Not Quite What I was Hoping for...

Like any big dreamer, I often find that reality doesn't meet up to my expectations. After my first Noro sock, I was all fired up to create ones that would fit my feet. I bought two skeins that I thought would work well together:


But they don't. Not so much.


I should probably keep knitting, to see if I like it better later, but I'm just feeling blah about it. Or perhaps I'm burnt out. After all I did accomplish quite a bit of this type of knitting in a very short time. Plus, my second sock wasn't coming out as nice as the first.

Which is part of the reason I switched to the other colors.

So this weekend I knit mostly on the Bee Fields shawl. It's nice to know that I can pick something up again after putting it down for quite sometime. Today, I booked a day off for myself, but I've been restless with the knitting and so not enjoying it like I thought I would.

I spent some of my day outside, knitting on the Mystic Light shawl and I was surprised on how brilliant the colors look. The winter light really took the vibrancy away from this yarn, but the spring light is bringing it out in spades.

This was shot under cloud cover, or it would have seriously blinded your eyes.

And in keeping with today's theme, here's another project that wasn't coming out quite as I'd planned:

This is the Aspen Leaf pull over, just about ready for the leaves. I used a provisional cast on, so I could line the inside neck with something really soft to accommodate Jim's sensitive skin. I think my gauge is too tight, and it just looks more purple than I'd expected. I was thinking of doing my calculations after the leaves to see if I needed extra increases to get it to fit. This is part of the reason I was knitting it top down. But I just can seem to get around to knitting those leaves, and it should be the fun part of the project!

I know this is a common phenomenon. A knitter has a big idea, starts a project with gusto, and then wanders off when things don't turn out quite as expected. So far my strategy is to let things marinate. Later, I will either rip or carry on. But I have noticed that projects are accumulating. I'm going to have to do some housekeeping very soon.

It doesn't help that new and exciting things are catching my eye all the time. Take this book of toys by Alan Dart for example:

I bought found it a Chapters this weekend and had to have it. (You can buy Irresitable Gifts to Knit online.) There are many toys I'd like to make in this book, but I'm smitten with this pirate:

The only thing that is keeping me from casting on, is that I have mostly fingering weight yarns and the patterns all call for DK. I'm been contemplating what the substitution would look like. I'll bet it won't turn out like I'd expect....