Short-Term Goals

I don't know if it's the unbearable heat of summer that is mercilessly upon us or my recent completion of a large woolen knitting project that has me in my current state. Either way, I'm craving small projects right now. I'm finding myself in need of easily obtainable, short-term knitting goals. It's been a while since I knitted a baby garment. I love knitting baby garments because they are quick to knit and, for the most part, gauge isn't quite as much an issue. Thank goodness babies come in all sizes!

The yarn pictured is a hand-dyed skein of sock yarn I picked up in Minnesota last year while I was visiting for a job interview. I really loved the colors and the hand of the yarn, and I was thrilled when I discovered that the colorway was aptly named "Blueberry Pie." I've recently accepted that I'm not much of a sock knitter as I don't particularly enjoy wearing handknit socks, so I've been looking for creative ways to knit up my sock yarn stash in nonsock projects. I've always loved the Helena pattern from Knitty's Summer 2008 issue, and I poked around Ravelry a bit to see if anyone else had knit the pattern in sockweight yarn. I wasn't too surprised to see they had - and with beautiful results. So I think I'm going to give the pattern a try. I hope to cast on tonight or tomorrow, so I'll keep you posted.

I had to make an emergency run for needles to start Helena as US size 3 circs are apparently the only size I don't own, and in the process I came across Issue 6 of The Knitter magazine. I've not allowed myself to get too sucked into this UK publication as it is terribly expensive (for a magazine) and the designs don't always appeal to me. This issue, however, was irresistible. The pattern for Honeysuckle was the one that really sold me. It's a circular shrug/cardigan knit in laceweight, and it is absolutely breathtaking. So elegant and so wearable! I'll be tucking this issue away for later knitting.

In the meantime, I've been knitting away on the third (and final!) Kicking Bag for Baby I cast on last January. This pattern was perfect in helping me use up the wool yarn I dyed during a dyeing class I took in the Spring of 2008. As with the other two I knit, I'm alternating the yarn from each ball every other row so it makes for a cohesive color transition. Now that I've finally made it past the ribbing, it's nice to just knit around and around and around. It's also exciting to get this yarn out of my stash! It's been a while since I made a yarn purchase, and the urge to bust my stash to smithereens is getting stronger and stronger, especially with my recent dive into spinning. I'm finding myself thinking in terms of my available yarn rather than in patterns that catch my eye when considering what my knitting future holds. It would be so incredibly liberating to be stashless! What fun to choose a pattern based only on the pattern itself and then be able to trot off to the yarn store to buy the yarn for that specific project. I wonder if I could crank out projects at a faster clip that way. By just allowing my creativity and inspiration to guide me and carry me through? It sounds promising to me!