News Flash: New Obsession Gets in Way of Finishing Other Knitting

Okay, so maybe that isn't such a newsflash to most knitters. Knitter's ADD seems to be a fairly commonly occurring symptom amongst most knitters I've spoken to. But this is what I've been working on and really should be desperately striving to finish:


The bonnet and christening dress. Yes, I did warn you that the yarn was fairly lifeless in it's present state. And I haven't totally finished the bonnet-there are several cute little details still involved before it will baby-worthy. The photo doesn't really show it well. You do those little triangles and join them together and, on the bonnet, you then do a reverse stockinette section that allows you to turn the triangle brim back and insert a ribbon before sewing it down. Plus I have finishing to do around the bottom edges that will even up the looseness of it and put a gather at the back of the nape. That mess on the circular around the doggie's neck is the bottom of the dress so far. See the gazillion ends to be woven in? They're not actually as bad as they appear. Half of them are already woven as I knit the triangles together and simply need to tucked and trimmed. The points where I cast on will have to be woven though. Ah, well....

This is where the diverting obsession comes in. As mentioned before, I found and joined the Six_Sox_Knitalong Yahoo group and promptly fell into a swoon. The socks for August are fantastic but I simply had to do the Horcrux socks first. Can you believe I've already gotten this much knitted in just 4 hours of working on them? (Yes, I've timed this. I've timed it because I find I resent doing anything other than knitting on these socks with this yarn and so I found myself counting the minutes I do get to spend playing with them.)

The yarn is Fleece Artist 100% Merino and I don't know if it's showing up on your monitors as well as it does in real life. In real life, it's a dazzling, almost-neon combo of orange, yellow, and a strange kind of brilliant orangey-red-pink. Definitely not socks for the shy. I'm so looking forward to wearing these with the Mary Jane-type shoes I bought specifically because they will show my hand-knitted socks.

I managed to fall into a bit of Yarn Heaven on Friday. It was a tax free weekend for clothing and school items here in Virginia and Martha and I took off early to Christiansburg to go mall hopping. After all, she is a teacher and yes, they do need clothes to wear to school, too. I found some nice clothing deals and even acquired my dear Tech Support gal herself and her hubby a few things. She is still in school, too, and even though it's online classes, it's nice to have clothes on while studying, eh?

Now, if you live anywhere near this area, it's pretty evident that Blacksburg is just a hop, skip, and a jump away, especially with the advent of the new road. So in a very few minutes and with very little persuading of Martha (oh, look, I happen to have directions to Mosaic in Blacksburg. Wow, let's go check it out!), we were on our way. It was very strange and sad to drive past the Virginia Tech campus. Outwardly, it's still the same lovely campus I've always known but the sadness you feel going by is indescribable. It's also there in the townspeople you speak to.

Mosaic is a bit of yarn heaven in Blacksburg. They are the yarn shop that came up with, coordinated and sewed together the blanket squares into blankets for the families of the victims and the wounded survivors of the April 16th tragedy. I was honored and saddened and silenced when I got to touch the few remaining blankets that are still at the shop, awaiting delivery to their intended recipient.

But they are also a bunch of fun-loving, chatty, welcoming knitters. Huge enablers. Not that you need their help with the enabling. Just walking into the shop was enabling enough. Yarn, yarn, and more yarn, all wonderfully displayed to it's best advantage. A nice table in the center of the shop to sit and talk and knit. A nice couch to crash on while looking through magazines and pattern books and discussing best yarn options for this or that pattern and whether the design will suit you. Enough yarn fumes to guarantee that, at some point, you'll have a slight dizzy spell and in falling down, swipe your debit/credit card a la Yarn Harlot style.

I promised them a glowing blog review and here it is. The Fleece Artist sock yarn came from their shop as did several other sock yarns I picked up. I mean, they had yarns I'd only ever either heard others speak of or had seen online. Being able to actually pick up and fondle, er, feel the yarn itself in person is so much better. And they didn't mind their yarn being cuddled, er, checked out for softness factor at all.

The only problem is that this is a serious hazard to my finishing up the projects that HAVE to be finished this month. After all, I still have only have of that loom warped.

Knitman, I thank you for your kind comment on my spinning/sunset colors.

As for me, I've gotta go get my fix, I mean I've got to go watch The Closer and knit on my sock. It's it's allotted time, after all.