Startitis

The siren song of startitis has struck again. I'm not sure how many projects I'm working on right now, but it's a lot. Let's see:

Booga bag – finished and felted! I love the stripes. I really thought I was making the I-cord for the straps too long (I knitted 12 feet of I-cord), but they’re actually just the right length. It’s a bit smaller than I was hoping, because it felted quite rapidly in only one washer cycle (should have checked earlier…). Anyhow, it’s a good size, and I like it.

Branching out – tinked back to my mistake last weekend (I missed a row on the pattern… tinking back one stitch at a time you can figure out which pattern row you’re undoing when). I’ve just stitched back the repeats I tinked, so I really haven’t made any perceivable progress on this.

SockS! – I finished sock number one, and I’ve just picked up the gussets on sock number two. I can see how people get hooked on this – I really liked making them, and you can make them to fit people’s feet perfectly! Oh, I figured out why I was having problems turning the heel - my instructions were WRONG. That's right, they were wrong. But I bought Stephanie's latest book, and used her sock recipe for the rest, and it went very well. Incidentally, I really like the book. Although it left me with an overwhelming urge to knit a shawl. Maybe a lace shawl... Maybe I'll join The Amazing Lace too!

M’s sweater – limited progress – I’m not sure what to do with the colour pattern in the ribbing. I read somewhere that you should knit all stitches on the first row of a colour in ribbing to prevent the little bits of colour showing through. Any thoughts? I’m also a bit worried about the decreases that are coming up, so I’ve slowed WAY down on this.

Cotton sun hat (what? – it’s spring) – I think it’s going to be too small, and I don’t really enjoy this knitting with cotton business, so it’s pretty much at a stand still.

Steve Zissou hat for Martha’s friend in Australia – I started it, but then I ripped it out last night because it wasn’t going the way I’d hoped (plus I was trying to demonstrate things with the yarn). I’m sure I’ll cast it on again soon though!

Baby sweater for another of Martha's friends - I just started knitting a swatch last night because I bought some yarn for it yesterday. It's going to be a mint green sweater. I think it'll be a hoodie, unless I get sick of it in which case I might improvise something for the neck.

That's all (ha!) I'm actually working on right now. There are a couple of projects that are sitting on the far back burners for now... and will be until I get re-enthused about them.

And, since I don't have any knitting pictures to show you, I leave you with a picture of myself at my students association's dinner dance (with my friend Ken whose girlfriend kindly took the picture of us). This is exciting because that's the dress (well, top and skirt) that I made myself, with extensive help from my mom. Isn't the colour pretty! Oh, and you can't see but it's just goes to just below my knees and swings out at the bottom.