Finish-itis: Sea Wool Socks, MDDS Scarf, One-Row Scarf
Knitting, MDDS Scarf, One-Row Scarf, Sea Wool Socks 1 Comment »My two favorite times when I’m knitting are, without a doubt, when I’m starting a new project, or when I’m finishing a project.
The amazing thing about having a bunch of half- or even mostly-finished objects lying around, is that when you dig them out and work on them, they finish up rather quickly. That means that I get the thrill of finishing multiple projects in rapid succession, without the boring slog through the middle.
True, I had done the boring slog at an earlier time, but still - fun!
I managed to finish up THREE projects this weekend. Not only that, but I tried something new and unusual with each of them.
Project: Sea Wool Socks (Ravelry link), my own design based on Wendyknits’s Southwestern Socks (pdf) and using Cookie A’s heel technique from her Baudelaire socks.
Yarn:Fleece Artist Sea Wool (70% merino, 30% seacell) in “Paris” on #2 needles
When I pulled these out of the WIP pile last week, I saw that the second sock had had its toe and the first repeat of the pattern completed. It took me a while to get back in the groove knitting these - there was quite a bit of ripping out when I stopped paying attention to the pattern repeats here and there. Also, I had difficulty counting to 43 in order to center the heel. I have no excuse for that.
But once the heel was completed, I tried something new (for me) with the leg - I finished it up using the Magic Loop technique instead of DPNs. And I LOVED it. I didn’t have any problems avoiding ladders between needles, which is a problem I have with DPNs. I didn’t have the extra needle tips floating around to entice the cats which is what happens when I use two circulars. Magic Loop is my new best friend. And now I have a new pair of socks.
While I was knitting on the socks, I also would knit on this:
Project: Multi-Directional Diagonal Scarf (Ravelry Link) (pattern link)
Yarn:Noro Silk Garden Lite, 3 balls of color #2015 on size 8 bamboo straight needles
I had “finished” this scarf with 2 balls of yarn, but it was too short. I added a third, and it is exactly the right length for me now. These aren’t really my colors (orange and green? my feared colors! I never know how to wear them!) but hopefully this scarf will make me be more courageous.
What I did a little differently with this scarf: I knit the entire last section of this scarf Continental style (I’m usually an English “thrower”). I’ve been doing so much crochet lately (thanks, Babette blanket!) that I’ve become more comfortable holding the yarn in my left hand. Since this scarf is garter stitch, it was easy to get used to the new style, although I did have to watch my tension a bit. And now, a new scarf.
Not only that:
Project: Yarn Harlot’s One Row Scarf (Ravelry Link) (pattern link)
Yarn: 3 hanks of Sheep 2 Yarn, color g043, on size 11 bamboo straight needles
Sunday afternoon, I found myself in sole possession of the remote control, so I caught up on some DVR time and finished this scarf in just a couple of hours. I’m still not sure why I put this down this winter, except that repeating the same row over and over probably had me pretty bored. To counteract the boredom, I again tried knitting this Continental style. This was more of a challenge, as the pattern had not only knit stitches, but knitting through the back loop, and purl stitches. But I got the hang of it quickly, and even kept a pretty even tension.
You know what this means? Three of the eleven WIPs from my 101 in 1001 list are done! I’m even working on a fourth one this week, that should be done by the weekend.
I’ve definitely come down with finish-itis. What will I do when I run out of half-completed projects? I think I might be spoiling myself, getting so many projects done so quickly.
