. It's just heavenly soft and it's a great mindless knit. I took this to the Stitch N' Pitch game, too! (And it was actually the project I knit the most on when I was there!)



Moving along to projects for the store. This is the back piece to a Chevron Waistcoat (Vest) that is in a knitting magazine Steven had at the shop.

There are all kinds of yarns in this one! Nashua Vignette, Be Sweet African Bead Ball, Misti International Alpaca Hand Dyed, Kollage Captive, two colors of Tilli Tomas Simply Heaven Silk, and Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock (doubled). It's quite busy for my taste, really, but the shape of it is very flattering.

This is also my first true garment. So far so good!


My other project for the shop is this seed stitch scarf that uses two strands of laceweight together. You start off with two of the same color, then mix the first color with the next one. The scarf will softly gradiate in color from one end to the other.

The only problem is: miles and miles of seed stitch. Wow. I started it Saturday night and I'm into the 5th block of color (out of 11) but wow. That's a lot of seed stitch.


Lastly, is this beautiful skein of laceweight mohair. It's not a project yet (as you can plainly see), because I'm on a mission to find just the right project for it. I think I want to make a lace stole/wrap, but I haven't found a pattern I like.

It has to be rectangular (I will never wear a triangular shawl) and it has to be classically beautiful. But at the same time have elegance through simplicity. I think I'm going to have to buy a book to find the perfect pattern for this one.

I'm guessing that there's maybe 800-1000 yards of laceweight mohair here. And it's super soft. We're talking softer than Kid Silk Haze. Really.

I'm thrilled to pieces to have this. It came to our store about a week or so ago. When Steven went to TNNA in Ohio, he saw something from one of the designers there that he fell in love with and asked her to send him the yarn for it. Well, this is what she sent him, but he said this is not the yarn he meant. I asked what he was going to do with this (meanwhile already loving it and squeezing it and calling it George) and he said he wasn't sure. He guessed he'd probably sell it in the shop, but couldn't until he found out from her what it was so he knew how much to price it at. Relief! He wasn't going to send it back! (Which I feared.) I told him I for sure wanted to buy it. Reluctantly I handed it back to him (read: he practically had to tear it from my hands) and went on with my day.

Long story short (I know, too late) I went into work Saturday and he handed it to me and said I could just go ahead and take it now and when he found out the cost, I could pay him then. Oh happy JOY!

So you see, it has to be just the right project, as this is special yarn.

Ahem. So there they are. All my projects, out for the world to see. I'm telling you, Projectitis is a dangerous illness. I'm posting this in warning. Don't let this happen to you!

Or, you know, if it already has, can you post yours to make me feel better? Surely I can't be the only one?