Wanting to start

I find myself wanting to start new projects. Partly this is because of the time of the semester, partly this is because I am a little bored with what I am working on right now.

So I wound off a little yarn for the "next" projects.

Next simple socks: a Biscotte and Cie yarn (this is a Quebecois-dyed yarn) in the colorway called "Carousel."



The colors there - you can't really see it but there's a white and a pinkish tan and a purple. And I bought the yarn because those colors made me think of Rarity's Carousel Boutique. I don't KNOW that the dyer "meant" that (though she does do 'fandom' yarns; she has some Harry Potter-inspired colors).

At any rate - if these become my 'Rarity' socks, I need only make Pinkie Pie socks of some sort to have socks representing the Mane Six. (Mane Socks?). I have the Twilight Sparkle striped socks ("Sugared Violet") and the pale blue "Pegasus feather" socks, and a pair of pale yellow socks with a cable and lace pattern that I think of as my Fluttershy socks, and the Appaloosa socks, I think of as my Applejack socks, because they have the colors she would probably be if she were a "real" horse.

I'm guessing Pinkie Pie socks would have to be pink and have some kind of exuberant design on them. I think there's a stitch pattern called "balloon stitch"?

I also want to start another shawl. The other day, when I was feeling sorry for myself (I forget exactly why, now - maybe it was Too Much Grading), I bought a couple patterns off of Ravelry. Which is really not a bad way to indulge oneself: they are mostly inexpensive ($5 or so), they don't take up a lot of space (in fact, they only exist in virtual form until you print them out). And the cost goes to help support Ravelry and also to support small designers.

One pattern I bought is called "Hitchhiker." It is currently a very popular shawl pattern. (But that doesn't matter to me - I'm neither one of those who looks at an uberpopular pattern and goes "Oooh, I must have that! All the ponies everypony should know are wearing it!" nor one who looks at it and goes "Ew, too mainstream.")

If I like it, I make it. And I like this one - it's a nice simple design that should look well in a variegated yarn. And we all know how I love variegated yarns.



I'm going to use a nice pink Cascade Heritage for it. And as the pattern takes 525 yards, and I have 800-some, there will be no panicked running out of yarn like happened with Putney.

(And yes - I finally found a blindbag with one of the Princesses in it. Luna is best princess but I'm still happy to have gotten a Celestia)

Incidentally, the name of the shawl is an allusion to Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - if you knit up the pattern as written, the finished shawl has 42 sawtooth points on it....