A project for every mood

Posted on | October 1, 2007 | 10 Comments

This has been a big week for projects – and for blog love – I can’t tell you all how much I appreciate all of your kind words and thoughts about my Chuck’s Cabled Socks! Finishing them made my day, but all your kind and positive responses truly made my week! There really is something neat about finishing a project you are proud of and hearing positive feedback on it from other knitters – who I get so much inspiration from every day on your blogs! THANK YOU so much for stopping by and letting me know if you liked them. I’m particularly excited to hear that there are more Chuck’s Socks that are about to or even may have already jumped onto the needles – I would love to see more of these, and I think you’ll love knitting them. Once they get going, they are such an enjoyable project – hmmm I hear it’s Socktoberfest, they might be the perfect project! In fact, I just came across another pair the other day, so for those of you who may want to see more – Check these out!! They are knit as written with the contrasting heel and are absolutely incredible – the color combination makes me swoon. Anyway, some more cable-y goodness for you – Enjoy!

Here’s one of the other September projects – a teaser of the Gryphon design. It is finished and you’ll hear more about it just as soon as the pattern becomes available! I’m very excited – it’s a rather simple item (though not without some challenges for those unfamiliar with the stitch pattern). This is a case where the yarn elevates the project, it’s wonderful stuff. I hope you’ll like it! This knit took me a bit longer than it probably should have, and that’s in part because my attention has been a little divided.

I finally see the value and enjoyment of having more than one item on the needles (or wheel!) at a time. That’s not to say that I don’t have some languishing or indefinitely shelved WIPs – I certainly am not immune to that. But in general, I tend to commit to one project until it’s done (or shelved, I get sick of it or I run out of yarn – in general!) But I have to admit, these last few weeks, it has been really nice having a couple different things going on. Chuck’s Socks stayed in the car or on the trail for the most part, which was great because I honestly was afraid to bring the Gryphon design out of the house. Afraid. It’s cashmere and silk. This is the nicest yarn I have ever worked with – and I am clumsy. I wouldn’t even eat around it – and eating occurs pretty much without regard to any other activity that happens to be going on here at any given time. That’s not to say that a few dog hairs haven’t been knit into it, but it has NOT been dropped in the dirt or on the floor of the coffeeshop. It hasn’t been spilled on, shut in the car door, snagged on a pen in my bag, or otherwise abused.

I’m not sure if Gryphon should be reading this. She may not have realized the type of person that she was sending her lovely yarn to! I was bored for a moment or two last week and took one of those quizzes – “How Gross are You?”, I think it was… Let’s just say I’m pretty gross. Don’t ask for the results, I’m not telling. Anyway, once Chuck’s were completed, I picked up Foliage by the talented Emilee for my car project (which lasted all of a couple of days – FO pics on the way!). If I needed a mental break from the design project, I could work on something else – and if the something else hit a snag, I’d put it back in the car and work on the design project. And it’s been so nice to have a spinning project going, so that if I needed a break from knitting altogether, there it was (not that I touched it once I started the Gryphon design, but still, there it was in case I felt urge!). Having other exciting projects waiting in the wings has been motivation to get to a certain point, or to finish a current project. My spinning project is waiting, as are the Festejakket (I wound yarn this weekend for swatching!) and Belle; I have handspun that wants to be used; a couple of WIPs waiting to be finished or resurrected (Bobble Blue & Vanille); and other projects are calling me too (ahem. Cinderella – look for info on a KAL soon!). Now I see how it’s possible to get SO many projects going at one time – they each suit a purpose or fill a current creative need. And if they don’t, well, those are the ones stuck in the bottom of my stash drawer that haven’t been touched in months!

So I’ve been doing a little spinning – my reward for finishing Chuck’s & the Gryphon design! I still have an ounce of the silk left, then a couple more ounces of the merino-tencel – yumm!

What projects are you excited about right now?

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