Catch-Up Post: Knitting Start-tosis

Wow, it's almost the end of the year, and I realize that the past two months I have not been writing as much as I should be, all things considering. However, as these two months coincide with the holidays, it's not surprising that I've been busy.

Of course, with being busy, I've also had a lot of bouts of start-itis ...or is it start-osis...over the past two months.

Despite not having finished my 3-in-1 sweater (although I am working on the sleeves), my Unleaving shawl (called the Scottish Thistle), and my Portland Fall socks, I started two new projects because I couldn't help myself.

In the beginning of November, I received in the mail two balls of amazing hand dyed self-striped yarn from Stray Cat Yarns (in New Zealand).  They are superwash merino (75%) and nylon (25%).

The yarn came in these wonderful little boxes. (Presentation is a definite 10!) The colors are amazing, and I just absolutely had to start on knitting socks right away (even though, I hadn't yet finished my Portland Fall socks yet).

 

(Colors: Milly Molly Mandy & Electric Avenue)

I cast on a pair of socks out of the Milly Molly Mandy, which apparently is a children's book series that I didn't know about. I love the colors, and the yarn is a lovely knit. And best of all, each series of 3 stripes is nearly one inch, which makes determining the length of the sock really very easy!

In addition, during the Thanksgiving holiday, I cast on a shawl (Eagle Twist) using Dream in Color Smooshy in red & gold. I love how the shawl looks. However, it does contain a lot of short rows (and I dislike short rows).

Have you ever noticed that you tend to like patterns where you're not particular fond of parts of the construction? I don't like short rows, and yet here I am with two relatively large projects that have short rows (this shawl and my 3-in-1 sweater). Go figure.

The Dream in Color Smooshy yarn is wonderful to use and is taking a beating with some frogging that I had to do (because I couldn't count). I'm really liking it, and will probably acquire more in the future.

The other project hasn't quite made it to the actual start stage as of yet. However, I did have all of the skeins wound up into balls, bought the pattern, AND gauge swatched. I'll post more on that later.