Startitis is bad

So, I have three vests on the needles (one almost completed, one stopped for lack of a yarn ball, one stopped fullstop), a pair of socks, two shawls, and likely a few other items scattered around, and yet on Sunday I got a very bad case of startitis. I spent the whole morning walking aroud the room, getting out my stash and sorting through it to find some yarn that inspired me, putting it back and repeat a few times. Ended upselecting the SWTC Karaoke (colors are better seen here) that I received with a swap ages ago (from Lucia).
I started swatching and toying around with it until I decided on an entrelac study, which turned out to be somewhat similar to this Not Enterely Entrelac scarf pattern but I just learned it this morning. Frogged because I was bored already, considered making another Shag, decided it was too boring once again and frogged, consiered making something in intarsia, but I will probably decide it's too boring yet once again... Shesh! I hate startitis!

Not much done

I haven't been posting because I actually don't have much to say. After finisching the Cat's Paw Socks I have kept knitting on the vest (I am now a bit further compared to the pic here: I have started some decreases to shape the waist, all done on the back to keep the vest from hiding too much of my bum's shapes! ^_^) and started a new pair of socks. dome a bit of spinning and... Well, set up a couple of knitting courses that are supposed to start at the end of February: one is a beginner and one is for circular knitting. Both will be held in Milano, check out the courses page in the top bar for more informations (being updated next).

As for the socks, what can beat good old, plain stockinette with a k1, p1 rib border for relaxation (and who cares if they are a bit boring!). One sock got done in a week, the other has been started yesterday and I am already at the end of the quite deep rib border. Reliable Dutch heel and French toe complete them. Comfort knitting at its best!

(Not) as granny did

This morning I had an interesting talk with my grandma. Well, not much of a talk since she's a non fluent apahsiac. I was working on the vest I started on New Year's Eve and I was at the point of transferring all stitches on a signle circular and start working on the body, so I was moving stitches around like a mad woman using a number of cables and two different sizes of tips from my Denise set.
She looked at me for a while and said a string of syllables with the overall meaning of "I did anything, sweater and all, with just two knitting pins, how comes that you spend all of thee money to buy fancy tools". I avoided to tell her that for the Denise I didn't spend a single eurobuck since that was a gift. The point is that to me working back and forth on two neeles is a huge waste of time and effort: it's more difficult, it takes more time, it does not allow you to knit except on a chair or stool, and leaves you with pieces that need sewing. Sewing! Oh, my...
But in the very end, there is also another reason why I love haing so many tools, even those I do not usually use like the row counters: I am a geek inside. As I am delighted with each and every new software application I download and install on my Android smartphone, I am equally delighted with each and every new knitting tool I lay my hands on. I have two different types and three different sizes of stitch holders, and still always use scrap yarn to hold stitches, I am a geek! I am not my granny.

Hey, I've got two socks!

Finished my Kitty Paw Socks. Happy with them. Pity that one has ribbing that tends to slouch, probably the (old and partially recycled) yarn is a bit damaged. Well, who cares?! I still needed new socks. By the way, I have two partial pairs that I badly need to resuscitate. wish me good luck with the instructions I sketched on a paper...

New Year's Knitting

So, here I am, 11;30 am, in Anguillara Sabazia (near Rome) at my friend Consy's place, after a breakfast of espresso and pandoro. I have just started yesterday a new vest to substitute the one my mom felted to death. I am reworking it in a better yarn, a lovely undyed organic Argentinian Merino in a cool dark chocolate hue, plus I am planning a few improvements and design alterations on the basic outline I planned for the first. A few things still bother me like how to avoid that unsightly gap that forms when you bind of in the middle of the row, right there between the last stitch you knitted and the first you bound off.
So I have this huge amount of food from last night's night festive dinner with friends (lots of vegetables so lots of fibers) that awaits its exit and I grab a copy of The Knitter magazine Consy borrowed me and head to the toilet and, while sitting there, BAM! The solution springs into life in the form of a suggestion from the magazine's editorial assistant Jen Storey: knit the last stitch before you bind off twice (front and back) and use the second loop thus formed to wrap the first stitch to be bound off (by passing this loop over the stitch before you bind it off). Ok, this knitterly year seems to be starting on a good, serendipitous, vibe!