Am I a Knitting Puritan?

Bird in Hand by Kate Gilbert.
Knitted in Cascade 220 wool, avocado and deep brown.
Knitted on a pair of US size 3 Addi Turbos.
Modification: After reading the braid instructions I wimped out and used my old fave, the Norwegian Braid.  I also chose to use purl rows where the pattern denoted additional braids.
Ravelers find my mitten here.

Now I know what you're thinking... this doesn't look like the Clap!  Nor does it look like Chevalier, or bloomers... I know!  It's none of the above, but it is a partially finished knit that has helped me break through my mental block of finishing all those other projects, minus Chevalier.  Chevalier had to be frogged four times (!)  in an attempt to find a suitable size for me, and sadly, I was unable to do it with the o-wool.  I hate that!  I really wanted to knit those mittens in the o-wool, it's perfect for them!  But I kept ending up with either a flimsy wanna-be (single-stranded) or a ginormous  man-mitten (double-stranded).  Even changing needles sizes didn't work.  Drat!

And my Clapotis is coming along.  I am four skeins into it using the Silk Garden.  My unrealistic goal of last weekend was a no-go, so I've moved this deadline out to Mother's Day, which I think is much more reasonable!   So the Clap should be in the mail by then, on it's way to Memphis.

And as for Annabelle's Unmentionables... all I can say is when you drop the ball, it is so nice to have a friend there to pick it up and run with it!  I am barely inching my way through this pattern right now, and Shelly blew through it with considerable gusto.  Her FO (and it's model) are so adorable that I had to show them off to you guys.  Blogger's bragging rights!

This is Miss Ainsley modeling her Unmentionables, which look awesome!  Shelly used Nashua Cilantro for these in a pretty mint green.  This yarn has such bounce to it!  And being worn by an active toddler doesn't hurt the bounce factor either!  (Ravelers can find Ainsley's Unmentionables here.)

Yesterday, while knitting from the screen**, I was listening to my favorite podcast Stash & Burn. 
I don't know which episode it was (found it!),  but a question regarding "Start-itis" with was posed:

       

       ~do we penalize ourselves in knitting? 

And this got me to thinking, probably because I find myself in that particular boat right now.  Do I sometimes chastise myself for wanting to cast on a new project when I have several on the sticks already?  Projects that are going no where fast and I find myself MOPPING the kitchen floor instead of finishing?  Maybe this is something we can all relate to, and I'm just throwing it out there...
        ~have I begun to impose unnecessary rules on my HOBBY?

As for Bird in Hand, I've got to say, my confidence in my own stranding ability has been somewhat restored.  The Fiddleheads so threw me off my game that I seriously began to question whether or not I really understood stranded-colorwork.  But this mitten encouraged me along the way, and I'm really looking forward to working on the second.  It also doesn't hurt that Cascade smooths like a dream when blocked within an inch of it's life...


So hopefully after a bit of a self-imposed break my pace will begin to pick back up to one I'm more comfortable with and I'll have more FO's to post about!  In the meantime, it's time to hit the sticks and I'll be darned if I'm not actually looking forward to it this time!  So here's wishing you happy knitting today... Cheers!

**When we moved to Kansas my printer cable was lost, and I am therefore relegated to knitting from the screen on nearly everything.  Including Inga!  Crazy!


----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Alice DATE: 04/25/2008 11:23:33 AM Your colorwork is stunning on these! So glad to see your mojo back. Can't wait to see what you decide to finish up next :)
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Peacock Chick  DATE: 04/25/2008 01:27:46 PM OMG I don't think kids get much cuter that that!Love her little pigtails! The mittens look great too. I have been wanting to make those, even though I have no use for mittens. Great job!
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Leslie  DATE: 04/25/2008 02:56:37 PM Yay, the mittens are awesome! And that little Ainsley is a cutie. Yes, I do think we pressure ourselves sometimes about "making progress" on our hobbies. Just relax and let it go!
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Myriam  DATE: 04/25/2008 04:34:58 PM Mitten looks great. I really like the colors you chose. funny you mention the startitis-i made myself finish some socks before i could start another pair just 2 weeks ago. And i managed to get all my wips done and in the past few weeks i have started 3 and plan on swatching for a 4th tonight-not sure why i do this to myself i always end up letting one or 2 patterns just sit and get sad. Super cute picture with the Unmentionables-i have seen those somewhere before and remember thinking boohoo i need a girl LOL And don't worry so much about what you have going on with your knitting just take it one stitch at a time on as many projects as you want :)
----- COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jennifer  DATE: 04/26/2008 08:44:11 AM Thanks guys! I'm really liking the green and brown in these mittens too. I think you could throw just about anything together with cascade and it would work... good dependable yarn. And I totally agree with you Leslie and Myriam re: have fun... I need to do that more, but I think the "Puritan" in me takes over and I feel guilty about buying yarn, starting a project, and then letting it sit... my grandma would "whoop" me for being wasteful! (Not to mention scatter-brained...)