When Startitupits strikes

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Startitupitis – (pronounced start-it-up-itis) a condition that afflicts creative people with the irrational and overwhelming urge to start a new project. Or two. Or even three. Maybe more. 

When startitupits strikes, don’t resist. Don’t fight it. Grab some yarn and cast on. Don’t ever block those creative impulses because that can lead to stress, anxiety, overeating, depression, hair loss, insomnia, acne and yeah I’m just making all this up. I started three projects this week and I need to justify myself somehow.

How did I get to this place? Well, let’s start with taking a look at my main project. Its what I’m supposed to be knitting. I have a shop owner waiting on this.

an in progress knit Trickery stole

Its an in-progress Trickery, which is a pattern of my own design. When it’s all grown-up it should look like this:

I’ve made several of these, its my best selling pattern, and there is a shop owner who would like one to be a sample in her store. Hopefully that sample will sell her yarn and my pattern. Also I may offer a workshop on how to make it (but that is very tentative right now). So its in my best interest to get this project done.

But as I was clicking along on my new Trickery I was struck with and idea to use the same techniques to make a trickery-like shawl. Something with shaping and a more challenging mosaic pattern. The idea was burning a hole into my brain so I put down the gray and green, took up some orange and blue (love the wild colors) and this happened:

Yes, that has some potential. Good thing I didn’t exert any self control or discipline and make myself stay on Trickery, right?

But I do like stoles. I like that giant rectangular shape. Its an easy framework to work and design within and I have had this idea for a stole that starts off as lace design, shifts into a new lace design, and then into a third, and then maybe into a combo lace-n-cable motif and… well you get the idea. So instead of getting back to my Trickery stole, I started up a new stole.

We’ll see how this one goes. I have four sections charted out for far. After all making up charts is pretty fun for a nerd like myself. But with this kind of project, I’ll have to actually see it in yarn before I know if its going to grow up and be a real pattern.

Ad you know that all that playing around with lace pasterns, and pouring over motif samples and books, a google searches, and doodling around on ravelry to get my multi-motif lace stole going reminded me that I’ve been meaning to play around with that Milan lace motif. (For accuracy sake I should note that I think its called Milan lace. It may have another name. Its one of those traditional diagonal laces that comes out of the Spanish/Portuguese/Italian knitting tradition.)

I always see these diagonal laces done right leaning, with k2tog’s. But surely it can be done left-leaning with ssk’s, right? So I hunted up a random ball of yarn and some needles and gave it a try.

By accident I found that I really love the circular shape that forms when the right-leaning and left-leaning versions are put back-to-back.

I like this. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it but I like it. Therefore it was totally not a waste of time.

 

But I need to get back to my Trickery. I hope this bout of startitupitis has burned itself out.

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"There is no failure. Only feedback." - Robert Allen

15 Comments on "When Startitupits strikes"

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Brenda
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I wish I could say I only have 3 projects started and going, but it is more like probably 8-10. I definitely suffer from startitupitis!!!! It’s all about our creative minds!!! 🙂

Carol Ann
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I have a serious case of this; there are several circular knitting needles I can’t find ’cause they’re in a knitting bag somehwere in this house. I cleaned my sewing/knitting room not long ago and now I can’t find anything!

Itsy
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Never do that again. I mean never clean up your knitting. Look where that leads. Let it sit out and nag you, collect pet hair and dust, and make your knitting area look very very busy and important. Think of it as stage dressing.

Debbie
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Just started a sweater for the grandson and have two scarfs on the needles one with nupps and one with beads just for a challenge lol

9hbeans
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Wow! I really like the look of the Milan lace motif you created. It looks like a butterfly and I’ve been looking for something like that to add to something I’m making for my daughter who absolutely adores butterflies. Any possibility you could write up the directions for how you created that swatch? I’m pretty good at following directions–not so good at creating my own directions! thanks for what you do!

Carla
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As usual, you are very talented. Anxious to see what becomes of the two bottom projects. The very bottom pattern, looks like a butterfly. I am really digging the design in the blue and orange colored yarn. 🙂

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