Wednesday, March 25, 2009

What to Do? What to Do?


My life is in limbo. I am at sixes and sevens. I have finished one knit project and can't decide on what to do next. Actually what should be done next is to sew the last finished project together. However, my dilemma has me immobilized. What to do? What to do?

In the meantime I'm working on the ultimate vanilla socks . . . slowly, very slowly. You might wonder why I would even want to make plain white Regia wool with cotton socks. Sometimes, especially in spring and summer, I need white socks and not of the athletic or terry type.




I've agonized over what to start (or continue) so long that I've considered starting something brand new that will be of marathon proportions and use up a lot of my sock yarn stash. I even took it with me to cast on this morning when I knew I had an hour of waiting time to endure. The monumental project is Rings of Supersock, a shawl made of sock yarn. I bought the pattern a few months ago when I saw someone in my knitting guild working on one. I have a sock yarn stash to die for, enough sock yarn to hand knit forever and knit on sock machines indefinitely. With new fibers, colorways and techniques happening daily, this project would be a good way to use up some of my old inventory, get rid of some of the first purchased and make room for some new. In a way that would be working on old stuff, not UFOs, but at least *FIFO instead of **LIFO. Okay, so I can rationalize anything.


I didn't get the Rings of Supersock cast on this morning. It calls for a monumental number of stitches to be cast on to begin and I had a brain blip and couldn't get the long tail cast on started. Was that a sign? Was that a hint I should really start working on something else? The projects in the running are UFOs. Remember, what I just finished was something new and my new rules call for a UFO next.


Since it is spring now I have considered going back to the lacy flirty skirt. However, the weight I wanted to lose to be able to wear it is not going off as quickly as I had envisioned. My new toy, a Belgian waffle maker, is not helping the weight loss issue. This is what I had for dinner night before last:


But I digress. The next UFO under consideration is a sweater from Knitters Spring 2008, Faded Ribbons, I started last summer hoping to finish in time to take to Italy last September. I didn't. After Italy it went into the UFO pile. If I remember correctly, I have half the front finished.



Another UFO being considered is a sweater from Knitters Spring 2007, Sectional Citrus. I ordered a yarn pack and by the time I got it spring was over and I got only as far as swatching by casting on and working a few rows of the pattern.


There were others under consideration, but spring sprung while I deliberated, vacillated and generally got on my own nerves. So now I think I'd like to go with something not wool. In the meantime maybe I will cast on for the Rings of Supersock. The cast on is a project in and of itself. It calls for 1,800 stitches!

Bona Fide Knitter

*FIFO = First In First Out
**LIFO = Last In First Out