Casting on all the things

 I am not a monogamous knitter, I've told you all that a few times now. I like having a bunch of projects on the needles so I can knit various complexities. I like the feel of different combinations, yarns needles, where I am in the process. It is all good.

Every once in a while the stars align and I end up finishing several projects around the same time. And sometimes the stars align even further and I don't cast on something new I just go on to finish another thing. I can remember the concern that gripped me one day when I realized I only had a second sock on the needles. I had not cast on anything after several finished projects. Oh the horror of only one thing that was soon to be zero!

Recently I knit down to a few things on the needles and had a big old cast on weekend. And that was so fun I cast on more the next weekend.

Currently I have three first socks, three shawls and a curtain on the needles. See the problem is one of the socks is patterned and I need to pay attention to it so it sits there next to my knitting chair while less involved things get knit on. I am about a third of the way through a shawl that I am going to love wearing but actually don't like knitting. By the time I stop making mistakes and stop reknitting rows I will have knit it three times over. Quite frankly I am a bit beyond frustrated with it. I finally put in stitch markers and managed to finish a section. Now I am starting a new section and either the stitch count is off, impossible I have checked it several times, or the stitch repeats move from one section to the next which is the reason all my stitch markers are now in all the wrong places. But I just cannot face knitting and moving them all only to find out I will have to do it all over again. Sigh I really do like knitting.

Oddly enough the curtain is my most joyful thing right now. A friend sent me yarn that can only be accurately described as confetti cake in yarn. Bright and neon colors on a white base. Shh lean in I have a confession, part of me thinks having an undyed white base for yarn is just an half finished job. I know the skill to dye speckled yarn is a skill too, it just feels lazy and unfinished to me. I know, I am working on myself but the first bit is admitting you have a problem.

But this yarn is just making me smile. I knew I could not knit socks from it because of my problem. And our front door has a window in it that I have never known what to do with. I hate that some tall people can see right into my living room with me living on the couch.

So why not make one of my favorite shawl stitches into a square curtain with my happy confetti yarn? Something bright light and airy. I tried a couple of stitches like cat's paw but it was not happy fun knitting so I knew it would not work. Instead I remembered how much I love Feather and Fan or Old Shale. Now I have a project that is making me smile and happy. No driving around neighborhoods trying to spot my happy curtain when it is done, OK?

Yarn on parade

The sky is filled with smoke and some days it just feels like everything weighs more. Today is one of those heavy days.

To counteract that today I have some little slices of happiness, or rather yarniness. I have some more new yarn to show you. 

I placed my second time ever yarn club order back in June. After I received my order from Teal Torch Knits I signed up for their Good Place (love that show) yarn club for July and August. Both skeins arrived safe and sound in one shipment. The top is A Little Bit Chowder and the bottom beauty is IHOP, Interdimensional Hole of Pancakes.

You can tell I am a bit more excited about the IHOP one. I think it is because I am loving having more color in my world now. My first order from them was mostly in the blue area so seeing what they can do with color is great. 

 

I have bought from Boss Kitty a couple of years now at Oregon Flock and Fiber Festival. While looking through the vendors for this year's missed festival I remembered how lovely their yarn is. After much debate with myself I finally ordered Teatime for the Soul and Murder Mittens. Ok fine I will admit that I like the colors but I really loved the colorway names.

You know how it is when you debate over something and finally order it, and sit impatiently by the mailbox waiting for it to arrive? Even if it is only five minutes since you placed the order? Oh come on I cannot be the only one that does this... Anyways my order was delayed by a few days and I kept beating back that little voice in my head telling me to reach out and ask when it would be shipped. I figure we should really be giving people at least a week to ship stuff especially in the middle of a global pandemic. I kept shushing my whiney impatient voice. I told it to stop being a grabby child, especially since I had dallied about placing the order for over a week myself. Inner voices can be such pushy voices.

I'm very glad I did not inquire about the order since I received an apology note from Boss Kitty seconds after I received my shipment notification, well within a week of my order. They had an urgent matter that had delayed my shipment. Talk about good customer service and a lesson in how to be proactive in calming shipping worries during a tough time. Thanks Boss Kitty, hope your world is improving.

Anyways back to the yarn. I usually by sock yarn with every intention of knitting it into socks. I know that comes a quite a shock from a self designated sock knitter like me. But once I took a picture of the two Boss Kitty yarns together, they started whispering to me that maybe they should ba a shawl instead. I don't know if they would have enough contrast between them but I really like how they compliment each other. We shall see what the knitting decides. 

I seem to be on a shawl knitting trend now anyways. I'll show you those next time.

Keep on trying to be kind to each other.