No Bun in the Oven

It's not bird flu - but it's just as serious, and potentially deadly. The symptoms creep up on you - a nagging idea in the back of your mind that keeps creeping to the forefront, fingering an untouched ball of yarn hidden in your stash, a wondering eye towards a pattern that has been sitting on the back burner - and then bam! it hits you - full blown Cast-On-itis. I have it, and there is no cure - I will never finish anything again - I will be in a perpetual state of Cast-On -- help! This madness must end! See this gigantic knitting bag - - it's bursting at the seams - it's like a huge tumor, and the cancer is spreading.

It all started with 2 horribly boring projects - the Clap (not pictured, since at this point - the straight rows, it's too boring to even photograph), and Icarus. I was really excited about Icarus. I picked it for my Amazing Lace project, and had visions of butterflies dancing in my head. Unfortunately, there's miles and miles of stockinette before the butterfly emerges from it's cocoon.
So, my mind started to wander - to the Koigu scraps from MD Sheep and Wool. I missed my Koigu, the pi shawl all swathed in mothballs, tucked away until fall. It was like the telltale heart - the Koigu was thumping in my closet. Knit me, knit me -it called, you know you want to. The seduction took hold, and I started looking at patterns, still trying to fool myself into thinking it was idle curiousity - but, then I found the right pattern, and I thought, well, I'll just see how the lace patttern looks - Ella, from Knittyv - But, then, once I knew how it was going to look, the thrill of that project subsided. I was left feeling restless, looking for adventure - and I rememebered the Andrea -

Remember awhile back, when I left you with a tease - that some major ripping had gone down? Remember this cardigan? I don't know what it was about it - the shape, the pattern, the drape - but it felt old lady to me, and after I took that picture on Flash Your Stash Day, and accepted the reality that I may very well finish the cardigan, it would probably fit, but that I was never going to wear it. Armed with this dose of reality, I found the courage to rip - well, to at least have Grace rip it -

And, out it came - no fuss, no knots . . . I put it away, but in the midst of my project angst, thoughts started brewing - a square shawl, that's it.

So, I tried to cast on - 8 stitches divided evenly over 4 needles. An hour and a half I played with it - and I succeeded in creating nothing more than a tangle web of unknittable stitches. Then, after I had already turned the lights out, it came to me - the modified Emily Ocker cast on in Folk Shawls. I snapped the light back on, and attempted once again to get this circular party started. No luck.

Then, the next day, the stars aligned. Carol, at Rosie's, taught me how to make a tube with 2 circulars, and when I arrived home, Courtney, from Rosie's via the farm, mailed me the patttern for her new square shawl - and I just had to try it all out. Here it is:

But, was this enough to keep me satisfied - the Clap, the Ic, the Koigu scraps, the Andrea, oh no - I needed socks - socks in the Mountain Mohair, socks for Dad - and again, I CAST ON!


So, do I have anything to show for my week long vacation??? It's as if I decided I was going to bake an apple pie, but before I got it in the oven, I got a craving for chocolate chip cookies - next thing you know - I've got a kitchen filled with raw dough! Something must get baked!