New Project Excitment

I don't think I could officially call it "Startitis" but I sure am having fun with some new projects. Since I received my Socks that Rock shipment I've been carrying the project around in my purse and making good headway on it. This past weekend it was very rainy and cold here in Carlsbad, and everyone in my family was feeling a little under the weather. So we layed around and watched movies and I got to work on my Butterfly Shawl. It's all put together and I just have to weave in the loose ends and put the fringe on. It's just as beautiful as I had thought it would be and I'll take some pictures when the sun comes out.

With the Butterfly Shawl almost ready to wear, I decided it was a good time to do some swatching and cast-on for my Central Park Hoodie. I have done all of my pattern and yarn prep so I'm just waiting for my swatch to dry to get an accurate reading. I had to go down two needle sizes to get gauge and I'm not sure I like the drape on that small of a needle. It seems really stiff to me and I might need to adjust the pattern instead of the needle size to make it work. Which seems kind of exciting, so it'll be okay with me if I have to do that. I am a little concerned about which size I should make too. I could go with a 36 or 40 and of course my bust measurement is 38. So I'm thinking about just doing the 36 and making a bigger button band if needed.

The Six Sox Knitalong just posted their new pattern and it's called Big Basin socks. The pattern uses a sockitecture from Cat Bordhi's book New Pathways for Socknitters and they're really pretty. I'm excited to have these in my queue but won't start them until I finish my Serendipity socks and possibly finishing my Pomatomus socks. The Pomatomus socks aren't really a good traveling project because I lose my concentration easily when I'm out and about, and that doesn't work so well with this pattern. I need something that's not so pattern intense to carry in my purse. I don't really carry a purse anymore though. I decided that, instead of carrying three bags, I would carry one big tote bag. It's actually a bag that's made to carry a laptop in, but it's got three separate sections that are zippered close and work perfect for my purse/knitting/diaper bag. I'll never have to worry about being stuck somewhere without my knitting project again. Or diapers. That's important too.