Obsessions, I haz them

I have a few obsessions. They come and go; right now my knitting obsession is in the forefront. It never really goes away completely, but it had been dormant for awhile. I'm not sure what prompted the resurgence this time; it may have been seeing that Vera Bradley bag that would be just perfect for a knitting bag for small projects . . . It works that way sometimes. Something seemingly unrelated will set it off, and I'm back to stashing sock yarn, carrying my knitting with me everywhere, and saving scores of patterns to knit "someday."

I got a "Knitting Daily" email a couple of weeks ago advertising a new book, "5 Favorite Knitting Patterns for Babies and Kids." One of the patterns illustrated was Stephanie Japel's "Whirligig Shrug." I wasn't especially excited about the other patterns, but I definitely wanted that one, so I went on a hunt and found that I could buy a PDF download of that pattern only on Ravelry. So I bought it, downloaded it, went to Joann for cheap yarn, and started knitting it. I love the pattern. It's knit in one piece from the top down; I'm almost finished with the back, just a few more rows of seed stitch, then I will finish the sleeves.

I was showing the pattern to someone at work, and she said, "can you do that?" I said, "Sure." I'm not really afraid of anything as long as there is a pattern. Some things I don't particularly want to do, like lace, but I can. This shrug has raglan increases for shaping, a little cable, and a drapey seed stitch peplum. My plan is to make one for my 5 year old niece Abby, the tiniest size for her doll, and two for the new babies in the family, Avery and Addison. I figure if the one I'm making now is too large for Abby, she can grow into it, and if it's too small, Avery can grow into it, and I'll make another one for Abby. Win-win.

I'm not crazy about the apple green yarn, but it was the best color I could find at Joann in DK weight superwash. I've already ordered yarn for the two others . . . okay, four. Lavender, dusty rose, light teal, and denim blue. Obsessed.