I couldn't help myself. I have two projects going right now. Most of the time, I prefer to be a monogamous knitter. But right now, I need to stray. Or, rather, I need to have an 'at-home' project and a 'travel' project going on. Because last week, and next week, my time is split between home and traveling. And I can't not knit, you know. (Well, I could, but then I would need something else to do with my hands while I'm seated, like doodle or write or counted cross stitch. . . because I'm fidgety that way. Busy hands help to keep my mind more calm; in less of a whirl.)
Last week I showed a picture of the Stylish Square lapghan I had started as a combination stash-buster and Christmas gift. It will actually be a birthday gift, hopefully, if I finish it in September, since it is for DD2 and her birthday is early October. It's a big, bulky, project that needs room to work on--in other words, not so great for in the car. I'm currently about halfway through the second pattern repeat (of four).
Then, on Friday, I started a new project, a travel project. I needed something I could work on in the car while on the road trip to and from DD2's college (it was time for her to go back; classes started on the 29th). It is also a stash-buster slash gift as I have had the yarn for about a year and bought it with the intention of making socks for DH. (You knew it was going to be socks, this travel project, right?)
The yarn is self-striping, so I wanted a simple pattern to go with it, and settled on Decathlon socks. It's a great match. Not just rows and rows of (boring to knit) stockinette, but yet, it doesn't disrupt the nature of the striping yarn.
The yarn is Berroco Sox, and while the colorway is nice (and definitely manly enough), I have to confess I don't really love this yarn. It just feels kind of scratchy on my hands as I work it, different from all the other sock yarns I have used in the past. I guess my lesson here is that all superwash wool sock yarns are not the same, some will be softer than others. I just hope that when this pair is finished, it won't be so scratchy that DH doesn't want to wear them. But, then again, this is the first thing I have ever knit for him (he keeps insisting he doesn't want/need me to make him anything), so he won't know the difference between this yarn and, say, the yarn I've made my own socks out of. It's more of a note to self: I should never make myself a pair of socks with this yarn. (I hate, hate, hate, scratchy socks. Like a can't-wear-them-rip-them-off-my-feet kind of hate. Yeah, I was a joy for my mother to raise. These days they'd probably label me as a child with sensory issues.)
Scratchy or not, overall, I'm pleased with how my two projects are developing this week.
Not pictured, because I actually finished reading it Sunday in the car and returned it to the library all ready, is a book I very much enjoyed. At first, I wasn't sure I would like Flawed, by Cecelia Ahern. I have absolutely loved her other novels, but this one started out a bit dystopian (I'm not into the dystopian genre at all). I'm glad I stuck with it, though, because I did really enjoy the storyline, even if it does end sort of abruptly. I'm hoping that maybe there is a sequel in the works?
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