focus friday. works in progress.

...I didn't mean to be a tease with wednesday's photo. but it was the first time I ever started four projects in four days, and it seemed like I should document that!

I think my startitis is the likely reaction to knitting fairly monogamously through each of my last four projects (traveling woman, wispy, damson and westknits mystery kal). I'm ready for more variety and ready to have more fun with my knitting. yes, knitting on only one thing at time - as much time as I spend knitting - just isn't much fun!

part of what led to that burst of monogamy is that two of the shawl projects were for classes I'm teaching and I needed to have them finished to share. and I didn't start them soon enough to have the luxury of knitting them over a few weeks - I needed them done. and then I just wanted to get all my WIPs finished so I could start fresh (I'm not going to add anything to my hibernating pile! well....except for the westknits shawl which is is technically now there because after the knitting I have to weave in 34 ends - triple ugh...I'm giving myself a pass on that for now!)

with only two classes this month and a long weekend at the beach, I'm thinking I'll have lots of time to knit. and I want social knitting as well as some more complicated projects (empty nesting leaves me a good bit of alone time where complicated is good!). so here we have it. four new projects. and I'm saying it now. I want to have all of them finished this month.

raveled here

first up - the autumn breeze. I fell in love with the yarn and thought about using it for knitbot's featherweight cardi - but that pattern takes just over the 800 yds in one skein. and I really didn't want to use just a tiny bit of a second skein. the breezy cardigan takes a lot more yarn. and except for it being laceweight yarn on size 5 needles, it's the ultimate social project. miles and miles of straight stockinette knitting! also, I learned that susie from juniper moon will be visiting the shop on october 11. I really want to have this finished to wear for her visit.

raveled here

then the nantucket vest. technically, I wasn't supposed to start this til 2pm today when our shop kal begins. but I couldn't help myself. 300+ stitches to cast-on and join in the round didn't sound like something I wanted to tackle in a group setting! so I did the the cast-on and knit one round just to be sure it wasn't twisted. done. (and if any of these projects slip to october, this will be it - I'm sure the kal will continue at least a few weeks into next month).

raveled here

and the requisite* lace shawl - crocus, aka the "silver" of rose beck's silver and gold collection. I've selected these two patterns for my november/december lace shawl class and I hope that starting crocus now will give me ample time to finish both of them before the class begins. (and I'm really looking forward to knitting the sunflower, aka "gold" - it's all-over lace design will be a fun change after the stockinette/garter background shawls I've done recently). I chose the canopy fingering because it's lovely - and comes in 200 yard skeins. the medium size calls for 500 yards and most sock yarn comes in 400 yard skeins (again, I don't want to end up using just a bit of that second skein!) *note that I am loving lace shawls right now - especially those without a center point to point you-know-where...my 2010 sock craze has been replaced by a shawl craze!

raveled here

and finally vodka gimlet, which I'm calling grey goose (naming projects should be fun, too!) this one wasn't even in my queue until last sunday when half my seamless sweater workshop students said they wanted to knit this in october. (and no one had any interest in knitting the next two sweaters I'd planned...oh well!) we have some great yarns in the shop for this pattern (recommends a wool at 5 st/in) and the rowan creative focus is brand new. I swatched and got 4.75 st/in which works great - I'm knitting the size 32 planning a size 33.5 - isn't it crazy that a 0.25 stitch difference has such an impact on the finished size? yes, it is!

I'm committed to doing a better job tracking my works in progress in ravelry. lately, a few projects have gone from nothing to finished in one update. ooops!

...off to knit.... happy weekend!

[oh and p.s., yes I'm still stitching too - the poppies piece is about half done and I am loving it and already thinking about my next project!]