Knitting Fever

 I have not had much knitting mojo for the past few years. I have made a few pairs of socks (mostly while traveling) and a hat, but that's about all. This past weekend, stuck indoors at home because of Winter Storm Cora, suddenly things got nutty.

Last week I had done a little desultory poking around in my Ravelry queue for possible ornaments to make as gifts for next Christmas. On Friday night, I finished the pair of blue Glynis socks I had been working on since June. Those were the socks I cast on before my house-hunting trip. I cast on a different pair (Temira) for the Christmas trip and was done with the leg of the first sock when I got home.

Anyway, I remembered that in 2020 I had planned to make On the Spice Road as a reward for completing that very difficult academic year teaching remotely because of the pandemic. I had been buying the yarn slowly and was just about to cast on when my life completely fell apart in the late spring of 2021. I didn't think about it again until I was packing the yarn for the move this past summer. So I dug out the yarn and printed out the pattern; maybe I'll even start this week.

At the same time, I was inspired by something I don't even remember now. I suddenly felt interested in making a cloak. Maybe it was the women I hiked with last week, who have Lord of the Rings Hobbit cloaks. In any case, I found myself searching through the cloak patterns on Ravelry. Then I discovered I had one of them in my library already, and I liked it very much, so I dug the pattern out of my supplies upstairs and read the pattern. It was only another small step to buying yarn on the internet. More yarn I definitely do not need right now, with my unpacked boxes and unorganized stash in the guest room, except that I need it to make this cloak. Also, two more circular needles because the ones I own are not long enough.

While I was poking around on Ravelry, I was also looking for a project to use up the few yards leftover from the Glynis socks. The leftovers were only about 3 grams, so my usual baby socks wouldn't work. I found this adorable Stocking Cap Ornament and in about an hour I had made one hat (without pom pom). There was enough yarn for about half of a second hat, so I had a rummage in the scraps box and found a little more to finish the second hat and do the pom poms. I will try to finish those tonight.

Well, then since I was already having a rummage in the yarn, I pulled out some leftovers in DK that I thought would work for the Kalta cowl I remembered seeing in the Berroco e-newsletter last month. I already had printed that pattern so I almost cast it on immediately, but it was getting late and I have found it better to start new things earlier in the evening. I worked on the Temira socks instead, completing the heel and beginning the gussets for the foot. When I went to bed, the living room looked like an ambitious person had been there. Try to imagine in this photo also the mountain of internet yarn that is now on its way to my house.

I'll try to keep this blog posted with how it turns out!