Friday, August 27, 2010

Paint Me...

I bet y'all thought I stopped knitting. Not so! I knit everyday. I've made minions for Davis and robots for Trevor (my crochet skills are weak at best and my embroidery faces are terrible!) I've finished dishcloths and I'm plugging along on two pairs of socks. I knit all the time!

Lately, I've noticed that in the past few years I go through these color phases. About three years ago, it was all teal all the time. I was in search of the perfect teal yarn. I found several perfect teal yarns!

Two years ago, it was anything variegated - couldn't get enough of the stuff! But only in sock yarn. This year I'm in a dark charcoal grey phase. I'm loving gray! (And I love it so much that, apparently I can't decide which way to spell it.) I've got enough to make a couple of sweaters so I think I'm starting to fade on the gray/grey.

I'm also starting to fade on the sock yarn. I think I've told y'all but I've got enough that if I made a pair of socks every month, it would last me 17 years. I don't make a pair a month. I wish I knit that fast!

I'm definitely getting away from variegateds, transitioning into those gorgeous semi-solids that I'm seeing everywhere now. I'm in search of the perfect deep garnet red. I want enough to make a sweater. I have a couple of bites of that color in sock yarn and I'm swooning over it! I really want a sweater in that color.

I have enough worsted Malabrigo in Pagoda to make the ever-lovely Vivian (I also have the pattern - thank you Donna!) and I was in love with worsted Mal but now I'm over it and am slavering over Malabrigo Twist! I'm such a fickle girl!

I'm also getting a major case of startitis. I've been pretty good this year, maintaining a fair amount of monogamy to one project after another. The WIP Cup got me finishing 3 out of the 5 things I listed and even before the WIP Cup I was holding fast to my self-imposed WIP Sunday knitting. That's kind of fallen by the wayside and I've cast on a couple of extra sock projects. I've been sort of stops-and-starts with that Inaugural sweater I'm making. I think that sweater is what's giving me this startitis. I only have the collar and the sleeves left to finish it and I always get Cast-On-itis when I'm near the end of a big project. It's like I want an excuse to fling the almost-finished piece aside and start something new. I won't. I'm holding fast.

I've been putting off winding the next skein for Inaugural because that means I have to continue with it. Part of the problem is the color. I wanted a really dark green so I picked Cypress. In the photo it was a very dark forest green. When it showed up, it is black. You can only see the green in certain lights. I'm disappointed in the color. Not that pattern though! It's an excellent pattern and it's not even boring or anything! (It's a touch boring.) The body is stockinette with moss stitch panels so it's perfect for not having to think too much. Maybe that's the problem!

I want to sink my needles into Vivian's cables. I want to have to concentrate on something knitwise. Most things I've done this year are so easy that it's starting to stifle my knitting mojo. I need a challenge! Maybe I'll just cast on for a sleeve? I definitely want to do Viv's sleeves first. A sleeve's not really cheating, is it?

I'm also getting fairly obsessed with the idea of making knee-high socks. I want, like, three pair of knee-high socks. If sock yarn doesn't count as stash, do socks count as projects?

Aaaah!

OK, enough of that nonsense.

What colors are y'all into right now and where can I find some silky-soft-garnet-red-not-too-expensive yarn? I don't even think I care what weight, just so long as it's a sweater's worth!

Attempting monogamy, Ruth!

6 comments:

Ambermoggie, a fragrant soul said...

Still loving variegated but very much into pink, don't ask me why it is not a colour I EVER wore . Even bought a new netbook cover in pink. Why?
I do love rich purples and sapphire blues

Heide said...

If you make knee-high socks then each one counts as a project. I just finished a pair of Gryffindor Quidditch socks for my middle daughter and two more pairs of knee-high socks are half done. My favorite color is green. I make a point to try and not buy green and just last month I noticed that my house is mostly decorated in red. Hmmm.

Anonymous said...

Hi Ruth!

I'm not a knitter, as you know, but I love your comments about WIP. I have an entire box of WIP cross stitch. This year, I've finished one. As in one single WIP. Amount of new projects I've started? Five. Plus I want to do Five more by Christmas. Yeah. Right. I hope all the people I'm planning to give these to live to be 100 because that's about when they'll be getting their presents from 2010.


Sandy in Tucson

(P.S., I didn't enter your contest because I knew how you and Dave met. I really appreciate how honest you are about your life. You aren't secretive and you don't play games. "What you see is what you get" is why I like you so much.)

k said...

I'm in a brown phase, coupled with a sage or moss green phase. There are hints of slate/charcoal too. There are a lot of remnants of the jeweltone era lying around, which is fine - I love the colors, I just want to wear brown instead.
And someday, yellow gloves.
I don't know where to find your yarn. Let us know, okay?

Anonymous said...

Dark gray: check out the sweater Norma is knitting for her David in Peace Fleece Dad's Gray (or maybe Grampa's Gray). She has raved about that yarn in that color. You might like it, too. Gray with tiny flecks of green and blue.

Dark garnet red: I hear yah, sistah! That color is calling my name very, very faintly. That's a good thing b/c I have the yarn for four sweaters, every one of which wants to be NEXT!

Currently have FOUR (4!) projects OTN here (last 5% of a sweater, a pair of socks, and two scarves for the RSP), which is twice my usual number. And I'm about to cast on for a hat that I want to have done in a couple weeks as a gift.

Yarnhog said...

Socks do not count as projects. Unless you've just finished one. Then it's a project. But casting them on doesn't count, and neither does putting them aside for something--or many things--else. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.