When There Are Just Too Many Choices In Life

I am the kind of person who gets annoyed in grocery stores because she's been asked to pick up a bag of chips for a party, and then soon after finds herself standing in an aisle lined wall to wall with not only twelve different brands but a hundred different flavors among them. Often this results in panic and departure without chips, followed by a trip to the tiniest gas station convenience store known in the hope that they will only have two or three varieties.

I used to think that meant I had some ingrained taboo against variety, but that's actually rather far from the case. In fact, if I don't get enough of it, I get a little rabid and start developing nervous twitches and a sudden yen to travel miles on foot.

This has been damaging my creative life recently. I multi-task as a matter of due course, so it's pretty typical for me to have two or three knitting projects and two or three active fiction pieces going all at once, and maybe a linoleum block print under the knife, too. My hobbies abound, but I'm used to it, and once one of the stories/knitting projects hit critical mass, I stop working on the others until I've finished that one.

Not right now. Oh god, not right now. My life has been stalled by too many options. My knitting queue is all a tangle. Example: the yarn I wanted to use for something of my own design would look simply splendid in another pattern, unlike the yarn that I was actually going to use in that other pattern, which is for all other practical reasons perfectly good yarn well-suited to that design, but it's just not striking me the right way even though it did two months ago when I chose it after three weeks of deliberations for that design. And, of course, that yarn would be sadly inadequate in the design I have planned. Now, take that example and multiply it by three different sweaters.

To top it off, this problem is so painfully irrelevant in the long or short of things that it's embarrassing just to admit to it.

But! I keep knitting.



Pattern: Clover
Designer: Kate Blackburn
Source: The Inside Loop
Yarn: Happy Feet
Needles: US1s

A quick and pleasant knit. I didn't have any conflicts about this one, except now that it's done, and I'm no longer certain it should be the appointed partner sock to the Fruitloops sock I finished in antique denim Claudia handpaint.

That said, it's a good pattern and was a fun knit. It should not be blamed for my indecision.

Summery Scarves

My mother is chronically cold. Always, always, always cold. Half the time I think I've inherited her base temperature, but fortunately for the rest of the time I seem to get along fairly well in normal people clothing. For the best, because otherwise I would have to knit summer scarves for two people.



Half a Haruha
Pattern: Haruha
Designer: Tikru
Source: Made by Myself
Yarn: Frog Tree Pima Cotton/Silk
Needles: US6/4mm

Since the original pattern called for fingering weight, and the yarn I used is most definitely not, I reduced the stitch pattern to just one repetition. It's a short thing, too-- only wraps around one. Anathema to my idea of a scarf, but, well, if it makes mum happy...

Edited to add: err, and here's the direct link to the English version of the pattern. Despite perusing the blog occasionally, I'd managed to blank that it's largely in Finnish.

The Fall

The weekend before last, I went with a couple friends to see The Fall, which is beautiful, sometimes slightly hair-raising, and highly recommendable.

Today, I carried home a bag full of pale periwinkle/lavender Kathmandu Aran. The two are quite linked.

That said, late spring still thinks it's winter here. "June-uary" is being bandied about, and the description is not terribly far off. Right now it's dark out for the time of year (it should be light until nearly 10) and the wind's blowing hard outside the windows. I did manage to take some pictures Saturday, though, so I'd like to introduce you to the esteemed:



Pattern: Fruit Loops
Designer: Kristi Geraci
Yarn: Claudia Handpaint Fingering, Antique Jeans
Needles: US1, dpns

Right now this sock is all alone in the world. I'm feeling a little out of balance right now, so I'm going to "match" it with a sock done in a similar lace pattern but in very fiery red Happy Feet. That said, this was a nice, straight-forward, not too fussy pattern. The Claudia fuzzed a little on me, but not badly (although I had to reinforce a couple segments due to negligence). I really like the look of this sock, although the stitch pattern was repetitive enough that I probably won't knit it again, unlike, say, Fire-starter or Mad Color Weave.

March (May) of the socks

My plans to switch from machine-knit to mismatched handmade socks is in high gear. I now have four pairs.

They machine wash well so far, and I'm wearing them two days a week. Upsides: they wear well. Downsides: I suspect they will be too hot in summer, and unfortunately my danskos, the best for showing them off, are also prone to snagging fabric on their buckles. This bothered me less when it happened to machine-knit socks.



