Mojo Reclaimed

For a while there I seemed to have lost my knitting mojo, but I'm happy to say that it's back in full force. It may be because the weather's been decidedly more fall-like this week, but in any case, I am feeling the urge to Cast On All The Things, just as I knew I would.

For one thing, I picked up the handspun socks again and took them with me to a Disney princess performance thingy we took Rainbow to on Saturday with some friends. Two hours in a dark arena meant quite a lot of sock leg, and now that this project has become my designated lunchtime knitting, I'm already into the heel of the first sock.

I'm still enchanted by the way this yarn is striping, and now I want to spin all my multicolor fiber this way.

Over the weekend I also picked up yarn to make Rainbow's school sweater -- if you can believe it, she starts kindergarten on Tuesday, and as she'll be wearing a uniform every day, she needed a matching sweater. This is Spud & Chloe Sweater, a really lovely 55% wool/45% cotton machine-washable worsted weight, in Pine Needle. I'm going to be knitting a basic top-down raglan cardigan using this book, and I may add some pockets to the front.

I knit up a quick swatch on Sunday, so now I just need to sit down with the book and pull out the correct numbers.

Meanwhile, I finished the green shawl sample on Sunday afternoon with just enough yarn to spare. I really thought it wouldn't be as close as it was, but I think my skein was a bit underweight to begin with. Fortunately, I had enough to bind off and weave in the ends, and the shawl has now been blocked. All that remains is a photo shoot and to finish writing up the pattern.

Last night I was feeling a little twitchy, so I decided to cast on yet another project. I've had a double-knit cowl in my plans for quite some time, and seeing as I'd wound up the yarn for it last week, I decided last night was the night to finally start it. I did a two-color long-tail cast on (a pretty nifty trick once you get the hang of it) and just started the first round before I ran out of time.

I'm now trying to decide if I should take this with me when we go away this weekend (a quick trip out of town for our family reunion) or take something else that will be relatively mindless, as I might not want to be juggling the two skeins of yarn. There will be lots of time with the family when I won't be knitting, of course, but there will also be time on the plane and in the car to get there and back that I can't bear to waste.