Pattern: Mad Color Weave
Designer: Tina Lorin
Source: Sock Madness
Yarn: Trekking XXL
Needles: US1s, double-points

I tried out a new toe, with fewer decreases-- it's comfortable, but very boxy. Otherwise I followed the pattern more or less exactly. Here's a better shot of the texture:

In additional knitterly news, I've finished my first sock from Cat Bordhi's "New Pathways to Sock Knitting." It's a Cables & Corrugations toe-up sock knit in Maizy. I'm also working on a Fruit Loop, from the most recent knitty.

I was meaning to ramble at length about my notions-related purchase at the Ave Fair in Seattle, but I'm feeling a tad laconic, so I think I will save that for another day.

Annie the Abstinence-Only Advocate

Annie the Abstinence-Only Advocate, accompanied by knit condoms
Pattern: Condom Critter
Designer: Nicole Lohr
Source: Naughty Needles
Materials: handspun, denim scraps, screws and nuts (hee!), misc. yarn

Pattern: Olde Reliable
Designer: Robyn Wade
Source: AntiCraft
Materials: misc. yarn

Annie was an abstinence advocate who toured schools in 13 contiguous US states, teaching her unique perspective on genitalia until she came to the realization that students didn't listen all that well to her. Why, most of them participated in pre-marital chicanery like masturbating and, gasp, dry-humping. So Annie went on a rampage against the rambunctuous future breeders of America, starting a misinformation campaign by handing out knitted condoms in schoolyards. Due to the lack of proper sex-ed, some students fell for it. There are now warrants out for her arrest.

Annie is on the lamb, residing at the house of a friend of mine, pretending to be a birthday gift.

I decided that would be the appropriate home for her after having earlier received the book Naughty Needles. There were "hints" written on strips of paper over a couple pages (apparently I am also supposed to show up at that door in a "cave girl" bikini).

I really ought to start investing less time into my gag gifts. This one-upped the bacon scarf of times past; not only did I knit, stuff, and sew up Annie, but I spun up the yarn I knit her with.

Yet, somehow it's all worth it when that condom critter ends up seated on a fireplace mantle, glaring down at us with gleaming metal eyes.

Look! New Pose!

Komet
Pattern by Stephanie van der Linden
Needles: US2, double-points
Yarn: Maizy, by Crystal Palace (color= kelp grey)
Source: Socken-Kreativ-Liste (yahoo groups)

New pose, same doorframe. My grand intention this morning was to go out and accomplish a garden photoshoot before work; the abundance of rain changed my mind. There is no way I was going to lay my Mirabella Cardigan out in the grass in that (pictures of that will come... later). Likewise, I wasn't about to step out in socks.

This gorgeous pattern is from the Socken-Kreativ-Liste on Yahoo Groups. Admittedly, I lost my copy of the pattern some time after turning the heel, and decided to wing it from there, which is a shame because my version leaves out a very nice detailing on the top of the foot about an inch from the toes. It knit up very, very quickly-- I finished the bulk of the foot of the sock at a housewarming party. It's a little snug through the heel but fits well once I get the cuff over that unavoidable protruding bone.

Well, I can wait awhile and knit another.

Two isn't a trend

Coupling
pattern by Deb Barnhill
needles: US1, double-points
yarn: Happy Feet
source: Knitty

From this, you might deduce that:

a)I am left-footed, and
b)I am too lazy to venture any further than the stairs of my building to take pictures in the sunlight

You'd be mostly right, only it's not so much laziness as that my feet hurt too much to put shoes on. It took two weeks to finish this sock, which I suppose is not terribly long given that I've spent the majority of that time marathon-working on two sweaters.

Anyway. Coupling is a cute pattern; I like the way it turned out but would probably do it with a solid yarn next time. Haha, I said do it. The cuff's on the short side but mostly so it will match up with another, similarly colored sock I have lying about. I'm trying a little match-making, see, because this coupling, like all my other socks, is a bachelorette.

/pathetic humor

The cuff also has a ruffle. I didn't have a tapestry needle on hand to work an elastic sewn bind-off, so I worked *k1, yo, p1, yo across one round and then bound off. It's a perfect fit in the foot, but I'm afraid the ankle's going to be a bit baggy.